Indigenous Peoples, Ethnic Conflict, and the Nation-State
American Indian History and Related IssuesOne of the casualties of the global expansion of the culture of capitalism is cultural diversity; nation-states function largely to integrate, peacefully or violently, their members into a common culture. The following sites document the dilemmas of indigenous groups, many of whom struggle to maintain their culture. For a good overview, check out Amnesty International and Third World Network.
http://www.csulb.edu/projects/ais/index.html#north
This excellent site offers a number of documentary resources on American Indian History as well as annotated links to other sites with a similar focus. The highlights of the site are the collections of maps, drawings, other artwork and photographs documenting Native American experience. Particularly impressive is the Native American Experience section, which contains hundreds of "photographs, drawings, maps and short descriptions chronicling the experiences of the Native American population dating from the first migrations from Siberia (pre-1600) through recent experiences." Also of great historical interest is the Theodore De Bry Copper Plate Engravings collection, which features elaborate engravings with accompanying written descriptions (viewable in thumbnail or full-screen sizes) of Indian life as perceived by sixteenth-century European settlers. (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 4/4/00) American Indians and Crime—BJS
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/aic.txt
.pdf version [555K, 50 p.]
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/aic.pdf
"This report, recently released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, measures and characterizes the rate of violent crimes experienced by Native Americans in the US, who as the report concludes, are victimized by violent crime at more than twice the rate of US residents in general. The data collection was garnered from a variety of government sources and presents statistics on the involvement of drugs, alcohol, and weapons in crimes; the relationship between victim and offender; the rate of crime reporting by victims; and the physical and financial damage incurred by victims. The report also summarizes data on American Indians in the criminal justice system." (Scout Report for Social Science, 3/9/99)
Amnesty International
www.amnesty.org
Perhaps the foremost agencies in the world in working to protect human rights and the abuses of nation-states. "Amnesty International is a worldwide campaigning movement that works to promote all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international standards. In particular, Amnesty International campaigns to free all prisoners of conscience; ensure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners; abolish the death penalty, torture and other cruel treatment of prisoners; end political killings and "disappearances"; and oppose human rights abuses by opposition groups."
Amnesty
International Annual Report: 1998
www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/ar98/index.html
AI's annual report on human rights abuses around the world. What does the report have to say about the United States?
Amnesty
International: 1999 Annual Report
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/ar99/index.html
Amnesty International: 2000 Annual Report [.pdf]Amnesty International, one of the world’s foremost human rights organizations, released its 1999 Annual Report this week. The web version is not complete, but it does offer lengthy summaries of human rights concerns and abuses in 142 countries and territories as well as the full text of the substantial four-part introduction. Users can view regional summaries, which highlight and detail events and rights violations in 1998, or view the complete entries on specific countries in the regional indexes section. The online version of the Report is also available in Swedish and Italian. [MD] (Scout Report 6/18/99)
http://www.web.amnesty.org/web/ar2000web.nsf/
Amnesty International (AI), one of the world’s foremost human rights organizations, recently released its 2000 Annual Report. As always, the report "documents human rights issues of concern to AI worldwide" during the previous year as well as reporting on "the activities AI has undertaken during the year to promote human rights and to campaign against specific human rights abuses." The report begins with a Foreword by AI Secretary General Pierre Sane and an extensive Introduction, both of which are also available in .pdf format. The bulk of the report is a collection of entries for individual countries, grouped by region, which evaluates the human rights situation in the country or territory and AI’s specific concerns there. Also included are five regional summaries and a section describing AI and its work. (Scout Report, 6/23/00)
Amnesty
International: 2002 Annual Report [.pdf]
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2002.nsf/home/home?OpenDocument
Presented by Amnesty International, a worldwide voluntary activist movement concerned with the protection of human rights, this annual report focuses on human rights abuses in 152 countries and territories around the world and describes the suppression and violence that have withered and destroyed the lives of millions of people. Due to the September 11th attacks in the US, this year's report emphasizes the importance of "justice" rather than "revenge." In addition, the report also highlights the failures of human rights protection as well as the "indomitable courage and determination of human rights activists whatever the challenges they face - and the vital role they play in a world beset by poverty, war and repression." The report is divided into regional sections, and all sections of the report can be downloaded as a printer friendly Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file.
