The 60th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights has brought to the fore the work of many organizations who are utilizing the web (and Drupal) to fight for human rights across the word.
Witness has been featured several times in the last few days on BoingBoing highlighting content Witness has helped produce and is kept on The Hub. Witness' hub is a unique form of advocacy- part organizing tool, part citizen journalism- The Hub provides a large collection of human rights video which is not subject to the whims of corporations making it quite unique in the commercial world of web media.
While the work that organizations like Witness are doing is vastly more important than the software that they use, it is worth noting that Amnesty International, Witness and Human Rights Watch are all using Drupal in their work. I'd like to think that part of this is because of the commitments of users, developers, and Drupal shops is not just to better software, but to a better world- but it would not be the first time I was accused of being an idealist.
The Hub on Boing Boing:
Online Museum of the Victims of War in the D.R. Congo
The Museum that aims to expose the ongoing invisible unacceptable barbarity of the war that has killed more than 5 millions people to the outside world.
The Mobilization of Justice and Peace in the D.R. Congo (MJPC)has launch what it has described as phase one of its online museum of victims of the war in the D.R.Congo. According to the project coordinator of the MJPC, Amede Kyubwa, the online museum aims to expose this war, remaining virtually invisible to the outside world despite ongoing unacceptable barbarity, and aims to expose how innocent people in Congo continue to suffer massive human rights violations while armed groups responsible for these crimes go unpunished.
The online museum, available at http://www.yoursilenceoncongo.org , is currently developing its collections policy and plan to determine the scope of the collections. "The museum will make particular use of collected images/photos of the war victims and help prevent similar catastrophes in the future," said Mr. Kyubwa.
As part of denouncing the serious war crimes going unpunished in Congo, MJPC recently launched a petition to collect signatures demanding the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) to immediately arrest the notorious war criminal Nkunda. Concerned citizens from around the world are signing the petition, including those from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the USA, Kenya, Rwanda, France, German, Denmark, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, Malawi, Burundi, Senegal, Nigeria, Spain, Japan, the UK, Venezuela, China, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Uganda. "There is no justification for MONUC, which has more than 17,000 troops in the DRC, to not take concrete actions to arrest Nkunda who is the subject of an international arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity since 2005," added Mr. Kyubwa.
The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo remains the deadliest conflict since World War II. More than 5 million people, mostly civilians, have died in the past decade, yet the war remains unknown. A particularly horrifying aspect of the conflict is the mass sexual violence being used as a weapon of war. Estimates are now at more than 1.3 million displaced people in North Kivu Province alone and there are more than 370,000 Congolese refugees who have sought safety in neighboring countries.
According to Mr. Kyubwa, the online museum is also designed to dignify victims by recognizing their suffering and raise public awareness regarding the importance of an urgent intervention in the eastern Congo to stop the ongoing impunity, sexual violence, crimes against humanity, and war crimes and to bring those responsible to justice without further delay.
About MJPC.
MJPC (www.mjpcongo.org )seeks to add a voice in advocating for justice and peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To visit the online museum of victims of the war in the Congo please visit http://www.yoursilenceoncongo.org . For information on signing the ongoing petition demanding the U.N. in Congo (MONUC) immediately arrest war criminal Nkunda, please visit our website.
MJPC questions ICC waiting to issue an arrest warrant against Nk
MJPC questions ICC waiting to issue an arrest warrant against Nkunda.
The Mobilization for Justice and Peace in the D.R. Congo (MJPC) today called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against laurent Nkunda accused of multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity which are well documented by various human right organzations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Laurent
Nkunda, former leader of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) armed group, was arrested on 22 January and is detained at an undisclosed location in Rwanda.
How long would it take for the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo to decide whether or not to issue an arrest warrant against Nkunda? echoed Makuba Sekombo, Director of Community Affairs of MJPC. The ICC Prosecutor has been investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since since 2004, but the ICC reportdely opened an investigation into alleged war crimes committed in the DRC since 1 July 2002.
Nkunda has been repeatedly implicated in numerous serious war crimes and crimes against humanity since 2002. In September 2005, the Congolese government issued an arrest warrant for Nkunda, accusing him of numerous war crimes and crimes against human rights. Human Rights Watch, for example, which has been calling for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity since February 2006 and has documented summary executions, torture and rape committed by soldiers under the command of Nkunda in Bukavu in 2004 and in Kisangani in 2002. Also armed groups loyal to warlord Nkunda have been repeatedly accused of using rape as a weapon of war and the recruitment of child soldiers, some as young as 12 after the abduction from their homes. In November 2008, the UN mission in the country (MONUC), Humn Rights Watch many other organizations accused Nkunda of war crimes in November 2008; an estimated 150 people were killed innoncently in the town of Kiwanja by the troups loyal to Nkunda.
The MJPC deplores the refusal by the Government of Rwanda to hand over Nkunda for trial. "How shocking that Rwanda which has been receiving assistance from the International community to arrest genocide suspects and hand them over to the ICTR or to Rwanda would not allow for the extradition of a war criminal accused of massacring civilians, sexual violence, abduction of civilians, including children forcibly recruited as fighters and then used to attack civilian communities" said Mr. Sekombo.
"While Nkunda is not the only one who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, the ICC arrest warrant would mark a major step in promoting accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in DRC, added Sekombo. As part of its campaign to combat impunity in DRC, MJPC launched an online petition in November 2008 whic can be signed at www.gopetition.com/online/23604.html calling for immediate arrest of Nkunda. So far more than 1365 people from over 50 countries have signed the petition.
Press Contact:
Makuba Sekombo
The online petit MJPC
Kinshasaa, D.R. Congo
1 408 806 3644
info@mjpcongo.org
www.mjpcongo.org