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Hope - January 2010

Our January 2010 Issue: Hope

Adam Benz, Editor-in-Chief January 2010
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FPD January 2010 Issue:

This month, as we embark on a new decade filled with both great opportunity and uncertainty, Foreign Policy Digest has chosen the theme of “Hope” for its January 2010 issue. Specifically, we have chosen to examine the ways in which nations and individuals across global regions continue to find reasons for optimism in what at first sight often appear to be the least likely of places. In so doing, we hope to bring attention to the easy-to-overlook results of the collective labors of so many nameless men and women across the world who continue to give us reason to hope for a better world.

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Channeling Hope in Haiti

Anthonio Zuniga January 2010
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The recent 7.0 earthquake has devestated Haiti.DEVELOPMENTS

 Haiti's recent unexpected catastrophic 7.0 earthquake has brought global attention to the long-ignored impoverished island nation. As images of Haiti started populating the international media outlets, writing about hope became quite difficult. The media's attention on Haiti generally focuses only when tumultuous events occur: hurricanes, political turmoil, protests. To see a country that has recently shown positive improvement to be reduced by what’s now reported as a significant setback to the domestic and international aid that now stands stunned.

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ASEAN's New Human Rights Commission: "Toothless Tiger" or Catalyst for Change?

Jung Hwa Song January 2010
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ASEAN's New Human Rights Commission:

DEVELOPMENTS

At the fifteen annual summit this past October, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched the first regional human rights commission. Called the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), the commission aims to promote regional cooperation on human rights and curb human rights abuses committed against nationals of the ten ASEAN member countries. Though critics have accused the AIHCR of being little more than an attempt to improve ASEAN's image to potential trading partners, some in the international community remain optimistic that the AIHCR may be the first step to a regional human rights protection mechanism strong enough to address atrocities committed by the Burmese junta. However, hopes turned to criticism and even condemnation when five of the member states-- Burma, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Singapore--refused to meet with a pre-selected group of civil society activists, whom the ASEAN countries had already agreed to see. Southeast Asian media excoriated the fledgling institution, calling it a “toothless tiger” that had no intention of making substantive progress on human rights. Is AICHR poised to make substantive progress on regional human rights or is it doomed to remain a "toothless tiger?"

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Returns to Rutshuru: A Glimmer of Hope in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

Camilla Olson January 2010
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Amid the chaos of conflict and displacement, Congolese people strive to rebuild their lives with limited assistance.DEVELOPMENTS

The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has uprooted millions of people from their homes. In North Kivu province however, one of the areas in eastern DRC worst hit by violence during the past decade, there are some early glimmers of hope. Despite continued fighting in many parts of North Kivu, improved security in some areas allowed an increased number of people to return home in 2009.

This development is positive, but it is by no means a signal that peace has finally come to the DRC. Although many more people are going home, they are doing so cautiously and with little assistance. The reality remains that violence in eastern DRC is still forcing civilians to flee. In the mean time, Congolese people who are now trying to rebuild their lives amid the chaos will need more long-term assistance and support.

 

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Serbia: The Little Engine that Could

D. Marko Cimbaljevich January 2010
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Serbian train

DEVELOPMENTS

In December 2009, people waved good-bye to family members boarding a morning train from Belgrade, Serbia to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.  While the journey on this rickety, three-car, communist-styled train may seem insignificant to most, it is the first train in 18 years to link these two war-torn capitals back together – exemplifying the strides Serbia has taken to overcome its tumultuous past and lay new ‘track work’ toward European integration.

The most significant step in Serbia’s path to European integration occurred just a few days later, when Serbian President Boris Tadic travelled to Sweden and personally delivered his country’s formal application for EU membership. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden, which held the rotating EU presidency at the time, praised Serbia’s European ambitions, while President Tadic has verbalized his optimism of becoming an EU member state by 2014.  

However, critics worry that Serbia’s application is premature. With lingering issues regarding war crimes cooperation, economic stability, Kosovo recognition, corruption, judicial and social reform, critics argue that Serbia needs more time to transition into a true ‘European’ state.

 

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