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Respect 
 Afghanistan: Case study
The Western world wants to detox
So does Afghanistan, yet the money is too good not to be in the drugs business. Afghan farmers can't stop planting poppies.
Hard-line Taliban cleans up country
The Taliban banned poppy production in July 2000 and the world nodded in approval as opium output decreased by 94 per cent over the next two years.
Afghan poppies supply opium to world
After the fall of the Taliban, opium production skyrocketed.
Even though Afghanistan's interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai has banned poppy-growing and drug trafficking, Afghan poppies now account for 80 per cent of the supply of heroin in Europe.
Afghans rely on opium for survival
And while Afghan farmers can see the social importance of not cultivating opium, they aren't curtailing their behaviour - they still have families to feed.
The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) has set up a cash-for-crop scheme to provide alternative sources of income to Afghan farmers than poppy production, but it doesn't offer enough nearly enough financial incentive.
Cash-for-crop scheme flawed
UN officials recognise that the scheme has flaws.
They want Afghan farmers to grow wheat. But wheat can only offer farmers a tenth of what they would earn from opium harvests.
Not to mention the fact that they're asking farmers to plant a water-thirsty crop in a country plagued by drought and to deal with the hassle of transportation and storage, something that was never really a concern before: harvested opium resin has a life-expectancy of years, while wheat needs to be handled with care.
It's no wonder that farmers are reluctant to seek out such a minuscule return on their time investment.
Opium tentacles far-reaching
Afghanistan's opium tentacles are getting its neighbours in a formidable stranglehold.
Opium cultivation has soared along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Iranians can't smoke or inject enough of their neighbour's good stuff.
Some 2 million Iranians are addicted to opium and its derivatives, morphine and heroin.
Nor are Afghans themselves immune to temptation - easy access to heroin has caused an explosion in the number of drug addicts within the country, and there aren't enough treatment facilities.
Drugs stockpiled
In 2002 Afghanistan produced about 270 tonnes of refined heroin-enough to supply the world for a year.
Add to this the opium stockpiled during the Taliban regime and it's pretty clear that opium has flooded into the world marketplace.
No reason to stop
The development of increasingly sophisticated trade routes through Central Asia means that unless the international community provides greater support to the Afghanistan administration, Afghan farmers aren't going to stop planting poppies any time soon.
Afghanistan: Background
A permanent war zone
Long fought over as a key strategic location in southern Asia, Afghanistan has suffered from decades, if not centuries, of conflict and instability.
Valued trade route
Afghanistan's position between the Middle East, the former USSR and the Indian subcontinent has ensured its continued value as a trade route and important military position. Despite enduring political and economic hardship and the country's forbidding mountainous landscape, the people of Afghanistan are considered resilient and forward-looking, optimistically waiting for peace and stability to return to their lives.
Soviet troops invade
The most recent humanitarian crises in Afghanistan date back to 1979, when Soviet troops invaded the country in order to support the Marxist government that had recently seized power.
Taliban
More than a decade of fighting between the Soviets and US- backed rebels eventually led to the rise of the Taliban, a group of Islamic scholars that gained power as a political force and led the country through much of the 1990s, until a U.S.- led international coalition drove them from power following the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.
A fragile peace
Today, a shaky interim government, headed in the capital of Kabul by Prime Minister Hamid Karzai, is trying to lead Afghanistan to peace and economic stability, but fighting between groups continues through much of the southern and eastern parts of the country.
Afghanistan: Key events
Monarchy abolished
In 1973, after four decades as king, Zahir Shah was overthrown by former Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud, who declared Afghanistan a republic with himself as President.
People's democratic party
Daoud angered left-wing groups with his moderate approach and Marxist forces united against him.
The pro-communist People's Democratic Party executed Daoud in a 1978 coup, but inner-party disagreement led to a struggle for power between Hafizullah Amin and Nur Mohammed Taraki. Though he eventually won power when Taraki was killed, Amin was not to rule for long.
Soviet occupation
In December 1979, the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan in order to prop up the Marxist government.
Amin was executed and Babrak Karmal was installed as leader. Opponents of the regime organised a resistance movement that battled the Soviets for control of the country.
Mujahideen guerrilla war
Over the next 10 years, Mujahideen rebels fought a guerrilla war, supported with money and weapons by the United States, Pakistan, and China, among others.
Soviets withdraw
The introduction of US-made Stinger missiles in 1987 gave the rebels a distinct advantage and in April 1989, the US, the Soviet Union, Pakistan, and Afghanistan signed a peace agreement that called for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and an end to US and Soviet influence in the region.
Taliban takes power
During the following years, rival groups struggled for control of the country, with the ethnic Pashtun Taliban eventually winning control and seizing Kabul in 1996.
The fervent Islamic law espoused by the group angered many, as they sharply curtailed individual rights in Afghanistan.
Women were forbidden to work or be educated, and were required to be dressed in burqas (head-to-toe coverings) at all times in public.
Taliban laws condemned by world
The laws of the Taliban were harshly condemned by the international community, but very little was done to challenge them.
The Taliban was recognised as the legitimate government of Afghanistan by only three countries, and fighting continued throughout the countryside, particularly in the north, where the Northern Alliance, including the exiled leader Burhanuddin Rabbani, maintained a strong rebellion to the Taliban.
US missile strikes
In 1998, the US conducted missile strikes on alleged terrorist camps run by Osama Bin Laden, a Saudi militant suspected of bombing US embassies in Africa.
Because of these strikes and other fighting, the Taliban restricted access to humanitarian agencies and Afghanistan's people faced incredible hardship.
World takes notice
Only after the September 11 World Trade Centre attacks in 2001 did the international community get seriously involved in Afghanistan.
Taliban government falls
Because the Taliban was thought to be harbouring Osama Bin Laden, accused by the US of leading the attacks, the US led an international coalition in the bombing of Afghanistan that made way for the Northern Alliance to overthrow the Taliban and take control of the country.
Fighting continues
On 22 December 2001, Hamid Karzai was sworn in as interim leader of Afghanistan, though fighting between rival groups continues through much of the country.
Jamaica: Case study
Who foots the bill for paradise?
You can buy paradise for the price of a flight to Jamaica. For Jamaicans, however, paradise isn't all it's cracked up to be.
One of worst murder rates in world
Jamaica relies on the tourist trade to sustain its economy (tourism is the source of nearly half of its foreign earnings).
But unbeknownst to most tourists, who only see the Jamaica that the northcoast tourist resorts around Montego Bay and Ocho Rios have to offer, the Caribbean island has one of the worst murder rates in the world.
More than 1,000 Jamaicans were murdered in 2001, the highest number ever recorded, and in 2002 Jamaicans died at a rate of three per day.
Teething pains
Jamaica gained independence in 1962 and like many of its Caribbean neighbours has experienced its share of political and economic teething pains - a weak economy, corruption and entanglement in the drug trade.
But, while these other nations are making progress, Jamaica is struggling to control increasing lawlessness.
Living in terror
Jamaicans have grown accustomed to living in terror.
Kingston, the country's capital, has been converted into a bloody battleground many times over the last five years, with residents fleeing to the safety of other parts of the country, or other parts of the world.
Guns flow into the country along a coastline that is difficult to monitor.
Youth turf wars
Youth turf wars account for 20 to 25 per cent of the country's homicides.
Gangs have been linked to UK 'yardies', US 'posses' and the Colombian drug trade. The police maintain only a semblance of control and have resorted to paramilitarism.
Police killings
Killings by the police number about 139 a year and members of the police force have been accused of carrying out execution-style killings.
Dramatic changes needed
But the violence is only a symptom of a bigger problem. Poverty is rising and Jamaicans are frustrated. Exports - bauxite, sugar, bananas, and clothing - can't command high enough prices on the international market.
Islanders want dramatic changes, but no one, least of all the Jamaican government, seems to have them on offer.
Jamaica: Background
Tourist trade threatened by violent crime
Lush and colourful, Jamaica has been a favourite destination of tourists seeking sun and relaxation for years, but recently its tourist trade has been threatened by increasing lawlessness and a violent crime rate that is one of the highest in the world.
