Category Archives: UN

04Aug/12

La factura de Bosnia será inminente si Annán duda

Nir Boms, 19 de julio de 2012 a las 19:08

Se cumple este mes el 20 aniversario del inicio de las hostilidades de la Guerra de Bosnia. Mientras las fuerzas del régimen machacan la ciudad de Homs utilizando artillería pesada con vistas a la visita del equipo de observadores de las Naciones Unidas, no puedo evitar una rara sensación de que la historia se repite.

En la Guerra de Bosnia hubo más de 100.000 muertos (200.000 según algunos cálculos), civiles en su mayor parte, antes de que los efectivos de la OTAN pudieran ponerle fin. En Siria, el “más modesto” de los recuentos habla de “solamente” 11.000, pero como hemos aprendido de Bosnia, al fondo siempre queda espacio para más. Continue reading

19Apr/12

Bosnian toll looms in Syria if Annan falters

This month marks the 20-year anniversary of the start of the Bosnian War. As regime forces pound the city of Homs with artillery shells in advance of a UN observers team visit, I couldn’t escape an eerie feeling of history repeating itself. In the Bosnian War there were more than 100,000 deaths (200,000 some estimates say), mostly civilian, before NATO forces were able to bring it to an end. In Syria, the “modest” toll is “only” 11,000, but as we’ve learned from Bosnia, there is still time left for more.

Lessons learned from Bosnia are sadly relevant and ominous.

Lesson one: Russia. Most of the weapons in the Bosnian War were, not surprisingly, Russian. Russian volunteer forces also actively assisted the Serbs. While Russia was officially co-operating with the allies, the commander of the Russian contingent to the UN force, Major General Aleksandr Perelyakin, was actually helping to smuggle weapons to the Serbs. Perelyakin, who was eventually dismissed by the UN, became an adviser to the commander of a Serb division in the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska Krajina in Croatia. After the war, Russia gave refuge to several Bosnian Serbs wanted for war crimes and atrocities, including the massacre at Srebrenica. Continue reading

22May/08

Rights for Some Humans

The UN established the HRC, an institution that promised to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Outrageously, instead of focusing on human rights violators such as Iran, Uzbekistan and China it adopted nine condemnatory resolutions against Israel.

Nir Boms (5/17/2007)

About a year ago, in March 2006, the UN adopted Resolution 60/251 to establish the Human Rights Council (HRC), an institution that promised to “respect human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind as to race, color, sex, language or religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” According to its own mandate, the work of the council should be “guided by the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity.”

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21May/08

Shortwave Democracy

 

By Nir Boms and Erick Stakelbeck

Published June 28, 2004


Although it often seems like a solitary outpost of democratic sanity, the United States is not alone in waging the war of ideas. Since September 11, more than a dozen privately ownedpro-democracy radio stations have emerged in freedom-starved countries like North Korea, Syria, Iran and Cuba. 

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