The Annexation of Hawaii: A Collection of
Documents
http://libweb.hawaii.edu/libdept/hawaiian/annexation/annexation.html
While the annexation of Hawaii by the United States occurred on August 12, 1898, the subject held the attention of the US government for several years, and was fiercely debated in Congress and back on the islands themselves, with many claiming that the annexation was solely to benefit the financial interests of Sanford B. Dole, the legendary "Sugar King." To their credit, the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Special Collections department has done a nice job of digitizing a number of primary documents related to the annexation of Hawaii, subsequently placing them on this site for the general public. The collection currently includes the massive Blount Report, dealing with the affairs of the islands; the Hawaii Organic Act; transcriptions of the congressional debates on the Organic Act; and anti-annexation protest documents, including hand-written letters by Queen Liliuokalani to Sanford B. Dole, President William McKinley, and others.
Avenir
des Peuples des Forets Tropicales (APFT)--The Future of Tropical Rainforest Peoples
lucy.ukc.ac.uk/Rainforest/page1g.html
Information relating to the study of the relationship between indigenous peoples of the rainforests, and the environment in which they live, and which is rapidly being destroyed. In Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, we explore th dilemma of such indigenous groups, using the Guarani as an example. At this site you will find a wealth of information on the plight of people of the rainforests. You might want to begin with an article on the legal issues faced by these groups as others seek to exploit their knowledge. You will also find maps detailing the environments of indigenous peoples, bibliographies, and links to related sites.
Broken People: Caste Violence Against India’s "Untouchables"-- HRW http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/india/
"Even though "the imposition of social disabilities on persons by reason of their birth in certain castes" was legally abolished under India’s constitution in 1950, "untouchability" is still practiced today in much of rural India. The "untouchable" caste—or Dalits, which literally means "broken people"—comprises over one-sixth of India’s population, or 160 million people. This 310-page report, recently issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW), documents the discrimination and violence suffered by Dalits under the societal rule of higher-caste groups in the Indian states of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Gujarat. The report also examines the government’s role in preserving the status quo by thwarting peaceful social activism and failing to abolish exploitative labor practices through appropriate legislation." (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 5/4/99)
CAIN Web
Service--The Northern Ireland Conflict
cain.ulst.ac.uk/index.html
"The CAIN web site provides a wide range of information and source material on 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present. The site also contains information on Northern Ireland society and politics in the region."
Cambodian Genocide Program
at Yale University
www.yale.edu/cgp/
In Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, we examine the proposition that the nation-state is an instrument of genocide. In one of the worst cases of state-sponsored killing ever recorded, the Cambodian state under the control of the Khmer Rouge, killed between 1975 and 1979 some 1.5 to 2 million citizens of the state, or 20% of the population. This site contains information on the genocide, and seeks to discover who was responsible for the killing.
Capital Punishment 1999 [.pdf]
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cp99.pdf
ACS II version:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/cp99.txt
Press release:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/press/cp99.pr
The US Department of Justice has released statistics detailing the characteristics of people under a sentence of death as of December 31, 1999. In addition to summarizing the movement of prisoners into and out of death sentence status during 1999, the report provides "data on offenders’ gender, race, education, marital status, age at time of arrest for capital offense, legal status at time of capital offense, methods of execution, trends, and time between imposition of death sentence and execution." The report also offers preliminary data on executions in 2000 and historical data on executions since 1930 as well as sentencing since 1973. According to the press release, 20 states executed 98 prisoners in 1999 -- the most executions since 1951. Capital Punishment 1998 was reviewed in the January 11, 2000 _Scout Report for Social Sciences_ . [Scout Report for Social Sciences & Humanities -- January 9, 2001]
Center For
World Indigenous Studies
http://www.cwis.org/
To quote from the site: "This site is dedicated to the nations of the Fourth World and our elders. Our goal is to present the online community with the greatest possible access to Fourth World documents and resources. The Fourth World Documentation Project is an online library of texts which record and preserve our peoples' struggles to regain their rightful place in the international community." A wealth of information on indigenous peoples, and one of the best places to start getting information on the Internet.
