Some diamonds have helped fund devastating civil wars in Africa, destroying the lives of millions. Profits from the trade in conflict diamonds, worth billions of dollars, were used by warlords and rebels to buy arms during the devastating wars in Angola, the Congo and Sierra Leone. Wars that have cost an estimated 3.7 million lives...
The conflict in Darfur, Sudan, has led to some of the worst human rights abuses imaginable, including systematic and widespread murder, rape, abduction and displacement. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed, and over 2.5 million civilians have been displaced...
Worldwide, more than half a million children under the age of 18 have been recruited into government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil militia and a wide variety of non-state armed groups in more than 85 countries.
Freed! - Mesfin Woldemariam is Ethiopia's most prominent human rights defender. In Nov. 2005, authorities detained him on a variety of charges. AI considers Prof. Woldemariam a prisoner of conscience and is calling for his immediate and unconditional release.