Rasta culture key export
Jamaica's key cultural export has been Rastafarian culture, though Rastafarianism (a religious faith founded on the ideas of Marcus Garvey and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia) accounts for only 3 per cent of Jamaica's population.
Dreadlocks and reggae
While most people are not familiar with the religious beliefs of Rastafarians, the dreadlocks and reggae music associated with the movement have become universally recognised symbols of Jamaican culture.
Drug-related violence escalating
The marijuana trade in Jamaica, which is also frequently (and often erroneously) associated with Rastafarianism, has become a major problem in recent years, with drug-related violence escalating yearly.
Economic deterioration
This is due largely to the long decline in the nation's economy, which since 1970 has steadily deteriorated despite the best efforts of the government to reverse the trend.
Jamaica: Key events
First Spain, then Britain
Jamaica is first colonised by Spain in 1509 after having been sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1494, but is captured from Spain by Britain in 1655.
Black slaves imported from Africa
Throughout this time, black slaves were imported from Africa to work on sugar cane plantations.
Britain finally abolished slavery in 1838, but racial inequality persisted for years.
One hundred years later, in the wake of riots caused by high unemployment and systemic racism, Norman Manley formed the People's National Party (PNP) and began pushing for Jamaican independence.
Economy almost collapses
Jamaica achieved independence in 1962, with Alexander Bustamante of the conservative Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) as the first Prime Minister. The PNP won power in 1972 and implemented a socialist policy, seeking closer ties with communist Cuba.
Over the next 10 years, the economy nearly collapsed as entrepreneurs left the country. Ironically, the marijuana trade was partly responsible for preventing total collapse.
Violence steadily increases
The JLP was re-elected in 1980.
With significant financial help from the US, Prime Minister Edward Seaga began privatizing previously state-run enterprises, while distancing his country from Cuba and from the previous administration's socialist policies.
However, the economy did not significantly improve, and the two parties traded power over the next 20 years with little improvement in the situation.
The violence rate in Jamaica increased steadily over this same period.
Mass riots over petrol
In 1999, a 30 per cent jump in petrol costs provoked mass rioting, and the government sent the army to patrol the streets of the capital Kingston.
1100 murders in 2001
Lawlessness and violence increased rapidly at the end of the twentieth century, making Jamaica one of the most violent places in the world and causing hundreds of people to flee their homes in Kingston out of fear. In 2001 Jamaica saw 1100 murders, a 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Colombia: Case study
Where is Colombia's conscience?
'I feel so bad about the things that I did...It disturbs me so much-that I inflicted death on other people.... I still dream about the boy from my village who I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he is talking to me and saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying'. - Susan, 16
Child soldiers fight adult wars
'La Chinga', a 13-year-old Colombian assassin, has killed five people.
He's just one of the 14,000 child soldiers who have been caught in the middle of a 36-year old guerrilla conflict that sees Colombian military and right-wing paramilitaries battling it out against rebel peasants.
Rebel forces want reform
The rebel forces - the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Army of National Liberation (ELN) - want land reform and empowerment for the rural poor people, the majority of the country's population.
Paramilitary groups & the war on drugs
Right-wing paramilitary groups, such as the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, are backed by the Colombia military and want to stop FARC and ELN.
The Colombia military is in turn supported by the US who provides financial aid in exchange for Colombia's participation in its war against drugs.
However, the US has been heavily criticised because international aid groups feel that the United State's interest lies more in securing oil and coffee exports than combating drugs.
Child soldier are expendable
Both the rebel guerrillas and the paramilitaries recognise the value of recruiting children.
Children are often seen as expendable. They follow orders more readily than adults and are prized as efficient and remorseless killers.
Children are voluntary participants
Many of Colombia's child soldiers are voluntary participants, attracted to military activities because they don't have educational opportunities and rural communities can't offer them a job.
300,000 kids fighting worldwide
According to the UN there are over 300,000 child soldiers worldwide, fighting in 35 countries.
A 2002 optional protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits governments and rebel groups from recruiting children under the age of 18 into armed forces.
Colombia: Background
A blend of ethnicities
Colombia has a rich history of cultural diversity, with an ethnic mixture primarily composed of indigenous and African peoples, descendents of the Spanish colonizers, and combinations of the three.
Natural riches
It is also extremely rich in natural resources, holding large deposits of oil, gold, silver, platinum and emeralds.
Spanish descendants
However, since the Spanish colonized Colombia in the late fifteenth century, their descendants have typically held the vast majority of the country's wealth.
This situation has provided the motivation for centuries of discontent among the poorer groups as well as for a 40-year-old guerrilla war that persists today.
More than 40,000 deaths
Since the early 1960s when the guerrilla insurgencies began, more than 40,000 people have died and countless more have been displaced.
While the original guerrilla groups were left-wing militants devoted to an overthrow of the government, radical right-wing paramilitary groups have developed to combat them.
Conflict all about cocaine
The result has been a bloody three-way conflict that is now largely centred around the cocaine trade, which guerrilla groups have long used as a means of funding their operations.
This drug trade, which the government has been trying to curb for 30 years, has had the unfortunate effect of making the name of Colombia synonymous with drug cartels, kidnapping, and murder.
Violence overshadows country's beauty
Despite Colombia's rich cultural history and natural beauty, it is now one of the most violent countries in the world.
Colombia: Key events
Gran Colombia
Colombia gained its independence from Spain in 1819 and Simon Bolivar joined it with Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama to form 'Gran Colombia.'
Venezuela broke off in 1829 and Ecuador followed in 1830, while Panama remained with Colombia until 1903, when it was lost to the United States.
La Violencia: A brutal civil war
For the next hundred years, the Liberal and Conservative Parties vied for political control of the country, until 1948, when Liberal leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan was assassinated. A brutal civil war, known as 'La Violencia', resulted and 300,000 people died over 10 years.
Two party rule
In 1958, the Liberal and Conservative Parties reached a peace agreement that allowed for a joint rule of the country and outlawed other political parties. This arrangement lasted until 1978, when a more typical party system was reintroduced. Over the next 25 years, power see-sawed between the two major parties, with both repeatedly vowing to put an end to the civil unrest and fighting that had plagued the country.
Guerilla groups rise up
In early 1960, just after the two parties began their shared rule of Colombia, left-wing guerrilla groups began sprouting up and seeking to overthrow the government. The largest were the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which is still the largest guerrilla group fighting today. Right-wing paramilitary groups developed to counter these insurgents. Over the next 40 years, as thousands died in these prolonged conflicts, both sides exploited the cocaine trade to fund their goals.
US offers military aid
In 1998, Conservative president Andres Pastrana Arango began peace talks with the FARC in an attempt to end the fighting. Over the next three years, talks were repeatedly broken off and restarted as the different sides failed to reach a lasting agreement. In 2000, Pastrana won almost US$1 billion, mostly in military aid, from the United States to fight the drug cartels and protect key oil pipelines.
A state of emergency
Talks between the government and the guerrillas broke off for good in February 2002, and the fighting continues today under independent president Alvaro Uribe, who declared a state of emergency only days after he was sworn in as president.
India: Case study
Are females a dying breed?
India's population is in crisis as it faces a shortage of girls because of widespread female foeticide.
Although the practice is illegal, the Indian government can't stop female foeticide because it is ingrained in the social norm.
One in six females aborted
In parts of Haryana - one of India's 28 states - it is estimated that one in every six female foetuses is aborted.
Sex tests were made illegal under India's Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Regulation and Prevention of Misuse Act in 1994.
However, the use of sex tests is prevalent amongst couples who want a male child.
Foeticide linked to dowry payments
In predominantly agricultural areas, sons are favoured because they will provide income through manual labour.
But abortion levels are also high among urban, literate women and sociologists suggest the problem is intimately tied to the institution of dowry.
Though outlawed in 1961, dowry payments are still common practice.
Dowry and wedding expenses can add up to more than a million rupees (about 13,500 pounds), a seemingly exorbitant amount in a country where the average civil servant makes 100,000 rupees (1,350 pounds) a year.
