Wanted to take a minute to update you on the situation in East Africa. Minimal aid has reached the most affected communities in southern Somalia due to insecurity caused by Al-Shabaab, the armed group controlling much of the area. However, U.N. agencies and relief organizations are reaching areas under Al-Shabaab control along the Kenya and Ethiopia borders. Aid groups have also begun relief work in areas of Mogadishu controlled by the Transitional Federal Government, where many people have moved to seek help. 

Meanwhile, over a quarter-million Somalis have sought refuge in neighboring countries so far this year, adding to a total Somali refugee population of 863,500 people. Kenya remains the largest host country, with thousands of people arriving by foot each day to the vast Dadaab camp complex — the world's largest refugee camp. Somali refugees are also fleeing to Ethiopia, many arriving at the Dollo Ado camp complex.  Many refugees have walked for days, weeks, and even months, facing attacks from armed groups along the way. Many children do not survive the trek. Aid workers in the camps say the overall health of new arrivals, especially children, is deteriorating — reflecting the worsening drought and hunger situations inside Somalia.

Sadly, reaching areas where aid is being distributed, including Mogadishu and the camps, does not guarantee safety and relief. Aid is not keeping pace with the enormous need, and the very weak conditions of new arrivals puts them at greater risk of infectious diseases such as measles. While they wait to be registered, a process that can take days and weeks, the refugees — the vast majority of whom are women and children — must find their own shelter and food. Women have been raped, and many have had their supplies stolen.

Nevertheless, many people are getting aid despite very limited resources. And we believe that it is indeed possible to help the Somali refugees; their host communities in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti; and people throughout the region who are suffering from insecurity, drought, and hunger. We're working out the details of our response right now, with a local employee on the ground conducting an assessment. Keep up to date on our relief efforts and please consider donating to the UUSC Somalia and East Africa Fund — we need your support to bring aid to people suffering from this catastrophic famine. 

The ongoing famine and drought in the Horn of Africa and in East Africa has left more than 12 million people in the region in need of urgent food aid. In Somalia, where the situation is most severe, thousands have fled their homes to seek refuge in Kenya and other East African countries. According to the United Nations, the situation is not likely to abate in the coming months. Some people have asked whether the famine was preventable. Wangari Maathai, an environmentalist and winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, answers in the affirmative. In a recent interview she gave to National Public Radio (NPR), Maathai speaks candidly about the root causes of the famine, linking it with decades of environmental degradation that governments in the region knew about but failed to stop.

"This did not happen overnight," Maathai said. "We have seen a situation where rains have not come for four years, not just because of climate change, but because of the gradual environmental degradation that is influenced by the Sahara to the north."

Several reports have linked the famine, particularly in Somalia, to decades of conflicts and lack of leadership. Maathai agrees that these are important contributing factors. However, she believes that environmental degradation, made worse by unpredictable rainfall, has over time robbed the people of food security and natural protection. Lack of leadership has meant governments have failed to protect the people. Maathai gave a very poignant example of the Ewaso Nyiro River in Kenya. The river, which flows from Mount Kenya, waters the Aberdare forest and the plains, and provides water for wildlife. "Now the river has completely dried up to dead rock, because people have been allowed to move into the forest to cut wood and establish plantations in the forest," Maathai lamented. Because of this, the forest is no longer able to harvest rainwater like before, and the rains no longer come regularly. The resulting drought has made it necessary for the government to supply water in tanks to communities in the northern part of the country. This would not have happened if they acted earlier and made sure the "the rivers flow to the people," Maathai concluded.

Maathai's comments show how grassroots efforts to prevent deforestation and encourage reforestation is important. The SoilFarm Multi-Culture Group (SFMG), a UUSC partner in Kenya, is spearheading such an effort in Kakamega through the Hope in Crops project. The goal is to protect the Kakamega Rain Forest in western Kenya from degradation and, by so doing, protect the watershed of Lake Victoria from drying up. SFMG works with schoolchildren, women, and farmers to plant indigenous trees, which help to retain water in the soil. In addition, they grow indigenous food crops that can withstand drought and adapt to changing weather patterns. Trees planted by the banks of the rivers that form part of Lake Victoria watershed purify the waters and help them maintain their natural flow.

