Ivory and Terrorism

By Derek Schlickeisen

What do endangered elephants and rhinos have in common with one of Africa’s most dangerous terrorist organizations? More than you might think.

Headlines were made around the world last September when masked gunmen attacked the upscale Westgate shopping complex in Nairobi, Kenya. The assault killed six security personnel and 61 civilians, including 2004 Johns Hopkins SAIS graduate Elif Yavuz. Credit for the brutality was claimed by al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group that controlled much of neighboring Somalia until late 2011, when a joint Kenyan-Somali military operation began to drive the militants out of their urban strongholds. In a statement after the attacks, al-Shabaab explicitly named Kenyan participation in the offensive as motivation for the slaughter.

Fewer headlines have been made, however, by Kenya’s other long-running battle against al-Shabaab: that being waged by the Kenya Wildlife Service in the country’s northeastern region against poachers from the militant group that slip across the border in search of “white gold” – tusks from the country’s 35,000 African elephants.

The global market for illegal wildlife products funnels more than $19 billion a year to international criminal syndicates and terrorist organizations like al-Shabaab. In 2013, an undercover investigation by Maisha Consulting and the Elephant Action League shed light on the role played by African ivory in this massive illicit cash flow.

Click to read more ...

Sino-Japanese Relations: Time to Bury the Hatchet

By Richard Upchurch

By now it is no surprise when a story pops up in the news that China and Japan have engaged in yet another confrontation over a particular set of islands in the East China Sea. A source of contention due to their strategic importance as well as their oil and gas reserves, the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands generated fresh sparks between the two Asian giants in 2012 after the Japanese government purchased them from a private citizen. Ask China, and the islands were originally under Chinese jurisdiction. Ask Japan, and the Chinese claim is illegitimate and ill-founded. Over the following two years, provocations by both sides – including China’s establishment of an Air Defense Identification Zone in 2013 – have escalated tensions, creating a sense of urgency. In light of the countries’ historical animosity toward one another, these developments have led some to prophesize about a third world war. While the risk of military conflict between China and Japan is real and should not be discounted as an impossible, alarmist fantasy, it is by no means inevitable. In order to avoid escalation to the point of devastation, however, it is incumbent upon both nations to restrain their nationalistic tendencies, reconcile historical discrepancies, and enter into negotiations as responsible stewards of economic prosperity in East Asia.

In order to understand the vitriolic and combustible nature of the island disputes, it is important to be familiar with the historical baggage that China and Japan carry together in their relationship. The origins of the two country’s mutual enmity can be traced to the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, in which Japan defeated China and seized Taiwan via the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Included in its acquisition of Taiwan were the surrounding islands, which happen to be those in question today. Flash forward to 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria, an area in Northeast China. There, they installed a puppet government and harassed the Chinese for 6 years, until they invaded China proper in 1937. Then came the indelible blotch on Sino-Japanese history: the Rape of Nanjing, a period of intense bloodlust in which the Japanese committed unspeakable atrocities against thousands of Chinese in the city of Nanjing. The specter of this event haunts the Sino-Japanese relationship to this day. It is true that the Japanese government has attempted to apologize for the event, but unsatisfactory wording and continued visits by Japanese leaders to Yasukuni Shrine, where a number of war criminals are enshrined, have led the Chinese to shrug off those efforts as insincere.

Click to read more ...

All That Glitters Isn't Gold

By Emily Olsson

Gemstones and gold have been prized for centuries for their rarity, brilliance, and durability, but it has been the sentiments and powers attributed to them that have truly captivated everyone from Pliny the Elder to Kayne West. The lore surrounding them is endless. At one point it was believed that amethysts could ward off drunkenness and that diamonds would be able to protect the wearer from ghosts and magic spells. Royalty around the world have used jewelry as a symbol of their wealth, status, and power. Pieces are passed down from generation to generation, growing more and more sentimentally valuable with each passing year. De Beers was able to successfully create an insatiable global demand for diamonds by equating them to true love. Today’s jewelry industry exploits a variety of these culturally embedded beliefs to make a profit. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimated that Americans alone spent over $70 billion on fine jewelry and watches in 2012, $11 billion of which was spent on engagement rings.

Sadly, if the true stories behind these stones and precious metals were used for marketing, jewelers would go out of business. Much of the jewelry in today’s market can be connected to environmental and/or human rights abuses, including child labor, forced labor, extreme poverty, illegal mining operations, smuggling, corruption, water pollution, and deforestation. The majority of such issues have gone largely unnoticed. Over the past decade, campaigns by organizations like Amnesty International in conjunction with big name actors, such as Leonardo DiCaprio, have helped publicize and educate consumers on blood diamonds. However, this industry is not the only one that needs to have a spotlight shown on it. Serious crimes have been committed in other industries like the gold, ruby, and sapphire ones. 

Click to read more ...

Syria: A State-Rebel Divide

By Alin Horj

When the Geneva negotiations on Syria began on 22 January 2014, after months of efforts by the international community, there was hope that the ongoing conflict, started as part of the wider protest movements across North Africa and the Middle East, would end. But with civil war raging, the Syrians’ plight is not likely to end soon. So far, the conflict has led to more than 110,000 casualties and 9.5 million displaced persons both internally and to neighboring countries. Human security in Syria, which is about protecting and empowering the individuals, and making sure that human rights are being respected, is practically nonexistent. To secure its own territory and interests, and defend against internal threats, the Syrian government is concerned mainly with state security. While human and state security should be regarded as complementary, the clash between the interests of the state security in Syria and the aspirations of human security has led the Syrian government to kill its own people and to some extent some insurgent forces, in order to protect its own territory.

By killing civilians, the government is clearly violating the human rights and international treaties such as the 1949 Geneva Convention and the two additional protocols in 1997, which seek to protect civilians from internal armed conflicts. Since the breakout of the conflict, more than three million people have fled to neighboring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. Moreover, the situation is further complicated by big refugee camps that have now become a breathing ground for insurgencies and illicit activities. The conflict has extended outside of Syria’s borders, putting neighboring countries at risk. Though there is no easy solution, the international community must act immediately to address the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

Click to read more ...

Begging in Pakistan: Circumstantial or Coercive?

By Anam Abdulla
 
Seeing handicapped men, women, and little children without shoes in the scorching heat, knocking on your window begging for spare change, might seem outrageous to some. However in Pakistan, that is almost the norm. At every signal, intersection, public park, or even outside mosques and restaurants, you will find people swimming in poverty, lacking the basic life necessities, and engaging in a profession that some regard as being devoid of dignity and respect. 

The begging industry is a complex part of the informal sector and cannot be defined precisely. It consists of a wide range of activities, wherein individuals beg for money on the basis of being poor or disabled, and sell small items like flowers or balloons. A beggar’s labor arrangement usually depends on how he or she came into this situation. There are two main reasons that people enter the profession of begging. The first one is poverty, where begging is seen as a way to make ends meet. The second one is being subjugated by the so-called ‘Beggar Mafia’. This is a gang of ruthless people who kidnap infants from the street, subject them to torturous conditions such as amputation of limbs, acid attacks, and starvation, and then send them on the streets to beg for money from commuters. The Beggar Mafia takes almost all the earnings of the beggars, giving them very little for their own expenses.

Click to read more ...