Females are viewed as economic liabilities.
Sex-selective abortions give parents the chance to weed out females before birth so they can avoid paying for them later.
Selecting sex
Sex-selective abortions became widespread in 1974 when amniocentesis - a procedure in which a small sample of amniotic fluid is drawn out of the uterus through a needle inserted in the abdomen - was introduced in India as a way to detect birth defects.
Because amniocentesis involves the study of chromosomes, the tests also revealed the sex of the foetus. As a result, amniocentesis quickly caught on amongst some medical practitioners and fuelled a spate of sex-specific abortions.
95 per cent of amniocenteses used for sex selection
In 1986 in Bombay 84 per cent of gynaecologists performed upwards of 270 amniocenteses per month. Only 5 per cent of the tests were for the purpose of detecting fetal abnormalities; 95 per cent were used to determine the sex of the foetus. Abortion followed soon after if the foetus was found to be female.
Mobile ultrasound units
Today, the invasive technique of amniocentesis has been replaced by ultrasound scans.
In the north-western states of Punjab and Haryana, mobile ultrasound units make regular rounds.
Although tougher legislation is making it possible for the authorities to conduct raids on prenatal clinics to check for illegal activity, it's difficult to find evidence of illegal sex selection when prenatal scans for genetic abnormalities are legal.
A passion for sons
India's sons-only ethos has skewed the country's sex ratio which, in the long term, will make it harder for the country's males to find life partners.
Instead of a birth rate of slightly more females than males, the 2001 census highlighted the adverse sex ratio.
Some of the worst-affected districts are Sonepat (783 girls for every 1000 boys in the 0 to 6 age group), Rohtak (796/1000), Ambala (784/1000) and Kurukshetra (770/1000).
Social disaster
There are disastrous social consequences associated with female foeticide.
It perpetuates discrimination and violence against women and has a dramatic effect on women's access to healthcare and education.
India: Background
A 5,000 year old civilisation
India is the world's second most populous country.
Over one billion people live in India.
India's 5000-year-old civilization and cultural splendour have long made it one of the world's most wondrous places, but its history has not been without hardship and violence.
British rule
Ruled for almost 150 years by Britain, whose imperial ambitions led it to take official control in the mid-nineteenth century, India only regained its independence in 1947.
India and Pakistan
The ensuing partition of India into India and Pakistan was exceptionally violent and bloody.
Since then, three wars with Pakistan, as well as cultural and religious violence within India, have taken their toll on the country's people.
Gandhi: non-violent rebellion
However, India saw continued, if stilted, political and economic progress through the twentieth century.
In 1920 a lawyer named Mohandas K. Gandhi begin a non-violent, unarmed resistance movement that led to Indian independence in 1947 and became a legendary example of the power of non-violent rebellion.
Bollywood grooves
Since India began opening up to the world in the early 1980s, it has seen a steadily growing middle class and great advances in its technological contributions to the world.
Its largest city, Bombay (or Mumbai) also possesses one of the world's largest film industries, dubbed 'Bollywood'.
Religious violence persists
Unfortunately, despite the progress India is making, religious violence persists to this day.
The vast majority of Indians remain illiterate and poor, largely due to the Hindu caste system, which keeps people in fixed social positions determined by birth and family.
India: Key events
A British government
After controlling much of India for more than 50 years, Britain officially took over the government of India in 1858 and ruled for the next hundred years, benefiting greatly from the silks, spices, and gems of the subcontinent.
A British education
Britain's education of Indians for the purposes of civil administration contributed to the growth of an independence movement through the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.
Leaders of this movement included Mohandas Gandhi, a London-educated lawyer who returned from fighting for the rights of Indian immigrants in South Africa in 1915, and Jawaharlal Nehru of the Indian National Congress.
Thousands killed in Amritsar
In a move aimed at sending a message to independence supporters, British troops open fired on demonstrators in a park in Amritsar in 1919.
Thousands were killed as the park had only one exit, which was blocked by troops.
Gandhi's civil disobedience campaign
The independence movement was only encouraged by the incident, and the following year, Gandhi launched his unarmed popular resistance to the British colonialism.
Over the next 25 years, Gandhi led a number of civil disobedience protests in which his followers repeatedly and symbolically broke the British laws.
Indian independence
In 1947, Gandhi and his supporters finally won Indian independence from Britain with the help of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who led Muslim supporters in return for the promise of a separate Muslim state.
India was partitioned into two countries, India, which remained mostly Hindu, and the primarily Muslim Pakistan.
Partition
As Muslims scrambled to leave India and Hindus to leave Pakistan, religious violence claimed the lives of thousands.
The partition remains a major trauma in the national histories of India and Pakistan.
Nehru first Prime Minister, Gandhi assassinated
Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India, and in 1948, Gandhi, now known as Mahatma (Great Soul) was assassinated.
Nehru's rule was subject to allegations of corruption, and in the mid-70s, she declared a state of emergency, arresting hundreds of political opponents and forcing the sterilization of hundreds of thousands of men in an effort to curb India's growing population.
Sikh uprising
Indira Gandhi sent troops to the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984 to quell a Sikh uprising.
More than 1,000 people were killed, and in retaliation, Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards assassinated her soon after.
Over the next several months, Hindu retaliation killed 2,700 Sikhs across the country. Gandhi's son Rajiv took over as Prime Minister.
Mosque destroyed
In 1992, Hindu fanatics destroyed the sixteenth century mosque in the city of Ayodhya, inciting riots and fighting between Hindus and Muslims during which 3000 died.
Tensions rose between Hindus and Muslims through the next ten years, as the Hindu nationalist party BJP took power of India in the mid-90s.
Nuclear tests condemned
India conducted nuclear missile tests in 1998, to international condemnation.
Kashmir hotly contested area
Hostility grew between India and Pakistan over the ownership of Kashmir, a region in northern India.
Border skirmishes were increasingly frequent between 1998 and 2002, though war never erupted.
More bloodshed
In February 2002, Muslims set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, inciting more retaliations and religious bloodshed.
Tensions between India and Pakistan ceased somewhat in October 2002, as India claimed to be pulling back from the border. Pakistan is sceptical.
Israel: Case study
Should palestinians get to return home?
Home is a bittersweet word for the 4 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.
They're waiting to cross the threshold of their homeland but Israel won't let them go home.
Avoiding demographic suicide
Successive Israeli governments have ruled out the return of the millions of Palestinians in the Middle East, and around the world, to a country that has a population of only six million, fearing that it would equate to 'demographic suicide'.
An influx of Palestinians would eradicate the Jewish majority that gives Israel the right to call itself the world's only Jewish state.
Right of return
Peace in the West Bank hinges on Israel accepting key Palestinian demands.
Palestinians who fled Israel when the country was formed say they must be allowed to return to the area.
The UN in 1948 passed a resolution, dubbed the 'right of return', allowing them to do so - and Palestinians must be given the okay to set up a capital in eastern Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rejected both requests, claiming that diplomatic solutions must look at the strategic needs of Israel and, at the same time, Palestinians must drop their 'exaggerated desire' for return of Palestinians within the territory of Israel.
Bloody conflict
The Palestinian-Israeli dispute is one of the world's longest unresolved conflicts, and has been particularly bloody over the last 31 months.
Over 2,000 Palestinians and over 700 Israelis have died.
Partition
Palestine is a small territory: approximately 16,000 square kilometres.
In 1947 the United Nations announced a plan to partition Palestine into two states: one Arab Palestinian and one Jewish.
Fifty-six per cent of the land was designated for the emerging Jewish State, while only 43 per cent was designated for the Arab State.
Arab Palestinians majority but get less land
The Arab countries rejected the plan pointing out that Arab Palestinians made up two-thirds of the population and owned more than 80 per cent of the land.
According to the UN partition plan, the now hotly contested area of Jerusalem and Bethlehem was an international zone.
Four million Palestinian refugees
When Israel was created an estimated 725,000 to 810,000 Palestinians fled their homes.
By the end of 2002, the number of Palestinian refugees had surpassed four million, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees.
