Topic: Sierra Leone

6 international organizations that support jobs and businesses

Many organizations, both in the United States and abroad, seek to help entrepreneurial individuals and small businesses through microfinance and other means. Here are six organizations that support job creation and new businesses around the world.

Briefing Policing 'blood' diamonds: the watchdog Kimberley Process explained

Difference Maker War survivor Mariatu Kamara speaks for children at risk in conflict

Her story shows 'the devastation conflict has on children's lives but also the power of the human spirit.'

Opinion Give the kidnapped Cleveland women their privacy – and identity

Many have asked that the women who were held hostage in Cleveland be given privacy to heal. But compassion should involve more than suspending our curiosity. How we actually define people emerging from traumatic experiences can support their healing and the public’s.

Africa Monitor Can Africa keep its economic boom from going bust?

Several African economies are among the fastest growing in the world, but to transform cash into social prosperity will require more attentive involvement from the state, writes Lee-Roy Chetty.

Terrorism & Security Hunt for Kony becomes a casualty of Central African Republic overthrow (+video)

The country's membership in the African Union has been suspended, putting a freeze on the AU's military effort there to catch notorious warlord Joseph Kony.

Africa Monitor Foreign correspondents in Africa still struggle to tell the whole story

Western journalists in Africa are rightly criticized for simplistic coverage of African affairs, writes Tom Murphy, but are they doing the best with the resources they have? 

Change Agent Sierra Leone combats the outrage of child soldiering

The Child Soldier Initiative will train the army and police in how to engage with children in combat situations, as well as educate youths about the problem.

Change Agent Bosnian woman helped make rape a war crime

Nusreta Sivac's efforts to gather testimony from women across Bosnia helped win convictions in court and categorized rape as a war crime under international law.

Refugees no more, Liberians ponder if they're ready to go home

Liberians who fled their home lost their refugee status last year. The UN has helped repatriate 155,000 people since 2004, but painful memories of two civil wars keep some from returning home.

Change Agent Red Cross urges countries to relax rules for forced migrants

Issuing temporary work visas, allowing easier border crossing, and helping forced migrants integrate quickly into local communities could help ease the plight, the IFRC says.

Sierra Leone's dilemma: There's gold under those trees

What happens when conservation and economics collide? In this impoverished African nation, the answer, so far, is economics wins. 

Gauging poverty from Appalachia to Africa

A Monitor correspondent, who grew up in West Virginia, discusses the poverty she's seen firsthand while working as a journalist in Africa.

'Half the Sky:' Series on exploited women looks to empower

'Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide' is airing as part of public TV's 'Independent Lens' series. The documentary is based on New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's 2009 bestseller.

Opinion Anti-US attacks in Libya, Egypt, Yemen: Put security first

Violent attacks on US diplomatic posts in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and elsewhere this week underscore a lesson taught repeatedly over the past decade – namely, that security is necessary to launch fledgling democracies emerging from autocratic states.

On solemn 9/11, immigrants celebrate new lives as American citizens

Brimming with optimism and eager to vote, 26 immigrants became US citizens at a special naturalization ceremony in Alexandria, Va., close to the Pentagon and the memory of 9/11.

Global News Blog Is international justice finally finding its footing?

A prison sentence for a Congolese warlord. A court ruling for a Chadian dictator to be tried for torture. Some 67 years after Nuremberg trials, international courts and tribunals are making their mark.

Thomas Lubanga: Congolese warlord first person ever sentenced by ICC (+video)

A tough ICC sentence for rebel commander Thomas Lubanga, convicted of recruiting and using child soldiers from 2002 to 2003, sets precedent for seven other pending war crimes cases.

Opinion Time to curb the illicit global arms trade

Conventional weapons that are sold or diverted to unscrupulous regimes, criminals, and terrorist groups kill hundreds of thousands of civilians every year in places like Syria and Sudan. World leaders must act soon on an arms trade treaty being negotiated this month at the United Nations.

Is Liberia turning into a haven for militant groups - again?

Human Rights Watch issues report saying Liberia is failing to control rebel groups launching raids into neighboring Cote D'Ivoire. Liberia rejects the charges.

African HIV activists want a new model for prevention

The old 'Abstinence, Be Faithful, and Condom use' model for combating HIV doesn't work well in Africa, where the stigma of sexual diseases prevents people from protecting themselves.

Opinion My final phone call with warlord Charles Taylor

Former president of Liberia Charles Taylor called me regularly in the early 1990s when I was the director of Voice of America's English-to-Africa broadcasts. I'll never forget one strange phone call from him. Unfortunately, my hunch about Taylor's connection to Sierra Leone would prove correct.

Taylor's 50-year sentence draws mixed reactions in Liberia (+video)

Human rights groups welcomed the sentence for Liberia's former president Charles Taylor for his role in Sierra Leone civil war. Some Liberians argued he didn't get fair treatment.

Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor sentenced to 50 years in prison (+video)

An international court proceeding ended Wednesday with the sentencing of Taylor, who was convicted of aiding and abetting numerous war crimes in Sierra Leone.

Keep Calm West African group backs off intervention in Mali mess

ECOWAS had warned of a possible military intervention, but at a meeting in the Malian capital of Bamako, they accepted an interim president chosen by military coup leaders.