Maathai pointed out how governments tacitly supported environmental degradation through inaction. The Kakamega Rain Forest where SFMG works provides a great example. In the 1980s, the government wanted to convert the forest into a tea plantation. Thanks to resistance by the local peoples, only portions of the forest were converted. However, a tea plantation within the rain forest is an aberration, which disrupts the magnificence of the forest and reduces the protection it provides in the environment. With UUSC's support, SFMG is working to protect the forest from further encroachment by tea plantations.

Maathai calls for grassroots efforts like her own and those of SFMG to be supported by governments and international agencies. By supporting SFMG, UUSC has already assumed leadership in this area, helping to make sure the rivers flow to the people and conserve the environment — and helping to ensure food security for local peoples.

UUSC is also working to support marginalized groups in Somalia and East Africa through its Rights in Humanitarian Crises Program. UUSC has opened an emergency fund that will help the people of East Africa and the Horn of Africa — you can help by donating to the fund. However, we hope that, going forward, policy and decision makers will listen to esteemed environmentalists like Maathai and develop preventive strategies that will support efforts by grassroots organizations already working on the ground.

The following post, "Human Rights 2011: These Tests Will Tell," by UUSC President William F. Schulz, was originally published in the Huffington Post on December 31, 2010.

It's the time of year to draw up 2010's "best" and "worst" lists. When it comes to human rights, that's pretty easy. The repudiation of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" would be on the on the credit side; the continued ravishing of civilians, especially women, in Congo on the debit; and some events right in the middle: Charter 08 author Liu Xiabao was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, sure enough, but Liu Xiabao still languishes in a Chinese prison.

What is far trickier is to spot future trends. Calvin Coolidge once peered into his crystal ball and offered this brave prognostication: "When people are out of work, unemployment will result." Similarly, it is safe to assume that the Chinese will continue to restrict freedoms; that the United States will continue to employ the death penalty; and that some strongman somewhere will steal an election.

Perhaps the more meaningful course is simply to identify those human-rights stories to watch in 2011. How these challenges are resolved will tell us much about where human rights are going.

Will Laurent Gbago survive? Africa, long notorious for allowing corruption and brute force to thwart the popular will in elections, has seen a few positive signs in recent years that norms may be shifting. Ellen Sirleaf Johnson's election in Liberia in 2005; the surprisingly peaceful adoption of a new constitution in Kenya last summer and recent closely contested elections in Tanzania and Guinea have fueled the hope that the continent may be looking with greater favor on legitimate democracy. But now comes Cote d'Ivoire's Laurent Gbago, the clear loser in the recent presidential election there, refusing to vacate his office. The international community has unanimously called on Gbago to step down and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has even threatened military intervention. If Gbago survives or the country devolves once again into civil war, it will send an unmistakable signal that, despite President Obama's calls for Africans to take responsibility for good governance, that message has not yet been widely adopted. Robert Mugabe, among others, will be taking note.

Will Sudan stay "peaceful?" In January south Sudan will almost certainly vote to secede from the north. The last civil war in Sudan cost 2.5 million lives and helped generate the genocide in Darfur. Relative calm has prevailed recently in Darfur and the south but secession could prompt the government in Khartoum to reinstitute its reign of terror in both places. The international community must make clear that that is not an option.

Will the ICC convict? No development in the human-rights world over the past decade has held greater promise than the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC). But thus far the court has failed to convict any of those it has indicted and, what's worse, has been characterized by chaotic administration and sloppy prosecutions. The stakes are enormous: if the ICC is discredited, the best hope for a way to hold tyrants to account for human-rights crimes will be lost. The ICC's critics will be delighted. So will the tyrants.

Will Medvedev prevail? With the murders of journalist Anna Politovskaya, human-rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, Chechen human-rights activist Natalya Estemirova, and many others like them having gone unsolved in Russia, profound questions have arisen as to whether the rule of law carries any meaning there. President Dmitry Medvedev has spoken frequently of the need for an independent judiciary, less concentrated power, and more competitive elections; he even vetoed a proposed law that would have restricted antigovernment demonstrations. But until those responsible for attacks on human-rights defenders are brought to justice, his sentiments, benign as they appear, can only be interpreted as reflecting duplicity or powerlessness. If the former, Medvedev deserves to be replaced when his term of office ends in 2012; if the latter, he will be.

