Charles Taylor guilty

Today Charles Taylor, former Liberian President, has been found guilty of 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity, when supporting rebels between 1996 and 2002. Here is a piece in The Guardian and a video.

Thinking chair Rowallane Gardens, Northern Ireland

Thinking chair Rowallane Gardens, Northern Ireland #tweetni #rowallane #chair, a photo by Brandon Hamber on Flickr.

Here is another photo in my series of chairs in nature, thinking chairs I call them. I have also started a Pinterest Board of my photos: http://pinterest.com/brandonhamber/thinking-chairs

Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland

Today I attended a Transitional Justice Institute workshop looking at dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. Main question asked: where to now. In short, the key point emerging was that the dealing with the past question has not gone away, and there is a need to have some organised way of addressing it. However, a lack of leadership and commitment locally and by the two governments stymies things moving forward. While this goes on victims continue to be frustrated by the plethora of mechanisms out there, none of which are meeting their needs in entirety, in fact making many feel they have to repeat themselves in multiple forums. There is also a growing resentment by some victims of their cases being called "historical" or "legacy issue" implying the concerns about truth and justice are not contemporary. Denis Bradley spoke at the event, and although does not see much progress, said he felt that the Consultative Group on the Past report has not been entirely binned and may return, as it is the only viable option on the table.

Also see my collection of resources and website on dealing with the past in Northern Ireland.

Tulips of Amsterdam (Photo)

Tulips in Amsterdam , a photo by Brandon Hamber on Flickr.

Proof I was in Amsterdam yesterday, tulips of course...

Reparations in context

Today I am attending a meeting entitled "Reparations in context" as part of the 14th World Society of Victimology Symposium in The Hague. The event is organized by Redress, International Victimology Institute Tilburg, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University and The Hague Institute for Global Justice. At this meeting, experts in the field of victimology are invited to share ideas and identify new topics that thus far have received less focused attention and need further consideration. The event is intended to find new avenues for the implementation of reparations for victims in international criminal proceedings that may result in new projects to be further developed after this meeting. A background document on reparations will serve as a starting point, though an open, small scale debate is envisaged in order to stimulate creative and innovative thinking.

Gatepost at the Argory (Photo)

Gatepost #argory #tweetni, a photo by Brandon Hamber on Flickr.

A recent picture I took at the Argory in Northern Ireland.

Website update

After much work I have updated my website. Now there is much better integration with various forms of social media such as Twitter, Linkedin and Instragram. Also updated the background pages of the blog and Twitter to match - my homemade patchwork of images, hope you like it. All my publications on the website are also now up to date, including a new section featuring the translation of my book into Spanish.