It’s a phenomenon that’s disturbing to see: Armed groups targeting aid workers. It’s not a new phenomena, though its increasing frequency suggests that such attacks are becoming an accepted tactic by some, much as suicide bombing has been embraced by some armed groups as a legitimate tactic.
It’s not.
Suicide bombing and targeting aid workers purposely shred [...]

Nate Henn, 25, was one of the victims in yesterday’s bombing in Kigali, Rwanda of a rugby field where the World Cup final was being televised on a giant screen. Nate listed himself as a 2007 graduate of the University of Delaware. When I was on the Inquirer’s editorial board writing about Northern Uganda from about [...]

The Enough Project has produced this great spoof of the Mac-PC commercials to educate the public about how computers, yes, the ones in our homes and offices, are made with conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Militias do the mining and then use the considerable profits to finance the continued fighting in DRC that has [...]

Here’s part of a great story from IRIN that raises the same question: How can such a small group of rebels endure and cause such havoc in so many countries, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo as examined by IRIN. The story doesn’t give many satisfying answers, except to say that the LRA uses such brutal [...]

It’s the NGO’s annual State of the World’s Mothers report and it’s just out and available here from Save the Children. A cause being important and worthy, and a product about it, such as this report, coming from a well-regarded organization, doesn’t mean journalists and others will automatically give them attention. Advocates who want attention [...]

Check out this post from the GiveWell blog on whether contributers’ money to Haitian relief services are being well-used, and whether it may not be better at this point to give to othr efforts.

I’ve been wanting to give a roundup (since even before the NY Times did its story on kids, she says with pride and procrastination) of how Haitian children are doing post-earthquake. So here’s a roundup of info and the activities of some non-governmental and international groups whose work I respect.
First, though, I need to comment [...]

I couldn’t find a live link to this USA Today story that was in Monday’s edition. So here it is:
Aid Frustration: ‘We’re racing against the clock’: Thousands waiting for food, water, medical care
By Marisol Bello and Donna Leinwand
PETIONVILLE, Haiti — Haitian physician Reginald Lubin wanted to help earthquake victims at a hospital in this suburb [...]

I mentioned in a previous post that NGOs should work and play well with the US military in Haiti relief operations because it has the capacity to do certain parts of the work, such as logistics. NGOs have reservations about this, as outlined in this 2006 article from Doctors Without Borders. Some concern is understandable, [...]

I  just saw a report on CBS news’ Sunday morning (the best-written news show on TV, incidentally) that said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had arrived in Port-au-Prince and asked Gen. Douglas Fraser, the commander of the US operation in Haiti, why supplies and personnel couldn’t be parachuted, or air dropped, into needy areas. Others also [...]