Will Aung San Suu Kyi stay free? There is no greater human-rights heroine in the world today than the leader of the democracy movement in [Myanmar]. Suu Kyi is currently engaged in a complicated chess game with the Burmese generals and some of her own supporters to determine the best strategy to employ against Southeast Asia's most brutal regime. She has, for instance, recently rolled back her call for sanctions against the state. The stakes are high — not just her freedom but Burma's too.

Lots of other stories deserve attention too: Will Venezuela slip further into autocracy? Will the US ever figure out what to do with the Guantanamo prisoners? But how these five play out will have profound implications for the future of human rights and, not incidentally, for tens of millions of people. Stay tuned.

On Friday, November 5, Constance Kane, UUSC's vice president and COO as well as a participant on the Uganda JustJourney, reported in with a quick update on the beginning of their travels.

We are just beginning our Uganda JustJourney and have spent the morning with the Refugee Law Project, an ally working on post-conflict reconciliation. Among other things, they have just sponsored the National Reconstruction Bill, designed to foster dialogue and forgiveness throughout the country.

Tomorrow, we are heading up north, where we will meet with UUSC partner Caritas in Gulu and Pader. There we have been working to help families return to their villages and help regain livelihoods and local support services.

One of the unique aspects of this trip is that it is being jointly led by the UUA and UUSC. It's a rich and unique partnership and a model for the future.

On March 18, President Barack Obama announced his appointment of a Special Envoy to Sudan, retired Air Force Major General Scott Gration. He did so saying, "Sudan is a priority for this administration, particularly at a time when it cries out for peace and for justice. The worsening humanitarian crisis there makes our task all the more urgent."

It is true that the people of Darfur are in crisis. But those who have so far survived the genocide and displacement from their homes now face another challenge, after 13 aid organizations were expelled by the Sudanese government in March. To date, 14,000 aid workers who were providing basic provisions to 4 million people, including 2.7 million in camps for internally displaced people, have been forced to leave the country. These aid workers were responsible for providing the infrastructure for water systems, health clinics, schools, housing for the displaced, and massive food-and-supply distribution. Without that lifeline, many more lives will be lost.

From the statements by both Gration and Obama, it is clear that they are well aware of this crisis and are working to ensure that aid agencies and other lifesaving infrastructures are put back in place.

While I am heartened by their words and while I believe that they are truly committed to finding a peaceful end to the crisis, I would ask them to ensure that their approach and their plans take into consideration the most vulnerable of those living in Darfur — namely women and girls.

We know that 2.7 million people live in camps for internally displaced people. What is not as well known is that there are some camps where women and children make up 80 percent of the population. And it is women who are threatened with rape and other forms of violence each time they leave their camps to find food, water, firewood, and other materials to nourish and support their families.

Although the first step, a step that Gration and Obama should be applauded for already taking, is to ask that aid workers be allowed to return, we need to think about the future of those living in Darfur and address all of their levels of vulnerability.

Aid organizations do provide food, shelter, water, and medical care, but they do not provide protection. We, at UUSC, believe it is imperative to find new and creative ways to protect civilians in Darfur — especially women and girls — from the violence that they face as they go about their daily lives.

As Gration works with Sudanese Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem for a solution to the crisis, unobstructed deployment of UNAMID peacekeeping forces, and a peaceful and just end to the crisis, I would ask him to remember:

Peace is essential to ending the genocide in Darfur. But there are realistic, simple measures we can take right now that can make a genuine difference in the safety of women and girls, who are most at risk. They cannot, and should not, wait until the end of the war. They need our help today. Please make their safety and security one of your top priorities.

On Sunday, March 29, I attended the Boston Bazaar — a project put together by two UUSC partners, Barakat and HAMSA, and co-sponsored by UUSC.

Watch a short video about the bazaar.

The well-attended multicultural bazaar featured food, dances, henna-painting, and other activities from across the Muslim world. It was great to see two of our Boston-based partners, introduced by UUSC, enjoying such synergy and embarking on their third event together.

