From the ground

This is the fourth in a series of posts highlighting cases of statelessness throughout the world. Click here for more information about the series.

Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, "Everyone has the right to a nationality," and, "No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his [or her] nationality nor denied the right to change his [or her] nationality."

This piece, written by Danny Hirschel-Burns, from Swarthmore College STAND, originally appeared on his blog The Widening Lens.

This piece, written by Nita Evele, originally appeared on United to End Genocide's blog.

Last week, a caravan arrived in Washington, DC. The nation’s capital was the last stop of the caravan, which has visited more than 25 cities over the past month.

“Turning point” has been used frequently to describe the evolution of Syria’s sixteen-month conflict. The term has come to refer to little more than a large-scale atrocity event, which, in spite of widespread moral outrage, fails to mobilize international action.

As July 9, the first anniversary of South Sudan’s hard-fought independence approaches, there is cause for celebration, but also for somber reflection. Since independence, a number of issues have not yet been confronted by the Sudans, including the demarcation of the border, the status of each other’s citizens in the other’s country, and the sharing of oil revenues.

Stefani Jones is a rising junior at Duke University, where Sanjay Kishore is also a rising senior. Stefani and Sanjay have spearheaded Duke's Conflict-Free Campus Initiative. This post is a reflection on their experiences in Juba, South Sudan earlier last month.

On January 9, 2011, in a referendum provided for by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the people of southern Sudan voted overwhelmingly to secede from the north. The new nation of South Sudan attained its official independence on July 9 of that year. Unfortunately, violence in both countries has continued.

So often, the narrative about the crisis in Sudan involves disempowering stories of women as mere victims of brutal violence, painting men as uniformly aggressive perpetrators with no goals but brutal lust and women as victims who have no agency in determining the shape of their future.

Quite the contrary.