"Cultural Survival is a non-profit organization founded in 1972 to defend the human rights and cultural autonomy of indigenous peoples and oppressed ethnic minorities. Through research and publications we focus attention on violations of those rights and advocate alternative policies that avoid genocide, ethnic conflict and the destruction of other peoples' ways of life. Cultural Survival develops educational materials that promote tolerance and understanding of other cultures, and respect for indigenous peoples - the world's original stewards of the environment."
Dept. of State
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997:
http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/hrp_reports_mainhp.html
These are the reports submitted each year by the U.S. Department of State to the Congress detailing the human right's records of countries all over the world. You can also go directly to the 1997 Report. For other years try gopher://gopher.state.gov and select publications and then Human Rights Country Practices.
Globalization and
Human Rights
http://www.pbs.org/globalization/
PBS companion site to their film series on globalization and human rights. Check out the interviews and transcripts; there are also links to other sites, including some on the history and role of Shell Oil in Nigeria.
Human and Constitutional
Rights
http://www.hrcr.org/
A comprehensive site to get information on human rights issues. The site features a "hot topic" feature that highlights issues that are in the news. You can find country reports from different human rights groups, as well as regional links.
Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/
Human Rights Watch World Report 2001 [.rtf, .zip]Human Rights Watch is dedicated to exposing human righs violations and offereing help and protection to individuals or groups whose rights are violated. Each year they issue a report on the human rights situation in regions and countries around the world.
http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/
Human Rights Watch issued their annual world report yesterday, summarizing the state of human rights in 70 countries around the globe. Written with the clarity and detail that have marked previous annual issues, this year's report offers both good and bad news. On the positive side, it notes the popular overthrow of the Milosevic regime in Yugoslavia, the conclusion of a treaty barring the use of children as soldiers, and the UN Commission on Human Rights's first formal criticism of a permanent member of the UN Security Council (Russia, for its abuses in Chechnya). On the negative, the report cites the continued failure of the UN Commission to condemn China and the failure of the US to require the Colombian army to sever ties with paramilitaries as a condition for the recent huge military aid package to that country. The report begins with an essay on the global economy and then covers human rights developments by region. Separate sections of the report address special topics such as academic freedom, censorship, access to education, children's rights, and women's human rights. The report is available in both HTML and .rtf (zipped or uncompressed) formats. (Scout Report 12/8/00)
Human
Rights Watch World Report 2002 [.pdf]
http://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/
Human Rights Watch has just released its twelfth annual review of human rights practices around the globe in the 2002 Human Rights Watch World Report. This report addresses developments in sixty-six countries, covering the period from November 2000 through November 2001. Most of the chapters examine significant human rights developments in a particular country, the response of global actors (such as the European Union, Japan, the United States, the United Nations, and various regional organizations), and the freedom of local human rights defenders to conduct their work. Other chapters address important thematic concerns.
I
CARE: Internet Centre Anti-Racism Europe
http://www.magenta.nl/crosspoint/
Billing itself as "your portal to Anti Racism on the Internet," this site features two main databases. The United Database gives addresses and identifies the type of institution (i.e., NGO, IGO, Archives, Media, etc.) for over 1,500 organizations, searchable by country, city, name of organization, acronym, and address. The Crosspoint Anti-racism database provides annotated links to 1,500 Websites, searchable by country or topic. The site also offers a twice-weekly online newsletter with reports on racism and intercultural issues from across the globe; a calendar of "Internationalism" events in Europe, including addresses and Websites; links to relevant European Institutions; and information on the European preparatory conference to be held in October of the coming year to set the agenda for the United Nations World Conference against Racism in 2001. I CARE is a result of a partnership between UNITED for Intercultural Action, the Magenta Foundation, and Duo A. (Scout Report for the Social Sciences, 12/14/99)
Inter-American
Human Rights Database
http://www.wcl.american.edu/pub/humright/digest/
"The Inter-American Human Rights Database is an ongoing initiative of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the American University’s Washington College of Law. The database is comprised of documents, in both English and Spanish, ratified by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, beginning with the commission’s inception in 1960 and spanning to the present. The chronologically arranged documents include the commission’s annual reports, sessional reports, and special situational reports. Currently, not all documents adopted by the commission are available. In the future, the site will include special country reports and thematic reports. All content at the site is searchable." (The Scout Report for Social Sciences, 1/26/99)
International Crisis
Group
http://www.crisisweb.org/
The International Crisis Group is an NGO "committed to strengthening the capacity of the international community to understand and respond to impending crises." The group has researchers and observers in areas of political conflict, currently ICG currently Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Algeria, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cambodia. What is the current situation in Bosnia in implementing the Dayton Peace Accords? What is the state of the economy?