Leading up to the bazaar, from March 15-25, the American Islamic Congress held a speakers series on cultural diversity in the Muslim world and in the greater Boston area. Panels explored the cultural richness of Muslim communities, from Russian Tatars to Berber Shi'ites to Sufis who go on hajj to Senegal instead of Saudi Arabia.

I was a speaker for the March 23 panel on The Near East: the Muslim World's Original Melting Pot. I shared details from my experience of growing up in Dubai, a melting pot of immigrant Muslim cultures, where Arabic is not always the first language.

Events and partnerships like these are an example of efforts by UUSC's Civil Liberties Program to provide our constituents an opportunity to "build bridges" between Muslim and Arabs, in the United States and abroad, and help the larger American public gain a better understanding of the Arab and Muslim worlds, as we work together to protect civil liberties.

The following blog post was written by Mary Russell, of Boston, Mass., while participating in a UUSC JustJourney to Kenya.

The efforts of UUSC's Kenyan partners to achieve economic justice and support self-sufficiency are very impressive, indeed. Our group of JustJourneyers has traveled to Nairobi, Machakos, and Nakuru to meet the leaders and members of the Kenyan National Association of Street Vendors and Informal Trainers (KENASVIT). These meetings were vibrant and deeply meaningful exchanges of information and genuine spirit.

A highlight for me was meeting the elder women traders outside the University of Nairobi bus in the chief's compound, in Machakos. We had just come in from a dusty, bone-rattling bus ride from Nairobi, and the traders had forfeited the income from one day's trading to meet with us. The enthusiasm of the Kenyan handshake added to the moment: a slap of the right hands together into a "western" shake, then a move to a "solidarity" shake, and back to a "western" shake.

The incredible energy generated by the KENASVIT members as they reported on their last year of work was not limited to the leadership. The members themselves, some of whom had traveled overnight to meet with us, reflected a deep understanding that only together could they improve their common welfare. The phrase "We are one" was spoken again and again.

This is particularly impressive as many street venders and informal traders lost everything during the post-election violence of December 2007-January 2008, when interethnic tensions were exploited for personal and political gain under the cover of the demonstrations against the stolen election. Several members told of losing loved ones, and many reported losing all their stock, as well as their households, to looting and violence.

UUSC and KENASVIT, by creating and funding a revolving loan fund, have provided a structure whereby entrepeneurial low-income Kenyans can work together to rebuild their businesses. These funds were made available in the context of KENASVIT's UUSC-sponsored Peace and Reconciliation trainings, held in all seven cities in which KENASVIT operates.

These were the first such efforts in all of Kenya, and many traders spoke of learning that they were not each other's enemies, that their communities had been used to carry out the ploys of the political class. KENASVIT's leadership development efforts were clearly effective, as evidenced by the energy generated among members around the upcoming KENASVIT elections.

Even as we heard stories of so many difficult life events, the joyful attitude and community spirit of UUSC's partners enfolded us in an atmosphere of hope — always cemented by a cheer for Obama, with a little dancing.

So, as we continue on to meet the next two UUSC partners, we look forward to signing their guest books, hearing reports of their hard work, sharing their pride in good work done in partnership with each other, and accepting on behalf of UUSC the genuine and overwhelming gratitude for that partnership.

The following blog post was written by Mary Russell, of Boston, Mass., while participating in a UUSC JustJourney to Kenya.

On Sunday, International Women's Day, we met the Rock Women Group, a long-term UUSC partner. The organization started out as a prayer group for teachers who wanted to support each other in their difficult work in the Nairobi slums; but they soon began helping their students and their mothers by way of their strengthening bond, organizing, and mutual support.

Initially, to pay for their projects, the Rock Women Group purchased chairs that they would rent out for weddings and funerals. When UUSC heard about these "chair women," they connected with them and began a partnership.

With UUSC's support, the Rock Women Group has deepened and widened its assistance to children and women in their community. Now they are helping women to go into business: hairdressing, selling used clothes and baby clothes, and frying fish and selling it. This is about the only type of work people can do in the slums, where at least 40 percent of Nairobians live.

Since the post-election crisis, the Rock Women Group has been working more and more with their boy students, and now also with young men. The boys and young men receive employment training from several trade teachers and a social worker, organized by the Rock Women Group.