Jordan is home to most of the world's Palestinian refugees (1,698,271); however, there are large numbers of Palestinian refugees in Gaza (893,141), The West Bank (639,448), the Syrian Arab Republic (405,601) and Lebanon (389,233).
Israel: Background
Zionist ambition
Israel has been at the centre of the violence in the Middle East since its formation, in 1948, out of the British-controlled Palestine.
The result of years of striving on the part of the Zionist movement, Israel was conceived as a homeland for the Jews, who had been spread around the world for centuries.
UN divides Palestine
The horrors of the Holocaust and the Second World War increased support for a Jewish state.
In 1948, Britain ended its rule of Palestine and the United Nations divided the region into Jewish and Arab states.
Disagreement broke out between the two groups, however, and the fighting that resulted has continued on and off for the past 55 years, with a final peace agreement proving elusive.
Israeli tanks and Islamic suicide bombers
The last 15 years have been the most violent of the conflict.
Bloodshed on both sides sees Israel claiming lives in military operations and Islamic suicide bombers retaliating.
Peace talks futile thus far
Though peace talks progressed well in the late 1990s, they have since broken down over disagreements about the future of Jerusalem and the presence of Israeli settlers in Palestinian areas.
Israel: Key events
A complicated birth
In 1948, Britain pulled out of Palestine, and the U.N. divided the region into Jewish and Arab sections.
Israel was born, but Arabs rejected the arrangement since the Jews, though far outnumbered by the Arabs, were awarded 56 per cent of the territory.
Israeli control
Fighting broke out over disputed regions and, by 1949, Israel controled 75 per cent of Palestinian territory, including west Jerusalem. Egypt and Jordan annexed the remainder.
Palestinians displaced
The Jewish population swelled due to high immigration following the Holocaust.
Almost a million Palestinians were displaced. That number rose to more than 4 million by the year 2000.
PLO is formed
In 1964, exiled Palestinians formed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), with the aim of overthrowing the Israeli government.
Yasser Arafat became leader in 1968.
Six-Day War
Israel captured the rest of Palestine from Egypt and Jordan in the Six-Day War of 1967, including east Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, as well as the Sinai Peninsula and parts of Syria.
In a 1979 peace accord signed by Israel and Egypt, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, but all Palestinian areas continue to be controlled by Israel.
Palestinian Intifada
The Intifada, an uprising of the Palestinian people, began in 1987 in the occupied areas, signaling the beginning of years of violent clashes between Arabs and Jews.
Palestinians took the brunt of the losses, as the Israeli military continually cracked down on protests by the poorly armed people.
Some 1200 Palestinians died in the first stages of Intifada.
Peace talks
Peace talks began in the early 1990s, and in 1993, Labour Party Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin negotiated a deal with Yasser Arafat through which the Palestinian Authority gained control over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Jericho.
It was an interim arrangement, pending a finalised peace agreement.
Suicide bombings
The two sides signed an expansion deal in 1995 and Palestinians gained increasing control over West Bank areas.
Unfortunately, the peace did not last, and suicide bombings by Islamic militants caused Israel to slow their withdrawal from Palestinian cities. Conflicts continued for the next few years.
Still no solution
Peace talks in 1999 and 2000 came close to finding a solution to the conflict, but ultimately, disagreements over the future of Jerusalem (Palestine claims east Jerusalem as the future capital of their country) derailed the peace process.
In September 2000, future Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited a Jerusalem holy site revered by both Jews and Muslims, sparking further demonstrations and crackdowns.
These skirmishes led to the worst fighting since the Intifada began, with Israel increasing its military presence in Palestinian areas and Islamic suicide bombers routinely attacking Jewish public spaces.
Japan: Case study
Who's going to help Japan's broke teens?
Japan is going through a youth crisis of sorts.
The country that once offered the hope of 'jobs for life' is mired in an economic gloom that has meant that it's almost impossible for teens to get jobs.
Living off their parents
More than one in eight 15 to 24 year olds are unemployed and young people are facing a job drought unlike anything seen in the last 50 years.
Instead, of making money of their own, Japan's youth have been forced to live off their parents.
Teens latest casualty
Japan has faced four recessions in the last decade and teens are the latest casualties in a country where the government is still politely debating how to fix its financial woes.
Kiroshi: death from overwork
Japan's economic problems manifest themselves in strange social ways. In the late eighties when the country was high-flying, the Japanese feared Kiroshi, death from overwork.
Today the bedroom syndrome
Today, Japan's wounded economy is breeding a form of social parasite - Hikikomori's.
Teens who can't get jobs are retreating to their bedrooms, en masse.
Japanese psychiatrist Tamaki Saito says that almost 1.2. million young people, about 1 percent of the population - suffer from hikikomori, acute social withdrawal.
Japan's teenage males become hermits, immersing themselves in obsessions that range from role-playing video games to comics and television - and live off their parents.
A social phenomenon
Interestingly, hikikomori is not so much a disease but a social phenomenon: experts suggest that the condition began from a core group of quite ill individuals and spread into a social epidemic.
Hikikomori is, for all intents and purposes, a form of cultural expression.
Nation of troubled teens
Teenagers don't consider Japan an easy place to live. Economic troubles have created a generation of disenchanted youth.
And while Japanese trends - from anime to manga - have circled the globe, back at home Japanese youth haven't been able to break into the sarariman corporate world, leaving them a little more than unsure about what they are going to do with their lives.
Japan: Background
A private culture
For hundreds of years Japan remained steadfastly closed to outside influence, seldom allowing outsiders to get even a glimpse of its ancient culture.
World's second strongest economy
All that changed with the Second World War.
Since 1955, Japan has become an economic and technological powerhouse, exporting its cars and electronic equipment around the world.
Over 40 years, it became the world's second strongest economy after the United States, though a major recession which began in the 1990s, set the country back significantly.
Protecting Japanese values
In an effort to protect Japanese values and stave off western influence, Japan went through a period of extreme nationalism and imperialism in the years leading up to the Second World War.
Human rights violations
Allegations of gross human-rights abuses abound from this period, but the crushing defeat of Japan in the war set off an incredible transformation.
The nation's people began embracing many parts of western culture while maintaining strong ties with their traditional culture.
Legacy of wartime aggression lingers
Today, Japan is starting to make amends for its behaviour before and during the Second World War, but a coveted seat on the UN security council proves to be an elusive goal.
Japan: Key events
World power with military might
Between 1894 and 1914, a series of successful wars with China, Russia and Korea led to Japan becoming a world power going into the First World War, though its culture remained largely mysterious to most westerners.
Japan joined the war on the side of the British, but had a limited role in the fighting.
Radical nationalism
In the late 1920s, nationalism rose in Japan, with an emphasis on the protection of traditional culture and values and the rejection of all western influence.
This nationalism paved the way for imperial ambitions, and in 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria and installs a puppet government.
Rape of Nanjing
In 1936, Japan signed an anti-communist agreement with Germany and later did the same with Italy.
It invaded China in 1937, taking Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing. This was the period during which Japan perpetrated its worst human-rights atrocities.
During the 'Rape of Nanjing', the Japanese were accused of having killed some 300,000 Chinese civilians.
Attack on Pearl Harbour
In 1941, Japan carried out a surprise attack on the US navy in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, sinking 12 ships and killing 2500 Americans.
The United States and its allies declared war on Japan the following day and proceeded to defeat it throughout the South Pacific, until within bombing range of Japan.
Atomic bomb dropped
On 6 August 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and followed with another on Nagasaki three days later.
Reports have put the death toll anywhere between 65,000 and 200,000 between the two cities. Japan's emperor, Hirohito, surrendered.
Japan came under US military rule, while its own military was completely disbanded.
Liberal Democratic Party
Japan began to repair the damage done by the war. In 1951 Japan signed a peace treaty with the US and other nations that led to independence from US rule in 1952.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was formed in 1955 and ruled for more than 35 years. Japan joined the United Nations in 1956.
Rapid economic growth
Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, Japan enjoyed rapid growth to its economy and opened its first Honda automobile plant in America in 1982.
