Haiti 'Rape Victim' Testifies in Uruguay

     A 19-year-old Haitian man who accused Uruguayan troops of sexually assaulting him in September 2011 has testified in Montevideo before judge Alejandro Guido. The troops were in Haiti serving as United Nations peacekeepers, an occupation which has raised numerous concerns among both locals and international audiences. A video showing the attack, captured by one of the soldiers cellphones, was heavily circulated  in the southern Haitian town of Port-Salut and caused the already tense situation in Haiti to further devolve as this assault joins the growing list of failures by the UN since they came to the country more than eight years ago.

Killer of Community Activist Gets Life Sentence

     This is a quick follow-up to a story I talked about back in February regarding Kenneth Mark, a soft-spoken man who was executed after speaking out against gun violence in his Toronto neighbourhood. For the full details of that story click here.

    Today it was announced that Lamar Skeete, the man found guilty of first-degree murder, has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. The story was broadcast on News Talk 1010 and carried in full here. I hope that Mark's family can rest a little easier knowing that justice was done and Mark's heroics had a positive impact on the community.

Women of Forced Sterilization Seek Justice

     The women of Peru are seeking justice against government and health officials who performed forced sterilization on them in an attempt to reduce the country's birth rate. The sterilization was a birth control program put in place by the Alberto Fujimori government, which saw the sterilization of 346,219 women and 24,535 men during the final years of his presidential mandate (1990-2000). The initiative was justified by officials who claimed that it lowered the number of mouths to feed which would help lift families out of poverty. BBC journalist Mattia Cabitza writes that while the former president is in prison his convictions relate to Peru's internal conflict, not his birth control campaign. (Full article available here)