In an article in last month’s issue of The Gordian, I highlighted some of the weaknesses of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). Whilst these bodies are merely a part of a wider international legal system that is also governed by various treaties, conventions and accords, they are pivotal in as much as their focus is on safeguarding human life and world peace.

Justice is not a relative term, but for much of our history we have manipulated it to such an extent that we have created a parallel sort of justice. More often than not, human justice is just a sinister doppelgänger of justice in its purest form.

“Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there! He wasn’t there again today, Oh how I wish he’d go away!” The above quote from Hughes Mearns’ poem, Antigonish, could so easily allude to sanctions. They are full of sound and fury, and yet, they signify nothing concrete, but rather an absence of something.

Mutilating the sexual organs of a child (circumcision) in the name of culture, religion or dubious preventative medical claims is outrageous and a blatant breach of the child’s human rights. Female genital mutilation is thankfully on the decline and relatively rare in developed countries.

Under the former communist regime, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) was suppressed, its properties confiscated and its followers harassed and imprisoned. This was until a Messiah came along.

Written in stone There are thousands of religions in the world today and many thousands more have come and gone. Many of these claim or have claimed a monopoly on truth relating to the divine and the moral, as well as to the rituals necessary to accompany a devout life.

Nasrin Sotoudeh is an Iranian human rights lawyer who has been in and out of prison since 2010 for no other reason than defending men, women and children who suffered under the oppressive Iranian regime. Her clients included opposition politicians, journalists, abused women and children, women who were arrested for not wearing the hijab and prisoners on death row for crimes they allegedly committed when they were minors.

2020 has certainly been an Annus Horribilis, but it wasn’t all bad.

Winston Churchill once said: “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all others.” But was he right? This article about democracy vs anarchy offers different perspective. Throughout the years, democracy has become a defining characteristic of the West and its politics.

Many will face horrific hunger if relief efforts are not stepped up in a world heated by coal, infected with Covid-19 and separated by nationalists. Five years ago, 193 countries lined up behind a comprehensive and ambitious set of targets – also known as the Sustainable Development Goals – to transform life and the planet by 2030.

Hiding behind democracy Any lover of democracy would be justified in feeling a sense of alarm when faced with such statements as “an assault on democracy…” and “a direct political attack against the democratically elected government…”, but as the Bard of Avon put it: “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” The above two quotes come from Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, respectively. They are directed against the EU presidency for calling their countries to task for their deteriorating record on human rights.

It is estimated that immigrants make up close to 15 percent of the US population. In other countries, such as Canada and Switzerland, this number can even rise to 20 percent.

The slow pace of same-sex marriage… Same-sex marriage is now legal in almost thirty countries in the world. Considering same-sex unions date back over 12,000 years and that there are almost 200 countries in the world, this is not much of an achievement.

This article is by Abdelkander, an UN-aligned member from Algeria who is on the UN-aligned English Language Programme. He is currently living and working in Turkey. Immigration and survival My name is Abdelkader, though I am also known as Faysal.

A raft full of migrants who are fleeing war and famine are awaiting at the bay. What would “you” do? Picture this: you have five buttons in front of you.

In 1992, two years before the war between the neighbouring Armenia and Azerbaijan ended, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), met in Helsinki and decided to chair negotiations towards a peaceful political settlement for the crisis. The body, also known as the Minsk group, is led and co-chaired by the US, Russia and France with Belarus, Germany, Italy, Portugal, The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan as participating member states. During the last OSCE Minsk group summit in 2017, talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan were described as “constructive”.

A Grim Trend July seems to have accelerated the grim trend that has been eroding civility and security over the last few years. The month dawned with Hong Kong finding itself stripped of many of its civil liberties.

Symptoms of Compassion Fatigue Did you ever catch yourself feeling really moved by something quite trivial when reading the news, as you skimmed past some tragedy in Yemen or Syria without even paying the slightest bit of attention? Or are you prone to add a like or comment to a Facebook GIF about a silly animal situation, for instance, while ignoring a poignant post about social injustice or an environmental emergency? If your answer is “yes”, you are not alone. In fact, you fit nicely into the norm: a host of well-meaning people suffering from “compassion fatigue”.

We have come a long way since World War I and World War II, yet we still see police forces using dangerous chemical weapons, such as tear gas, against their own civilians. How dangerous are these chemical substances and should local police be permitted to use such weapons against people? How were these weapons used in WWI and WWII? The following article aims to answer a few of these questions.