A man breaks up a fight between a group of girls in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on January 13, 2013. He was passing by and rushed over to stop them. “It takes a village to raise a child.” Photo by Peter DiCampo @pdicampo #abidjan #ivorycoast #children #girls #fight #latergram
Depressing journalism chart of the day.
Why the Washington Post and other newspapers need pay walls. (Via The Atlantic)
We hope you had a restful and joyous New Year! Our project is going well and we’re excited – and to that end, here are some recent stories of Afghanistan, human rights, and markets in the news. Let us know of any interesting or relevant articles or pieces you see in your reading travels!
- Shopkeepers and businesspeople affected by the fire at Kabul’s Mandawi (main commercial district) are exempt from tax for the next 4 years – Wadsam Afghan News Business Portal
- What’s at stake for Afghan women – Gayle Tzemach Lemmon for CNN
- Another Afghan Buddhist archeological site is threatened because it sits on top of a copper mine – NYT
- Afghan government raising tariffs on imported fruit juices in a move to protect local production – Wadsam Afghan News Business Portal
- A beautiful set of photos of Afghan landscapes – Warkadang on Tumblr
- Bleak humanitarian outlook for 2013 in Afghanistan – IRIN
- Afghan refugees living in Kabul battle deadly cold as winter sets in – NYT
- Great photos from a press conference of the Afghanistan Forum for Electoral Reforms – Thru Afghan Eyes
- Insight: Once a symbol of new Afghanistan, can policewomen survive? – Reuters
- Energy Drinks Take Afghanistan By Storm – Radio Free Europe
- Top Human Rights stories on Twitter in 2012 – HRW
- Long road ahead for Afghan women – Heather Barr for HRW
(Photo credit to Frédéric Lagrange: “The grasslands that surround Lake Chaqmaqtin, Afghanistna, sustain herds of goat, sheep, and yak.”)
A former United Nations police officer is suing a British security firm over claims that it covered up the involvement of her fellow officers in sex crimes and prostitution rackets in the Balkans.
Kathryn Bolkovac, an American policewoman, was hired by DynCorp Aerospace in Aldershot for a UN post aimed at cracking down on sexual abuse and forced prostitution in Bosnia.
She claims she was ‘appalled’ to find that many of her fellow officers were involved. She was fired by the British company after amassing evidence that UN police were taking part in the trafficking of young women from eastern Europe as sex slaves.
She said: ‘When I started collecting evidence from the victims of sex trafficking it was clear that a number of UN officers were involved from several countries, including quite a few from Britain. I was shocked, appalled and disgusted. They were supposed to be over there to help, but they were committing crimes themselves. When I told the supervisors they didn’t want to know.’
DynCorp sacked her, claiming she had falsified time sheets, a charge she denies. Last month she filed her case at Southampton employment tribunal alleging wrongful dismissal and sexual discrimination against DynCorp, the British subsidiary of the US company DynCorp Inc.
DynCorp has the contract to provide police officers for the 2,100-member UN international police task force in Bosnia which was created to help restore law and order after the civil war.
Bolkovac has also filed a case against DynCorp under Britain’s new Public Interest Disclosure Act designed to protect whistleblowers.
As well as reporting that her fellow officers regularly went to brothels, she also investigated allegations that an American police officer hired by DynCorp had bought a woman for $1,000.
Many of the hundreds of women working in Bosnia’s sex industry are lured from countries such as Romania and Ukraine with promises of jobs as waitresses but then delivered to brothel owners who confiscate their passports. Bolkovac claims that Dyncorp officers forged documents for trafficked women, aided their illegal transport through border checkpoints into Bosnia and tipped off sex club owners about raids.
In an email to more than 50 people - including Jacques Klein, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative in Bosnia - Bolkovac described the plight of trafficked women and noted that UN police, Nato troops and international humanitarian employees were regular customers. It was shortly after this email went out that Bolkovac was reassigned.
Related: The 15 Deadliest Corporations: #15 Dyncorp
Dyncorp is a privatized military company that is often hired by the U.S. government to protect American interests overseas — and so the government can claim no responsibility for Dyncorp’s actions.
Dyncorp is best known for its brutality in impoverished countries, for trafficking in child sex slaves, for slaughtering civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for training rebels in Haiti.
(via bostonreview)
New Yorker covers from September and January side by side illustrate transition of parents from disconnected to worrisome following the Sandy Hook shooting.
Collection of favorite tracks from 2012. Could have put many more tracks from channel ORANGE and Coexist. I am still in the process of consuming all music that is 2012 thanks to the glut of lists that are now out. So expect a few more tracks to make their way onto this playlist.
As part of a top secret project that we can’t talk about yet, OTM is looking for examples of telltale phrases that suggest that you’re reading a not-so-great piece of journalism.
Like for instance, the phrase “Reliable numbers are hard to come by, but…” is a telltale not-great phrase because it…
Infographic depicting the years that African countries became independent. Happy Africa Day!
On Thursday Facebook had the third-largest I.P.O. ever. In the week leading up it, my colleague Amanda Cox spent some time thinking how to best explain and contextualize this offering to readers. What follows is a series of sketches from Amanda, who shared her project folder with me for this…
Neat evolution of the infographic that was eventually used by the NYT for the Facebook IPO. Cool to see how the proverbial sausage is made.
