September 26, 2008
Katherine Southwick
United Nations
Earlier this month, I participated in a workshop on statelessness and the right to nationality at a UN conference in Paris, France. The three-day conference was an experience full of contradictions, but the event’s theme, “Reaffirming Human Rights for All: The Universal Declaration at 60,” compels one to focus wearily but ultimately on the positives. After all, human rights are as important now as they have ever been.
August 19, 2008
Katherine Southwick
Up until this year, the needs of refugees and displaced persons with physical and mental disabilities have not been systematically analyzed. While humanitarian aid is generally about providing assistance to the most vulnerable – refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), and stateless people who have no legal identity – ironically, the most vulnerable of these groups have been invisible in the course of humanitarian responses.
May 16, 2008
Katherine Southwick
Statelessness
“I recently developed a mathematical theorem and sent my paper to Addis Ababa University. Professors of the Mathematics Department confirmed that it was something new and that they would like to publish it in their academic journal. But I would like to wait on that because I believe certain parts need to be fleshed out more first.” In a frenzied day of interviewing refugees on a recent mission to Ethiopia, comments like these stood out.
March 20, 2008
Katherine Southwick
Kenya
The news from Kenya in the first few months of 2008 could arguably perpetuate a certain cynicism about Africa and the intractability of problems on the continent. It has deeply shaken the image of Kenya as a stable, prospering African success story.
February 11, 2008
Katherine Southwick
Kenya
