The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking ethnic and religious minority living primarily in northern Iraq. Sunni Jihadists and the Islamic State in particular, regard the Yazidis as ‘devil worshippers’ who have two options: atone and convert, or face death. On August 3rd, 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) viciously attacked and took…
Presidential election years are a great opportunity for advocates to shape candidates’ positions on various issues. Social media platforms have proven to be effective in grasping the attention of candidates and getting a response. Help us grab the attention of the current presidential candidates. Join us in asking the next President of the United States…
Today, Jewish World Watch joined 11 organizations, including InterAction an alliance of over 180 nongovernmental organizations operating around the world, to issue a statement on the ongoing conflict in South Sudan. The statement calls on the conflicting parties, and the impending transitional government, to immediately address the food security crisis the conflict has caused. If…
In 1913, the ultra-nationalist Young-Turks took political control of the Ottoman Empire, now Turkey. The group sought to develop a unified empire with one language and one religion that would be able to expand its power to the East. When WWI broke out, the regime, which sided with Germany and Austria-Hungary, took action to disarm…
In March 1992, the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from The Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. The event followed a series of incidents that would ultimately culminate in the breakup of Yugoslavia. Bosnian Serbs however, were unhappy with the newfound independence. They wanted to be part of a dominant Serbian state—and not a state with…
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been plagued by violence, corruption, and poor governance for decades. Since the Second Congo War in 1998, conflict in eastern DRC has claimed over 5.4 million lives, and displaced more than three million people. Various militia groups and government forces are both responsible for committing heinous crimes…
On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge, under the leadership of Pol Pot, took control of Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Over the course of the next four years, the Khmer Rouge murdered nearly two million people while attempting to establish a strictly Communist society. The Khmer Rouge sought to transform Cambodia into…
In 2005, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ended Sudan’s decades-long civil war and provided the southerners an option to vote to secede from Sudan. On July 9, 2011, South Sudan became an independent country with the support of the United States. Two years after independence growing tensions within the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM)…
Sudan has undergone two civil wars spanning decades, resulting in an estimated 2 million deaths and 3.1 million displaced. In 2003, rebels from the western region of Sudan, known as Darfur, rose up against the government in Khartoum, claiming inequitable treatment of the “African” Sudanese population. The government responded by recruiting the Janjaweed, an Arab…
Today we mark the 22nd anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. April 6, 1994 began 100 days of horrific violence and slaughter that would leave nearly one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead. Looking back at the Rwandan genocide, we are reminded of the countless warning signs that went unheeded, the propaganda that poisoned the minds…