We visited the tiny stall of a young shoe seller whom the Rock Women Group had helped. The Rock Women, all called "Mother" by the young men, translated each personal introduction from Swahili. They later told us how many had been devastated by the post-election violence.

In some cases, members of the Rock Women Group had to go out into the countryside or to western Kenya to bring back displaced people and help them set-up again, so that their children could resume school or the adults could resume their HIV/AIDS treatment.

I was writing down the names of people as they introduced themselves, making notes on their information. I wondered why so many were named Jambo. Later, when I learned that Jambo means blessing, it seemed a tidal wave of gratitude and good wishes from our Kenyan brothers and sisters washed over me. It was deeply moving, and that feeling was cemented by the lunch we shared at the home of one of the Rock Women Group members.

Food and conversation and sharing and music made a very special International Women's Day.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir may soon face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity from the International Criminal Court, in The Hague.

It's been almost a week since the International Criminal Court made it known that it was seeking to charge Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan, with war crimes and moving forward with an arrest warrant.

This development is not really that shocking. I think the case is fairly clear that al-Bashir is a Very Bad Man. I don't think there would be a lot of hand-wringing over sending down a guilty verdict were he ever brought to trial.

And let's face it, if the ICC isn't going after people like al-Bashir, then what in the world was the court created for?

It's also been very interesting to read the various reactions to this new development - some think this is a logical next step, while others suggest it will ultimately damage efforts to stabilize the Darfur region and achieve peace in Sudan.

I am most fascinated by the reaction from the Sudanese government, mostly because the official response to this potentially game-changing decision was a resounding "...And?"

Look. What if a teacher decided to send her class to the principal's office for acting poorly and the class responded, by saying, "It means nothing to us. We are in no way going to co-operate with this decision," just as Sudan did?

The teacher would then have to either back down, thus becoming a powerless leader to a class that doesn't respect the teacher's authority, or embark on a harsh and forceful tactic of literally dragging the children to the principal's office. Neither are an optimal solution. Both make the teacher look bad while the students blithely continue their bad behavior.

So now, despite the ICC being in the right, morally, ethically, and legally, al-Bashir has made this decision look like the last ditch effort of an overwhelmed teacher reaching into a dwindling bag of tricks to make a group of bad students behave.

What is the ICC going to do now? Force al-Bashir to take the arrest warrant seriously? Physically seize him and bring him to The Hague? How? Those options currently seem unfeasible.

We need a real solution to the ongoing genocide in Darfur, not just legal saber rattling.

I was up until midnight last night reading a landmark decision from the High Court of South Africa. The case, which our partner the Coalition Against Water Privatisation (CAWP) helped local residents bring to court, affirms water as a fundamental human rights that the South African government must respect, protect, and fulfill. I found the decision inspiring and hopeful at a time when human rights around the world are under threat.

In his decision, Judge Tsoka declared South Africa's prepaid-water-meter system to be unconstitutional because it denies residents access to water by physically shutting off supplies each month when a household’s free basic allotment runs out. He required Johannesburg Water, the municipal water utility, to increase the amount of free basic water per month to 50 liters per person per day, the amount set by the World Health Organization to be the minimum to live a life of dignity.

What I found amazing was that the judge took a further step than most other progressive South African judgments by saying that the human right to water does, indeed, include a “minimum core” responsibility to be met by the state. This idea of a “minimum core,” established in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, has been debated in South African courts. Previous opinions showed discomfort at setting a minimum standard that the state must meet because of a potential-lack-of-resources argument. But Judge Tsoka took a brave step forward by declaring that 25 liters per person per day was a national minimum, but 50 liters per person per day was required for a dignified life, another right in the South African constitution.

Law, and especially international human rights law, is built like a house. Each case is a brick that supports the overall structure and defines the various aspects of the legal framework. The South Africa water case will be a cornerstone in the development of the human right to water. It affirms that international human rights law can, indeed, have teeth. So far, as demonstrated in the South African High Court, it seems that human rights law is most effective when its principles are enshrined in national constitutions.

UUSC has partnered with CAWP for two years. We will continue to support their struggle to advance the rights of all South Africans to safe, sufficient, affordable, and accessible water. We are hopeful that this will be one of many more important victories won by our partners to promote and defend the human right to water.