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A 14-year old Pakistani girl was shot by Taliban operatives yesterday while riding home on her school bus. The young girl, Malala Yousafzai, is an internationally recognized advocate for girls' education. The Taliban extremists said they targeted her specifically because, in their view, she is pro-Western symbol of "infidels and obscenity." They vowed to continue targeting her if she survives this attack.
Yousafzai was first brought to the public eye in 2009 when she wrote an anonymous diary for BBC's Urdu service about the atrocities of the Taliban, who controlled her city in Pakistan for two years through May 2009. Her brave work supporting girls' education rights, particularly against rising fundamentalism, made her a finalist for last year's International Children's Peace Prize. She has also promoted literacy and peace, earning her a peace prize from the Pakistani government.
It is absolutely heartbreaking that a young girl would be the victim of assassination attempts for no reason than her support of her rights to an education. The attack is a chilling reminder of the consequences, particularly for women, of allowing religious extremism to flourish in unstable societies.
Over the last two months, the team here at GlobalSolutions.org has been working to make climate change a bigger election issue this cycle, starting with the first presidential debate on October 3rd hosted by Jim Lehrer of PBS's NewsHour. This morning, GlobalSolutions.org, along with eight other organizations like the League of Conservation Voters and the Environmental Defense Fund, delivered over 160,000 of your petitions to the Newshour offices. Representatives for NewsHour accepted our petitions and guaranteed that our voices would be heard by Mr. Lehrer. According to one staff member, this petition is the largest they have received this election cycle.
We're excited to announce a unique opportunity to join our exclusive webinar, "A Giant Step Towards 'Never Again:' 10 Years of International Justice." The webinar will be held this Saturday at 1:00 PM EST and feature a discussion on the International Criminal Court as it celebrates the 10th anniversary since its creation. The webinar will feature esteemed speakers Luis Moreno Ocampo, former Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, and Ben Ferencz, professor and former Nuremberg Prosecutor.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent international judicial body capable of trying individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so. Its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, entered into force on July 1, 2002 thereby creating the Court and its ability to prosecute war criminals.
As of April 2012, 121 states are parties to the Statue of the Court and thirty-two others, including the United States, have signed but not ratified the Rome Statute. There have been 28 indictments, 20 warrants of arrest, 15 cases brought to the Court, six of which are currently on trial, and 9 successful summonses. The court celebrated a landmark moment when it completed its first trial in March 2012, convicting Thomas Lubanga of the Democratic Republic of the Congo of using child soldiers.