International developments in the recognition of the rights of indigenous people
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/sjreport_02/chapter6.html
This article in the Social Justice Report, 2002, is an overview of the evolution of international recognition of the rights of indigenous people. It discusses background on the formation of the first International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2004), the creation of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous People, and the Draft Declaration on Indigenous People.
Karen
Strom's Native American Resources
http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/
- An extensive compilation of Websites and resources relating to all facets of Native American life. You will also find a listing of the Websites maintained by Native American groups.
Guatemala: Memory of Silence
http://hrdata.aaas.org/ceh/
In Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism we discuss briefly the violence directed largely at Maya Indians by the Guatemalan military and government. This is one report about the violence that implicates, note only the Guatemalan military, but the American government as well. [For an addition report see the American Association for the Advancement of Science report entitled State Violence in Guatemala, 1960-1996: A Quantitative Reflection (see below)] "Established in 1994 as part of the Peace Process in Guatemala, the Guatemalan Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) recently completed its work and forwarded its report to the parties to the Peace Accords and to the Secretary General of the UN. Titled, "Guatemala: Memory of Silence," the report makes disturbing reading, accusing the US-backed military of a host of human rights violations and systematic state terrorism against the Mayan Indian population. While the report concludes that the responsibility for the majority of these violations "reaches the highest levels of the army and successive governments," it still reflects the army’s continued power in that it does not name the guilty or call for any trials. However, like the Final Report of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (described in the October 30, 1998 Scout Report), this report is seen by some as both an essential acknowledgement of the truth and as an important step in the political healing process in Guatemala. Provided by the Science and Human Rights Data Center, the first three chapters of the report, an annex (Chronology of the period of armed confrontation), and several maps and charts are currently available at the site in both English and Spanish." (Scout Report, 3/5/99)
Human Rights on the Internet: Sites that Encourage Activism
http://www.ala.org/acrl/ressept99.html
[T]his annotated Webliography offers a host of sites and Internet resources devoted to human rights issues, with an emphasis on activism. Elisa Mason, the author, categorizes the resources under Starting points, Web directories and meta sites, Organizations, Annual surveys, and Lists. Human Rights on the Internet is part of the Association of College & Research Libraries News series. (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 9/7/99)
Human Rights Watch World Report 2001 [.rtf, .zip]
http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/
Human Rights Watch World Report 2002 [.pdf]Human Rights Watch issued their annual world report last month, summarizing the state of human rights in 70 countries around the globe. Written with the clarity and detail that have marked previous annual issues, this year’s report offers both good and bad news. On the positive side, it notes the popular overthrow of the Milosevic regime in Yugoslavia, the conclusion of a treaty barring the use of children as soldiers, and the UN Commission on Human Rights’s first formal criticism of a permanent member of the UN Security Council (Russia, for its abuses in Chechnya). On the negative, the report cites the continued failure of the UN Commission to condemn China and the failure of the US to require the Colombian army to sever ties with paramilitary organizations as a condition for the recent huge military aid package to that country. The report begins with an essay on the global economy and then covers human rights developments by region. Separate sections of the report address special topics such as academic freedom, censorship, access to education, children’s rights, and women’s human rights. The report is available in both HTML and .rtf (zipped or uncompressed) formats. [Scout Report for Social Sciences & Humanities -- January 9, 2001]
http://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/
Human Rights Watch has just released its twelfth annual review of human rights practices around the globe in the 2002 Human Rights Watch World Report. This report addresses developments in sixty-six countries, covering the period from November 2000 through November 2001. Most of the chapters examine significant human rights developments in a particular country, the response of global actors (such as the European Union, Japan, the United States, the United Nations, and various regional organizations), and the freedom of local human rights defenders to conduct their work. Other chapters address important thematic concerns. (Scout Report, 1/25/02)
Leave None to Tell the Story. Genocide in Rwanda—HRW
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/
This report from Human Rights Watch "dissects the deceptive discourse of genocide and shows how ordinary administrative structures and practices were turned into mechanisms of murder." In addition, it examines the actions of the major international actors, who withdrew the UN troops when the genocide began. The study "details the transformation of international indifference into tardy criticism. By showing how even feeble censure caused changes in the genocidal program, the study suggest[s] what might have been the result had the world promptly and firmly cried ‘Never Again.’" The full text of this extensive report is available online, by chapter, in HTML format. (see the Scout Report, 4/9/99)
Migration and Ethnic
Relations (On WWW Virtual Library)
www.ercomer.org/wwwvl
A collection of links to major Internet resources in the field of migration and ethnic relations.
