Sri Lanka's Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission has no mention of gender in its mandate and no dedicated expertise related to women; it has just one female commissioner out of eight. For Tamil women, the LLRC simply reaffirms bad old habits.
How do foreign migrants in South Africa's urban estuaries deal with the hostility they regularly encounter? The answer lies in 'tactical cosmopolitanism', say Loren Landau and Iriann Freemantle
The Arab awakening of 2011 raises hope of an end to the torture and other human-rights violations that have long been endemic in Arab states. But it will be a tough legacy to overcome, says Vicken Cheterian.
Libyans are seeking to reclaim their society and the decisions they make today on how to provide justice for past violations and deal with corrupt former-regime officials will define the new system that is being developed. The involvement of international actors may be a double-edged sword.
Foreign intervention is not the answer, argues Josephine Whitaker. The solution to Somalia’s problems must be found at home.
South Africa's president has outgunned his young, ambitious rival and cleared the road to re-election. But the struggle between them casts an unforgiving light on aspects of the country's governance, says Roger Southall.
With millions of Egyptians set to head to the polls on November 28, one blogger and activist argues that the only way to protect the ideals of the revolution is to boycott the election. A boycott is a vote against Egypt's military rulers and an important step in the road to democratic reform.
The vigorous protests in Tahrir Square against Egypt's interim military rulers express the serious concerns of many Egyptians over the process of post-authoritarian change. Alina Rocha Menocal maps the problems of democratic transition and suggests how they can be overcome.
Inequality in South Africa has deepened since 1994. Respect for fundamental rights, including socio-economic rights, must be rebuilt - for when rights begin to be seen as hindrances to development and change, people begin to question why they should be observed at all, says Isobel Frye
Gadaffi belongs to a generation of Middle Eastern and African leaders who sought to become heroes of the past, but ended up resembling the very invaders and oppressors their heroes fought against. Libya’s rebel leaders have to break the vicious circle and become someone different than the tyrant t
As Egyptians prepare for their first democratic elections since the fall of Mubarak, their political parties are learning new lessons about the contest for power. It remains to be seen if they can translate their revolutionary organizing tools into electoral victories.
The majority of voters in the South Kordofan election in May 2011 were women. In the violence that ensued, women activists who had mobilised the women to vote were targeted, their offices destroyed and all record of their work erased from history. Zeinab Blandia told Amel Gorani their story