Economic slowdown
This growth continued until the mid-1990s, when an economic slowdown began to create new problems for the Japanese government.
Government atones
In 2001, the government began trying to atone for Japan's actions in the years preceding the Second World War.
LDP Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Seoul, South Korea, and apologised for the suffering of the Korean people under Japanese occupation.
Russia: Case study
Should Russia let go?
Human-rights organisations have presented startling accounts of Russian atrocities.
A private affair
Russia is suffering from a post-communist malaise of sorts.
It has embraced the idea of democracy but hasn't quite rid itself of its KGB attitude: The big bear still prefers to keep the doors of its house firmly closed to outside scrutiny.
One of those doors leads to Russia's southern republic, Chechnya. Russia has been less than forthcoming about Chechnya's state of affairs.
The reason isn't so hard to fathom.
High-murder rate
According to unpublished government statistics, in the first two months of 2003 there were 70 murders and 126 abductions.
Chechnya has a murder rate five to eight times that of Moscow. There have been an estimated 600 to 800 landmine causalities since 1996, most of them children.
Chechen referendum
Chechnya wants independence but Russia isn't willing to let Chechnya go. Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to enter into talks with Chechen leaders and even though a referendum in March 2003 cemented Chechnya's status as part of Russia the violence hasn't stopped.
Russia wants oil, territory
Why Russia wants Chechnya is a complex issue. Russia was once part of a strong union of states, and doesn't feel it can afford to lose any more territory.
More important is the issue of oil. The Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline - a pipeline that runs from Baku, Azerbaijan's capital to Russia's Black Sea port at Novorossiisk - runs through Chechnya and Russia can't afford to lose control of the route.
World can't get in
The world hasn't been able to get a complete picture of what's going on inside Chechnya.
The world hasn't been able to get a complete picture of what's going on inside of Chechnya.
Independent media accounts aren't readily available because Russian authorities won't give journalists access.
International organisations have withdrawn or dramatically scaled back operations because foreign aid workers risked getting kidnapped, murdered, or blown up by landmines.
Startling accounts of Russian atrocities
Human-rights organisations have presented startling accounts of Russian atrocities.
Chechens have been taken away, interrogated, beaten and executed. In some cases Russian forces have blown up the bodies of executed Chechens to destroy signs of torture and make it difficult to determine the cause of death.
Russian guilt absolved by terrorism?
The international community has been slow in demanding accountability for Russia's human rights violations.
What's more, Western criticism of Russia eased considerably after September 11 when President Putin linked Chechnya to terrorist activity.
Mother Russia is aching too
The conflict is also taking a toll on Russian civilians.
In October 2002, 50-armed Chechens held the audience of a Moscow theatre hostage and 129 civilians were killed when Russian Special Forces released a debilitating gas into the theatre in an attempt to flush out the rebel forces.
Rebels continue fight
Later that year, in the Chechen capital of Grozny, Chechen forces blew up a government building and killed 72 civilians.
And, less than two weeks after the March referendum, a bus carrying construction workers exploded on a landmine set by Chechnyan rebels, killing eight.
Russia: Background
A culture of untold riches
A vast and diverse land, Russia has a rich artistic legacy left by such writers as Count Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky and classical composers like Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky.
It also has an impressive record in international athletic competition. But Russia's political and economic situation has been volatile for nearly a century.
Russian revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1917 saw the end of the Tsarist monarchy and the rise to power of the Bolshevik (communist) Party under Lenin.
USSR
Russia was part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) until 1991, when reformers put down an attempted coup by hard-line communists and the Soviet Union collapsed.
89 Regions and republics
Russia is the largest state to have come out of the former Soviet Union and is actually a conglomeration of 89 regions and autonomous republics.
Money problems & rebellion
Since the end of the Soviet system, Russia has struggled to stabilise the economy and maintain political control in the former Soviet region, but has faced a devalued currency and separatist rebellions in the state of Chechnya.
Poor human rights record
The situation in Chechnya has become the country's major human-rights issue, as untold thousands have died and millions more have been displaced in an on-going battle that has attracted great amounts of international attention, but that the world has largely overlooked since the 2001 World Trade Centre attacks.
Russia: Key events
Lenin
In 1917, Bolshevik rebels overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and seized power under Lenin.
This led to the formation, in 1922, of the USSR, a coalition of several similar communist republics.
Second World War
The USSR played a decisive role in the Second World War, fighting Germany and eventually taking Berlin in 1945. This allowed the Soviet Union to expand its influence in eastern Europe.
By the mid-1980s, the Cold War was at its height, and the Soviet economy was stagnating.
Perestroika: ending the Cold War
General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev introduced a massive restructuring plan (perestroika) that aimed to reform communism and bring about an end to the pointless arms race of the Cold War.
USSR crumbles
This move angered hard-line communists, who attempted to stage a coup in 1991. Their attempt was thwarted by a group of democratic reformers, who were led by Boris Yeltsin and supported economic change.
During this time other Soviet republics began to declare their independence.
In December 1991, the USSR crumbled and Russia was led into the nineties by Yeltsin.
Rubles & rubble
Yeltsin's government struggled with the economic reform as the value of the ruble fell, and in 1994, Russia faced further trouble in Chechnya.
Yeltsin sent troops into Chechnya to quell the separatist uprising, and tens of thousands of Chechen civilians were killed. International criticism of Russia's handling of the situation mounted amid reports of atrocities.
Yeltsin offers Chechnya independence
In 1996, the Russian government and Chechnya reach a peace agreement that allows Chechnya unofficial but uncontested independence.
However, as Yeltsin's health declined and the economy failed to improve over the next three years, tensions between the two sides rose again.
Putin backtracks
Vladimir Putin, who replaced Yeltsin in 1999, sent troops back into Chechnya and the fighting recommenced.
Russia claimed to hold all of Chechnya, but was unable to put an end to guerrilla attacks and uprisings, including terror attacks in other parts of Russia.
During this time, the number of refugees and displaced Chechens stretched beyond one million.
Ties to NATO
Through 2002, Russia pursued closer ties with NATO and wealthy trading partners in a continuing attempt to improve the economy.
Several suicide attacks and other terrorist moves were attributed to Chechen rebels, including the capture of a Moscow theatre, during which some 50 rebels and 120 hostages died.
Somalia: Case study
Why is child smuggling a somalian obsession?
'I miss my family a lot. I don't know how to contact them. If I had money, I would go - I hope to eventually find them. It was not good to come here; I should have stayed with them whatever was happening. Sending your children away is a disastrous idea. You should never send your children to places like this'. - Ahmad, Somalian teenager smuggled to London.
Parents pay $10,000 to help kids escape
For Somalis, child smuggling has become something of a national obsession.
Desperate parents, who see no future for their children, pay smugglers up to $10,000 USD to help their children escape the country.
No central government
Somalia has had no central government since 1991 when President Muhammad Siyad Barre's regime was toppled.
In the last decade the country has been torn apart by clan-based factions and competing warlords.
Attempts to establish some kind of governing authority have failed and the international community is sceptical that Somalia will ever see a lasting peace.
No healthcare or education
Parents see few options for their children. Lack of health care and education are the main reasons given for sending children away.
Parents also see smuggling as a smart financial strategy - they hope that children will eventually be able to regularly send money home.
A lucrative business
Smuggling, the illegal transport of children for profit, is a lucrative international business.
Smugglers charge between $7000 USD to $10,000 USD for each child and may be participating in the smuggling trade in addition to working in a regular job.
According to the UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), in 2001 250 children were smuggled out of Mogadishu each month.
After September 11 security clampdowns at airports worldwide forced smugglers to slow down. Now about 40 to 60 children successfully delivered to their destinations each month, although IRIN says that number is steadily increasing.
Lives of misery
The children often face lives of misery. While some end up in the care of relatives, most end up alone, neglected, and estranged from their families, living with the burden of maintaining an assumed identity.
Many are used to exploit social benefits systems. In extreme situations some are used as domestic labour or for prostitution.
