While searching for updates on the Iraqi election law, I came across a tool that I think is worth sharing: Election Guide. Check this thing out. It’s a search tool for election information, covers 1998 to 2014, has descriptions of electoral systems, results breakdowns, a news search feature, and will even let you sign up for automatic updates.

I happened upon this through a simple google search, so I haven’t gotten to kick its tires very hard. I/we would love to know of any other tools like this. Do you use anything similar to this election tool?

Students around the country who have mobilized with the United Students Against Sweatshops are celebrating as the target of their human rights campaign, Russell Athletic, caved to public pressure on Tuesday and moved to rehire more than 1,200 workers in Honduras who had been fired for organizing a union in order to collectively bargain for their labor rights. An article in the New York Times sheds light on this victory for global student/worker solidarity.

The Iraqi parliament did indeed pass a new election law.

Here’s an Al-Jazeera panel interview addressing issues for the upcoming elections: “Inside Story, with presenter Imran Garda, discusses with guests Saad al-Mutalibi, a political adviser at the ministry of dialogue and the head of the government’s reconciliation team, Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament, and Kenneth Katzman, a specialist in Gulf affairs for the Congressional Research Service.”

It’s fascinating in its breadth.

Human rights organizations and advocates across the globe were instrumental in the establishment of the Kimberley Process, which works to certify diamonds as ‘conflict free.’ More importantly, these groups have continued to work in monitoring effective implementation of the Kimberley Process standards. However, recent evidence of Zimbabwe’s gross human rights violations in the diamond trade, and the Kimberley Process’ lack of effective response, have left many fearful that the deadly conditions in Zimbabwe’s diamond mines will continue indefinitely. What is the role of consumers in demanding human rights standards for the people who mine their diamonds, pick their produce, or sew their clothes? What can or should be done to enforce the Kimberley Process to respect its own rules? A New York Times article highlights the situation in Zimbabwe, and you can read more from Amnesty International on the history of conflict diamonds and access a guide on how to take action. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Twenty years ago one of the world’s most recognized symbols of government repression, The Berlin Wall, came down. November 9th, 1989, is remembered as the day that East Berliners took back their right to freedom of movement by storming the barricade (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13). What has changed in the last two decades- do other similar walls exist today? Do you have a story about the Berlin Wall or a memory of defending your right to free movement?

I nearly missed something very interesting while scanning a New York Times editorial by Thomas Friedman: he quotes Iraqi prime minister Nuri Maliki on human rights…

Friedman argues that an open election in Iraq has a greater chance of producing regional change than the Afghan elections, and his perspective encompasses the recent Iranian elections, too.

This past weekend, I had the great honor of meeting Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Irene Khan. As the keynote speaker at Amnesty International USA’s Southern Regional Conference in Decatur, GA, Khan spoke directly and passionately on the intersection of poverty and human rights. Unlike many in the elite circles of humanitarian-aid or international development agencies, Khan not only highlights that human rights violations are often the underlying causes of poverty, she also argues that the cycle of poverty cannot be solved by charity or ‘economic growth’ models- rather, efforts to end poverty must be grounded in human rights and the empowerment of communities, so that they themselves can demand access, security, and the means to self-determination. Her book, “The Unheard Truth” is available worldwide and a must-read for anyone interested in the solutions to global poverty and inequality.