Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, though no country in the world has recognized its existence. Since then Somaliland has maintained peace and stability while laying the groundwork for democratic governance. But today Somaliland is at a perilous crossroads. The administration of President Dahir Riyale Kahin has repeatedly failed to hold key elections originally scheduled for mid-2008. The resulting crisis has laid bare the limits of what Somaliland has accomplished and now threatens its hard-won progress. Somaliland's government continues to rely on extralegal "security committees" to usurp the role of the courts and allow government officials to incarcerate criminal suspects, including children, without charge or trial. While heavy-handed acts of repression are rare, they are not unheard of, and low-level harassment of journalists, opposition officials and others is common. The president and his government frequently flout the laws and constitution, while the legislature and the courts do nothing to rein in such abuses of power. Human Rights Watch urges Somaliland's government to ensure that presidential elections are held as currently scheduled in September 2009. In the longer term, Somaliland's government should make a concerted effort to strengthen the rule of law and end human rights violations. Somaliland's international partners, whether they recognize Somaliland's independence or not, should use both pressure and assistance to help ensure that this happens.

The aim of this book is to investigate the taking and giving of hostages in peace processes during the Viking Age and early Middle Ages in Scandinavia and adjacent areas. Scandinavia has been absent in previous research about hostages from the perspectives of legal and social history, which has mostly focused on Antiquity (the Roman Empire), Continental Germanic cultures, such as the Merovingian realm, and Anglo-Saxon England. The examples presented are from confrontations between Scandinavians and other peoples in which the hostage giving and taking was displayed as a ritual act and thus became symbolically important. Hostages were a vital part of the peace processes and used as resources by both sides in the 'areas of communication' within the 'areas of confrontation'. Literary texts as well as runic inscriptions, picture stones, place names, and personal names are used as source material.

The teenage princess of a future-world Canadian superpower, where royal children are held hostage to keep their countries from waging war, falls in love with an American prince who rebels against the brutal rules governing their existences.

When the Israeli prime minister and the PLO chairman shook hands on the White House lawn in 1993, Israeli peace activists had good reason to celebrate this major step on the long road to peace.This book tells the story of the Israeli peace movement and the role it played in that pursuit of peace. It is an eloquent, fascinating account of a remarkably diverse and determined cast of activists: from war-weary soldiers to hard-headed politicians, careful scholars to impassioned artists.Drawing on his experience in the peace movement, Bar-On provides intimate portraits of groups like Peace Now, Yesh Gvul, and the Women in Black, he also provides a sweeping historical synthesis of the course of the Israeli-Arab conflict, especially between 1967 and 1993.

With Canadians Jim Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden and American Tom Fox, Norman Kember spent four months imprisoned in a small room in Baghdad. The team had gone to Iraq as Christian Peacemakers, determined to work for peace in a war-torn country. In this gripping book, Norman Kember describes his long experiences with the peace movement, and how he slowly came to the view that he should go with other peace advocates to Iraq. He describes in detail his team's four-month ordeal, during which they were imprisoned in a small room and chained together until the fateful day when American Tom Fox was led away by his captors. Later, they learned that he had been killed. Rescued by British forces after a successful international police effort to discover the hideout, Kember describes the conflicts he and his fellow activists have faced since their return over their opposition to military force and their reluctance to testify at the trials of the men accused of their kidnapping. This book offers a startling new perspective on the war in Iraq and its many opponents.

This collection focuses on non-kinetic warfare, including cyber, media, and economic warfare, as well as non-violent resistance, 'lawfare', and hostage-taking.

Examines the changing situations in which hostages were used in the Europe and the Mediterranean world from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries, touching on a wide range of topics in military, diplomatic, political, social, gender, economic, and legal history.