Host family wants benefits
'Often the family just wants social service benefits, and does not give the child any affection or proper attention', said Dahabo Isa of the Somali Development Organisation, a British NGO told IRIN. 'I have heard of suicide cases, where these young Somali children attempt to kill themselves'.
Somalia: Background
Years of war cause collapse of government
A small pastoral country in eastern Africa, Somalia has been embroiled in an anarchic civil war since 1991. It has not had an effective central government since that time.
75 per cent of population nomadic
This political strife, combined with frequent droughts and ever-looming famine, has had a profound effect on the largely nomadic Somalis, 75 per cent of whom survive by herding goats, camels, and other livestock.
Clan wars breed lawlessness
The country was formed in 1960 by the merging of the British protectorate Somaliland in the north and Italian Somalia in the south.
For years, Somalia was plagued by historical rivalries between clans, and when socialist leader Siad Barre was deposed in 1991, the country was plunged into more than 10 years of fighting, lawlessness, and civil war.
UN mission fails
The United Nations attempted to bring peace to the region between 1992 and 1995, but the mission ended in a highly publicised failure.
Warlords vie for power
Since then, rival clans have tried to reach peace through an interim central government, but several factional warlords have continued to disrupt the process in attempts to seize power themselves.
Somalia: Key events
An independent somalia
British Somaliland and Italian Somalia won independence from their colonial powers and merged to form Somalia in 1960.
After nine years of volatile civilian rule, Mohammed Siad Barre seized control of the government in a bloodless coup.
Anarchy
Continued regional warring throughout Siad Barre's rule, along with famine and poverty, eventually led to his being toppled by the forces of clan leader Mohamed Farah Aideed in 1991.
Somalia was immediately thrown into anarchy, as rival clans vied for power throughout the country. Somaliland in the north declared its independence, but was not recognised by any other state.
UN pulls out
Fighting continued without any central government and in 1992, the UN mandated a peace mission that failed by 1995.
During the mission, 135 UN troops and hundreds of Somalis died.
The UN pulled out of Somalia in 1995 leaving the situation no better than when they arrived.
After the withdrawal of the UN, Aideed tried to take control, but he was killed in factional fighting in 1996.
A look toward peace
Four years later, clan leaders met in Djibouti to try to end the decade of chaos. They elected Abdulkassim Salat Hassan president of an interim government designed to take Somalia through to a permanent arrangement.
Fighting continues
Unfortunately, some warlords did not accept the arrangement, and fighting continued in the capital Mogadishu, with Aideed's son, Hussein Aideed, trying to take power.
His forces battled the forces of the interim government in Mogadishu for a year and a half.
Ceasefire agreement
In October 2002, the interim government and several warlords signed a ceasefire agreement that was designed to last until peace talks could be completed, but it was not clear how the deal would be upheld and how effective it would be.
South Africa: Case study
Is the South African government guilty of murder?
AIDS is the number one killer of South Africans, yet the South African government won't cough up the cash for much-needed drugs.
South Africans can't afford drugs
Millions of HIV-positive South Africans are suffering because they cannot afford to buy anti-retroviral drugs, medication that is recognised as the most effective way to manage HIV. Antiretrovirals interfere with HIV's life cycle and limits its ability to reproduce.
Biggest HIV population in the world
South Africa has a bigger HIV population than any other country. One in five South Africans are infected with HIV.
Free drugs not a solution
The government says that while there is evidence that antiretrovirals work, simply giving away drugs is not the solution.
Patients must follow a strict treatment regimen or the drugs become ineffective.
The government has concerns about how well South Africa's poor, uneducated population could follow such a treatment plan.
No infrastructure for drug distribution
Other concerns include the high costs of the drugs and a national healthcare system that doesn't have the infrastructure to support the distribution of drugs.
Activists accuse government of murder
South African AIDS activists such as the Treatment Action Campaign say the government is murdering its people and that drugs are essential not only because they save lives, but because they get rid of the stigma that goes along with HIV.
Zackie Achmat, head of the Treatment Action Campaign, is HIV-positive, but refuses to take antiretrovirals until the government distributes them for free.
Workforce is infected
Most of the 30 million HIV-infected Africans are working-age men and women.
And, even if the government doesn't see the value of keep the South African workforce alive, the companies who invest in the country do.
Private companies giving away drugs
Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ltd., one of the world's biggest gold producers, announced an antiretroviral project in 2002 as a means of coping with the costs associated with losing its workforce.
Other companies who offer antiretrovirals to their employees include De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. and Coca-Cola Co.
600 die each day
Upwards of 600 South Africans die each day from AIDS-related diseases.
South Africa: Background
Eight decades of white rule
After 80 years of rule by a white minority, South Africa held its first multiracial elections in 1994.
Marked by violence
The nineteenth century in South Africa was marked by violence, starting with the Boer War (1899-1902) between the British and the descendents of Dutch colonisers. Since South Africa became a country in 1910, racial inequality and violence have reigned.
Apartheid
The crisis was at its worst during the rule of the National Party (NP), which instituted a policy of racial segregation, known as apartheid, and kept the white minority in control of every aspect of South African life.
Mandela freed
Finally, international pressure brought about the end of apartheid in 1991 and the freedom of Nelson Mandela, a black leader who had been imprisoned by the NP for 27 years.
A recovering nation
Since 1991, in the face of overwhelming odds, South Africa has striven to create a stable democracy and stem retributive racial violence, while joining the international community and recovering from decades of economic sanctions.
It has had surprising success with this, but now faces a newer problem: the worst AIDS statistics in the world.
South Africa: Key events
Union of South Africa
In 1910, after 100 years of fighting, the British and Dutch controlled regions in southern Africa were merged into one country.
The Union of South Africa was formed from the British colonies of The Cape of Good Hope and Natal, and the Boer (Dutch) republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State.
Native national congress
Two years later, the Native National Congress was founded. It was a party of black Africans that was later known as the African National Congress (ANC).
Black oppression leads to civil disobedience
Blacks were oppressed throughout the next 35 years and, in 1948, the National Party (NP) gained power and during the following years, introduced the policies of apartheid.
The ANC, led by Nelson Mandela, began practicing civil disobedience in protest.
Economic sanctions
South Africa became a republic in 1961, leaving the British Commonwealth.
International pressure to end human rights abuses mounted steadily though the 1960s. South Africa was excluded from the Olympic Games. Crushing economic sanctions were imposed by many countries.
Still, the NP managed to hold onto power.
Mandela sentenced to life in prison
In 1964, after heading a lengthy campaign of civil disobedience and sabotage, Nelson Mandela was arrested and sentenced to life in prison.
Through the 1970s, 3 million blacks were forcibly resettled and countless people died in protests, uprisings, and clashes with security forces.
Apartheid ends
In 1989, F.W. de Klerk was elected president, and faced with sanctions and international pressure, he began dismantling apartheid.
Mandela freed
De Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and freed Mandela, who had spent 27 years in prison, in 1990.
Mandela first black president
The ANC won the first post-apartheid election in 1994, and Mandela became the first black president of South Africa.
Atonement for human rights sins
In 1996, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, began hearing the testimonies of those who committed human rights crimes during the apartheid years.
The TRC is aimed at forgiveness between the races, and is widely criticised for its approach, though South Africa appears to be recovering from apartheid remarkably quickly.
Thabo Mbeki new leader
Thabo Mbeki replaced Nelson Mandela as leader of the ANC in 1999. Mandela retired to enjoy a reputation as the elder statesman of South African politics.
Aids controversy
By the end of the century, AIDS gained prominence as the major problem facing South Africa.
In 2000, studies concluded that 20 per cent of the adult population was infected with HIV, but Mbeki downplays the problem, refusing to deal directly with the issue.
East Timor: Case study
Can Australia claim an oil bonanza by drawing a line in the sea?
'We're dealing with a neighbour which has one thousandth, one thousandth of the GDP of Australia, its down on its knees, its in huge trouble, and the one resource its got to develop is these oil and gas fields.' -Senator Bob Brown, Greens' Leader
A fair deal?
Vast oil and gas reserves under the Timor Sea hold the key to the economic freedom of one of the poorest countries in the world. But is the tiny nation of East Timor getting a fair deal?