Native Americans and the
Environment
http://www.cnie.org/nae/
"Created by anthropologist Dr. Alx V. Dark and sponsored by the Center for Conservation Biology at Rice University, this Website promotes the research and study of environmental issues facing Native American communities, particularly the politics of land and treaty rights. The site also explores the "values and historical experiences that Native Americans bring to bear on environmental issues." Native Americans and the Environment provides a bibliographic database, which covers topics such as environmental justice, natural resource utilization, land and treaty rights, and demography and migration. The database currently contains over 1,500 citations, and will be expanded to approximately 3,000 by the end of 1999. The site also includes an extensive directory of hundreds of annotated Internet resources organized by subject and geographic region. In addition, a case studies section is under development and will include environmental problems and their histories, current actions, or solutions; a list of related Internet resources; and a bibliography." (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 2/23/99)
Nativeweb-An Internet
Community
www.nativeweb.org
- An extensive list of Websites and resources. One of the more interesting features of this site is the collection of materials on indigenous technologies and crafts. The work of artisians is one of the first dimensions of indigenous culture to be destroyed by the expansion of capitalism. Cheaply made goods tend to replace indigenous goods, driving craftspeople and artisians into wage labor. Here you can find out about these technologies.
http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/
Recently released by Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), this report "reviews current issues in privacy and the privacy laws and practices in over 50 countries around the world." Privacy issues addressed include data protection, telephone tapping, genetic databases, and freedom of information laws. Provided in HTML format, the report offers an overview of the state of privacy worldwide and threats to privacy, as well as brief reports for over 50 nations. (Scout Report 10/27/00)
Punishment
and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/
Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch released a new report, _Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs_. Supporting its case with a plethora of Justice department data from the 1996 national Corrections Reporting Program (the latest version available), the report finds that drug penalties are disproportionately applied on the basis of race. In fact, "relative to population, black men are admitted to state prison on drug charges at a rate that is 13.4 times greater than that of white men," and in some states, the numbers are much higher, with blacks being sent to prison for comparable drug offenses at rates 20 to 57 times greater than that of whites. The hypertext table of contents makes access to any part of the report, including methodology, a click away. (Scout Report for Social Science, 6/27/00)
Rwanda:
the Search for Security and Human Rights Abuses
http://www.hrw.org/reports98/publctns.htm
This new report from Human Rights Watch details continued cases within Rwanda of "assassination, murder, arbitrary detention, torture and other abuses perpetrated chiefly by soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Army, and by members of a government-backed citizens’ militia called the Local Defense Force." According to the report, the Local Defense Force, while supposedly acting under the auspices of local authorities, commits abuses without fear of reprisal since these authorities are often either allied with or afraid of the government-supported militia. [Scout Report for Social Sciences, 5/16/00)]
Selection
of Web Sites on Indigenous Peoples
kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/history/index.html#indigenous people
A collection of Websites on and about Indigenous peoples.