A new kind of exploitation
After living under Indonesia's forced occupation for 25 years and seeing its people subjected to a regime of terror that included mass killings, torture, and forced deportation, East Timor gained its independence in May 2002.
Now, over a year later, some argue that Australia is subjecting East Timor to a new kind of exploitation - this time offshore.
Oil key to economic freedom
Oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea, the stretch of water that separates Australia and East Timor, could secure East Timor's economic future.
Australia and East Timor have struck a deal - the Timor Sea Treaty - that divides the sea's wealth and sees East Timor receiving 90 per cent of oil and gas royalties from Bayu-Undan, the main gas field in the area.
Seems like a dream come true
For a country whose economic hopes were previously pinned on the exportation of coffee and marble, oil royalties seem like a dream come true.
However, the Bayu-Undan gas field, isn't the only 'fish' in the sea. Another gas field, the Greater Sunrise, could provide East Timor with much-needed royalties, provided maritime boundaries were redrawn so that Greater Sunrise was in East Timor.
Up until last year, Greater Sunrise was in East Timor.
Not so sunny boundaries
East Timor had a claim for substantial royalties from the Greater Sunrise, because under the UN's Law of the Sea convention a majority of the gas field was well within East Timor's boundaries.
Then, Australia withdrew from the Law of the Sea convention and opted instead to uphold a deal it had made with Indonesia in 1972.
This deal put most of the Greater Sunrise field in Australian waters.
Now East Timor can only claim one-fifth of what was once mostly its own. East Timor could have demanded greater revenues, but doing so would have meant risking the Timor Sea Treaty collapsing.
Australia's leftovers
Australian ministers have accused their government of offering Timor what amounts to little more than 'scrapings off a plate'.
But the Australian government defends itself by saying that the deal gives East Timor a foundation for economic development that it otherwise wouldn't have.
Meanwhile, East Timor is left wondering what impact reduced oil revenue will have on the nation's economic instability.
East Timor: Background
Years of human rights abuse
The most publicised of Indonesia's conflicts, East Timor received international attention because of staggering reports of human rights abuses during Indonesia's 25-year occupation.
A quarter of the population dies
East Timor's struggle for independence was long and bloody.
More than 200,000 East Timorese - almost a quarter of the population - died prior to the nation being given autonomy in 1999.
Indonesian-run militias committed human rights atrocities and murder, and senior Indonesian military officials have been tried for crimes against humanity and genocide.
World's newest democracy
East Timor gained independence from Indonesia in May 2002, making it the world's newest democracy and the first new nation of the century.
East Timor: Key events
Indonesia annexes East Timor
After more than 400 years of colonial power, Portugal withdrew from Indonesia in 1974 and Indonesia's president Suharto annexed East Timor, declaring it Indonesia's twenty-sixth province.
Indonesia claimed the move was necessary to prevent a communist takeover of the territory.
Independence movement begins
Almost immediately, an East Timorese independence movement began and, in 1979, Xanana Gusmao took up leadership of rebel forces.
World powers were accused of turning a blind eye to the occupation; some went as far as supplying Indonesia with weapons.
In 1992, Gusmao was captured in the East Timor capital of Dili by Indonesian troops and sentenced to life in prison.
Nobel Peace Prize
The world community recognised the East Timorese situation in 1996. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Carlos Belo, the Bishop of East Timor, and Jose Ramos Horta, a spokesperson for the East Timorese cause, in recognition of their contributions to a small but oppressed people.
Special status
In 1998, when a collapsing Indonesian economy triggered widespread street protests, Indonesian President Suharto resigned.
Indonesia's new president, B.J. Habibe said he was willing to give East Timor special status within Indonesia, but East Timorese supporters said that the concession didn't go far enough.
Independence referendum
In 1999 Indonesia agreed to allow the East Timorese to hold a referendum to choose between autonomy within Indonesia or full independence.
The Indonesia militia killed dozens in an attempt to use terror to discourage voters. Nearly 99 per cent of the population turned out to vote and almost 79 per cent chose independence.
Bloody rampage forces international intervention
In the wake of the vote, Indonesian loyalists began a bloody rampage.
More than 200,000 East Timorese were forced to flee their homes, villages were burned to the ground and the UN was forced to pull out.
International intervention began, when it became apparent that Indonesia was unable to restore stability to the region.
Independence granted
The Indonesian government declared the 1976 annexation of East Timor void and in April 2002, in a landslide victory, former rebel leader Xanana Gusmao was elected president.
In May 2002 East Timor becomes fully independent. The United Nations assumes administrative and military power within the country.
USA: Case study
Is the death penalty the ultimate human rights violation?
The United States has executed the most child criminals: 17 since 1990 and 4 in the last two years.
Axis of executioners
The US speaks out vehemently against human rights violations, so much so, that it's fighting an axis of evil that threatens world peace.
But Amnesty International says that the US conveniently overlooks its place along an 'axis of executioners'.
Ultimate rights violation
The death penalty is considered by many to be the ultimate human rights violation. Premeditated, cold-blooded killing in the guise of justice.
Only three major democracies execute
It has been abolished by all of the world's major democracies except for Japan, India and the US.
China executes most people
In 2002, more than 1,526 prisoners were executed in 31 countries.
And, even though 83 countries support the death penalty, China, Iran and the US accounted for 81 per cent of all recorded executions.
Each year China executes the most prisoners. In 2002 China executed 1,060 compared to 2,468 in the year previous. Iran executed 113. The US executed 71.
US won't sign Rights of the Child convention
The US leads the world in the execution of child offenders.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly spells out that capital punishment can't be imposed for offences committed by anyone under 18 years of age.
The US and Somalia are the only UN countries that have not ratified the Convention.
USA: Background
World superpower
As the world's only real military and economic superpower, the United States has had little trouble taking on the role of cultural superpower as well.
Cultural exports
The United States has dominated the world of entertainment for decades, exporting its television, movies, music, and sports figures to every place on earth capable of receiving them.
US icons recognised worldwide
Blues, Jazz, and Rap music, The Simpsons, Hollywood movies, and Michael Jordan are just a few examples of American cultural icons that have received nearly universal recognition in the world.
Diverse nation
The US is an extremely diverse nation comprised of hundreds of distinct ethnicities, though it does not embrace the idea of 'multiculturalism' per se.
Melting pot
Instead, the 'melting pot' is a central idea in American national identity, through which all immigrants theoretically leave their ethnicities at the door and become 'American'.
Distrust of US foreign policy
The US has also largely dominated international affairs since the end of the Second World War.
Unfortunately, this has led to increasing distrust of the US and its policies among the world's people.
Primarily, it is the US's tendency to get involved in the domestic affairs of other states when its own interests can be served that has drawn criticism over the years.
US meddling leads to terrorism?
Some argue that the increasing cultural, economic, and military interference of the US around the world has led to some of the terrorism that it has suffered in the last few years, including the September 11 World Trade Centre attacks in 2001.
Trouble on the homefront
Certain domestic issues have posed problems for the US throughout the twentieth century.
Racial tension has never ceased to be an issue since the abolition of slavery at the end of the American Civil War, with racial violence breaking out around the country with regularlity.
War on terrorism
Lately, however, domestic concerns in the US have been eclipsed by international tensions surrounding President George W. Bush's 'War on Terror' and the 2003 war in Iraq.
USA: Key events
Waves of Immigration
Three waves of immigration swelled the American population from the beginning of the seventeenth century to the beginning of the twentieth centuries.
British settlers
The first wave were the British settlers who colonised America starting in 1600.
Black slaves
The second was the involuntary wave of black slaves whom the British brought from Africa in their hundreds of thousands over the next 200 years.
European immigrants
The third wave was made up of the European immigrants, who poured into the country following independence, seeking political and religious freedom and opportunity.
War of Independence
The US won independence from Britain at the end of the War of Independence in 1787. George Washington was elected the first president in 1789.
American Civil War
The American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865 between the abolitionist northern Union under President Abraham Lincoln, and the pro-slavery southern confederacy.
Blacks free, but oppressed
The Union was the war in 1865 and abolished slavery, though black Americans continued to be oppressed, segregated, beaten, and killed, primarily in the southern states, for 100 years.
Stock market crash
In 1929, the stock market crashed, and over the next four years, 13 million people lost their livelihoods. It was 10 years before the economy regained a measure of normality.
US joins war
The US joined the Second World War when Japan attacked the US Navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
It defeated the Japanese in the South Pacific and dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, killing upwards of 100,000 people.
Fight against communism
From 1950 onward, the US became increasingly involved in foreign affairs, and was primarily interested in fighting communism.
It regularly intervened in wars in which communist states were involved, such as the Korean War in the early 1950s and the Vietnam conflict in the 60s and early 70s.
Bay of Pigs
In 1961, the US funded, trained and encouraged Cuban exiles to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The operation fails and becomes a scandal in America.
Black rights
Black Americans were given constitutional equality through the Civil Rights Act in 1964, 100 years after being freed by Lincoln, but racial tensions remained high. Martin Luther King Jr., a revered black civil rights activist, was assassinated in 1968.
Cold War
From 1970, the Cold War between the US and the USSR escalated into a nuclear arms race and the US continues to fight communism. In 1983, under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, it invaded the island of Grenada over concerns about the island's close ties with Cuba.
Gulf War
During the Persian Gulf War in 1991 the US fought off the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait but failed to unseat Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
World resentment
America's foreign policy, combined with its flamboyant wealth, cultural domination of the world, and relentless pursuit of oil, continues to inspire resentment in poorer countries.
Many people attribute a series of terrorist attacks on American targets around the turn of the century, culminating in the World Trade Center attacks, to this resentment.
Afghanistan
Osama Bin Laden is the key suspect in the Trade Centre attacks, and the hunt for him led to the bombing of Afghanistan in 2001 and the second Gulf War in Iraq.
The war in Iraq was widely opposed by the international community and incited the largest peace demonstrations in the US since the Vietnam war.
An elusive goal
Though the United Nations Security Council did not sanction the war, the US and Britain led an attack in 2003 that lasted about three weeks and seemed to succeed in overthrowing the regime of Saddam Hussein. Osama Bin Laden proves elusive, and the War on Terror is ongoing.
Serbia: Case study
When will Serbia uncover all of the mass graves?
Almost 500 mass gravesites are the legacy of violence in Kosovo.
Since 1998, when the violence in Serbia and Kosovo became international news, one of the major preoccupations of NATO and the international community has been investigating the reports of mass graves containing the bodies of thousands of civilian Kosovar Albanians.
These reports were the centrepiece around which NATO's involvement in the conflict revolved.
Genocide: international watchword
Since the Second World War, the term 'genocide' has become more and more of a watchword, a caution to the international community to be vigilant against the horrible events of that time ever reoccurring.
Ethnic cleansing
In the mid 1990s, during the Balkan War, the term associated with Slobodan Milosevic's nationalistic campaign in Bosnia, 'ethnic cleansing', began to replace 'genocide' as the popular expression.
When reports of ethnic cleansing began to surface in Kosovo in mid-1998, the international community, led by the United States, very quickly took notice.
Eyewitness accounts
There was some attention being given to the situation, as Kosovar rebels steadily increased violence of their fight for independence from Serbia.
It wasn't until humanitarian agencies came forward with eye-witness accounts of ethnic cleansing and mass graves that the international community intervened.
Hundreds of bodies taken away in trucks
One such account of Serb forces occupies a Kosovar town alleged that more than 500 civilians had been murdered by Serbian troops and taken away in trucks for mass burial.
As NATO became involved and began bombing Serbia in an effort to drive its military out of Kosovo, the question of mass graves became central to the debate surrounding the conflict.
Aerial photos provide proof
The issue of whether or not ethnic cleansing was really occurring in Kosovo hinged on the presence or absence of mass graves, and evidence of these became key to NATO's war publicity.
In April 1999, NATO published aerial photographs of sites it claimed were mass graves containing the bodies of up to 150 Kosovar Albanians.
300 hundred sites need to be found
After the bombing ended with the fall of Milosevic and the United Nations took over the interim government of Kosovo, forensic investigators began searching for evidence of mass graves.
By the end of 2002, they had discovered over 2100 bodies in some 200 mass grave sites.
There are thought to be up to 500 such sites in total.
US partly responsible
Some people feel that a certain amount of responsibility for the events lies with the United States.
They feel that in 1995, in an effort to end the Balkan War, the U.S. used Milosevic as a public relations tool, signing the Dayton Peace Agreement with him, and then painting him as a great peacemaker.
They argue that this move gave Milosevic a good international reputation and allowed him to act as he pleased for many months before the rest of the world caught on.
Milosevic tried
In 2002, the United Nations war-crimes tribunal brought Slobodan Milosevic before the court to stand trial on accusations involving war crimes and genocide.
He refused to recognise the authority of the court, insisted on defending himself, and attempted to thwart the court's progress at every opportunity.
Meanwhile, investigators continue to search Serbia and Kosovo to uncover the locations of all of the remaining mass graves.
Serbia: Background
Hotly contested territory
Kosovo first received widespread attention in 1998, when it became the cause of a NATO air-strike campaign against Yugoslavia.
It has, however, been a hotly contested territory for hundreds of years, with both Serbia and Albania claiming ancestral rights.
An international protectorate
While officially a province of Serbia, Kosovo has possessed full autonomy for many of the last 30 years, with most of the rights of the other Yugoslav republics.
It is now an international protectorate governed by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
Population 90 per cent Albanian
With a population that is 90 per cent ethnic Albanian, Kosovo has had a history of independence movements ever since being granted autonomy in 1974.
These movements gained momentum through the 1990s and in 1998.
The Kosovo Liberation Army stepped up the independence fight and the Serbian military, under nationalist President Slobodan Milosevic, began cracking down with heavy presence in Kosovo.
Human rights abuses leads to massive bombing campaign
While the international community did not support the Kosovars' demands for independence, it did apply strong pressure on Milosevic to remove his troops from Kosovo.
Allegations of human-rights abuses and genocide eventually led to NATO beginning a massive bombing campaign that ended in a Serbian withdrawal and the formation of the UNMIK.
Serbia: Key events
Torn apart by territorial dispute
Until the Second World War, Kosovo was repeatedly fought over by Serbia and Albania.
Serbian settlers
Throughout the nineteenth century, Albanians came to make up the majority of the population. Serbia tried to balance the population by sending Serbian settlers to the area through the first half of the twentieth century.
Albanian uprising
This caused frequent Albanian uprising and demands for independence. During the Second World War, Yugoslav fighters promised Albanian Kosovars the right to join Albania in return for help repelling the German and Italian forces.
The Yugoslavs did not keep their promise, and further uprisings marked the next 30 years.
Autonomy not good enough
In 1974, Kosovo won autonomy, but Serbs remained discontented for the next 15 years.
Albanian Kosovars were not satisfied with being an autonomous province and continued to push for complete independence.
Also, Serbian emigration from Kosovo led to Albanians outnumbering Serbs in Kosovo nine to one.
Milosevic strips Kosovo of autonomy
Milosevic used this discontent to rise to power and, in 1989, he stripped Kosovo of its autonomy, setting off 10 years of increasing tension and militarism in the area.
By 1998, the Kosovo Liberation Army had armed itself and was fighting a guerrilla campaign against Milosevic's Serbian forces.
NATO bombing campaign
Serbia began crushing these revolts amid growing international condemnation. In March 1999, NATO began its bombing campaign on strategic military targets throughout Serbia.
Refugees
Refugees immediately began pouring over the border from Kosovo into Montenegro, Albania, and Macedonia, with reports of widespread atrocities and ethnic cleansing.
The bombing lasts just over two months, and in June 1999, the two sides reached a peace agreement and Serbian forces began withdrawing from Kosovo.
Governed by UN
Since the end of the conflict, the UN has governed Kosovo, though recently, some state functions have been returned to the administration of local authorities.
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