Sorry Day in Australia:
One of the ways in which the nation-state forcibly assimilates indigenous peoples, is through education, a practice described in Global problems and the Culture of Capitalism (pp. 280ff). The following sites relate to the forced removal of indigenous children from their families, a policy followed by Australia until the1970s.
- National Sorry Day
- www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/sorry/index.htm
- Bringing Them Home
- www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/hreoc/stolen/
- Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation
- www.austlii.edu.au/car/
State
Violence in Guatemala, 1960-1996: A Quantitative Reflection
http://hrdata.aaas.org/ciidh/qr/english/index.html
Compiled by the Association for the Advancement of Science, this report documents the killing and disappearance of over 37,000 people at the hands of government forces. It is noteworthy that the violence in Guatemala began shortly after the American CIAs orchestrated overthrow of the elected government in 1954. Both are remarkable documents. (see also Guatemala: Memory of Silence) For additional material on state killing and genocide check out Internet Resources on Genocide and Mass Killings .
Third World Network
www.twnside.org.sg
- This site address a range of issues relating to indigenous peoples, development, and relations between the core and periphery (north and south). There are collections of articles on third world issues; particularly interesting is a collection of articles on Third World Economics.
United States Committee on
Refugees
http://www.refugees.org/
One of the consequences of civil and ethnic strife is the creation of displaced peoples or refugees. This site provides extensive background on the refugee problem and current information on the plight of refugees in various parts of the world. You can select a county and find out what the refugee situation is, or contact various agencies that deal with refugees. For example, what is the refugee situation in Algeria? Rwanda? The United States?
US
Department of State: 2001 Human Rights Reports
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/
Recently released by the US State Department, the 2001 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices was designed to give voice to those who have been denied the freedoms and rights provided in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Covering internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights for nearly every country, the collection of reports is separated into six regions -- Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, Western Hemisphere, Near East and North Africa, and South Asia. The collection also offers appendices that include notes on the preparation of the reports, a selection of International Human Rights Conventions, a selection of Assistance Programs, the Human Rights Commission voting record, and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Valentina's
Nightmare (Excellent site on the Rwanda genocide)
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rwanda/
Verdicts on the crime of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda—UN [RealPlayer]In Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism (pp. 291ff), we examine the killings in 1994 in Rwanda of more than 800,000 people by the largely Hutu-controlled state. However, what was portrayed in the core as a case of "ethnic conflict," was, in fact, a consequence of the historical relations between core and periphery. This is the companion site to a PBS Frontline special on the genocide in Rwanda, It is a remarkable set of resources and contains articles, interviews, as well as a detailed chronology of events.
http://www.un.org/law/rwanda/
In an important moment in the history of international criminal law, on September 2, 1998, a United Nations tribunal handed down the first ever verdict by an international court on the crime of genocide. The Tribunal—the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania—was created by the UN Security Council in November 1994, "after one of the most intense periods of mass exterminations in human history. (From the Scout Report, 9/4/98).
Wars for Viet
Nam: 1945-1975
http://www.vassar.edu/vietnam/index.html
"America's longest war ended more than two decades ago, yet a number of significant and important questions remain unanswered: What was the nature of the modern Vietnamese revolution? How can we explain the American intervention? Why did the war drag on so long?" This site, the outcome of a Vassar seminar on Viet Nam, suggests that the answers to thtose questions are far more complex than most accounts suggest.
Worlds Apart
http://www.britannica.com/worldsapart/
One of the features at the Encyclopedia Britanica site. The site "identifies ethnic conflicts as pinpoints on a map of the earth. Click on a locale to get a quick briefing of the conflict in that area. The twelve conflicts shown are each quite different but share a common problem, generally defined as "ethnic conflict". ...The site does not deeply explore the causes of conflict, nor the likely outcome. It does however give you a brief overview and its genesis. Four prominent experts contribute their viewpoints and help she light on the roots of the conflicts and the inevitability of violence. They "discuss the myths and realities of ethnic violence and the struggles for power ignited by the end of the Cold War." (from Earth Times 1/11/2000) Be aware, however, that the term "ethnic conflict," as we note in Global problems and the Culture of Capitalism, often masks causes more rooted in neo-liberal trade policies than in so-called "ethnic conflicts."
