The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "international human rights" ...
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Watchdog website and its web pages
The Oklahoman/NewsOK.com started this project in 2008 with the Right to Know page, a collection of databases developed internally to go along with stories and links to relevant public information. That site became part of the Watchdog page in 2009. In 2010, the staff continued to evolve the Watchdog page with "mini-sites" of investigative topics, such as a political corruption case at the Oklahoma Legislature; the staff's FOI fight over the birth dates of public employees; and allegations of bid-rigging with a married lawmaker and lobbyist for a private company seeking a state juvenile justice contract. Other "mini-sites" under Watchdog include ongoing coverage of the state Department of Human Services and the federal stimulus package.
Tags: continuous coverage; online; watchdog; bid-rigging; Department of Human Services; federal stimulus; FOI; Right to Know
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Collateral Damage: Human Rights and U.S. Military Aid After 9/11
This project investigated the impact of foreign lobbying and terrorism on U.S. post-9/11 military training and aid programs. Controversial U.S. allies such as Pakistan received billions of dollars in additional, new military aid to fight the global war on terror. Additionally, foreign governments spent millions lobbying the White House and the Pentagon, taking advantage of the chaotic policymaking environment to ask for their own military aid. The investigation revealed that the change in priorities often came at the cost of human rights and fiscal accountability.
Tags: human rights; foreign countries; international relations; war on terror; military expenses
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The Case Against Saddam
This documentary delves deep into the war in Iraq, gathering evidence against Saddam Hussein alongside investigators and judges. The investigation focuses on Hussein's 1988 chemical attack on the Kurds, known as "Anfal." Under the command of Saddam's cousin, Ali Hasan al-Majid, the campaign consisted of eight chemical attacks over a period of six months and left behind a mass grave in Al-Hatra.
Tags: Saddam Hussein; Iraq; Ali Hasan al-Majid; Kurds; Anfal; Al-Hatra; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty International; Baathist Rule
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Children for Sale
Dateline teams up with the International Justice Mission, a human rights group, to investigate the business of selling children for sex. They focus on Cambodia where many sexual predators from around the world come to buy young children. Victims are interviewed as well as adult exploiters of children and various political figures comment on the problem.
Tags: Child sex trade; human trafficking; international human rights; US Aid
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The War Crimes of Afghanistan
Newsweek reveals that, in Nov. 2001, "America's Afghan allies suffocated hundreds of surrendering Taliban prisoners in sealed cargo containers." Although surrendered fighters were killed by a regional warlord, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, the investigative team finds evidence that American soldiers had advanced knowledge of the killings or participated in them. The story has been mostly based on a confidential U.N. report on the killings, as well as investigations into a mass grave site.
Tags: international relations; war on terrorism; Pentagon; CIA; intelligence; diplomacy; human rights; United Nations
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Trafficked for the Military
Using hidden camera, WJW-TV reveals that U.S. military police and courtesy patrol officers have been protecting South Korean brothels and illegal traffic of women. The trafficked women, mostly employed by massage parlors, have been forced to prostitute serving American soldiers. Virtually all women entered the US through marriages to soldiers.
Tags: human rights; prostitution; international sex slave industry; database; military bases; army; tape; transcript; Tom Renner Award Category
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Plan for Colombia
The Express-News looks at the United States' efforts to eradicate drug trade in Colombia by spending $1.3 billion on army operations aiming to destroy coca fields. The series questions the effectiveness of the plan. Coca farmers account for the majority of the population in Columbia, and the project would be more successful, if they were provided some alternatives. The reporter examines how the drug war combines with the civil war that has been going on for decades, and finds "that it's unlikely that any significant change will come in Colombia's status as a drug exporter until the civil war is ended."
Tags: kidnapping; assassinations; guerrillas; military; Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC); right-wing militia; international politics; foreign affairs; crime; violence; drug trafficking; cocaine; heroin; Latin America; human rights
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U.S. Military Aid to Latin America Linked to Human Rights abuses
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists at the Center for Public Integrity investigates the involvement of the United States in "the biggest guerilla war since Vietnam." The 35,000-word story reveals that "hundred of American troops, spies and civilian contract employees are on the ground in Colombia and neighboring lands, helping to coordinate a $1.3 billion counterdrug program that will probably continue for many years." The reporters finds evidence that the American military aid to Colombia, Peru and Mexico has been implicated in human rights abuses. The team analyses the significance of U.S. economic interests in Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Mexico, and looks specifically at the American oil and trade interests as a key factor in the so-called "Colombia plan," another name for the drug war in Colombia.
Tags: FOIA; energy; oil; economics; business; intelligence; Latin America; lobbying; Congress; government; defense; drugs; smuggling; coca plantations; petroleum; paramilitaries; national security
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CIA Gave at Least $10 Million to Peru's ex-Spymaster Montesinos
Angel Paez, a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists links the U.S. government to Vladimiro Montesinos, a "corrupt advisor to former Peruvian President Fujimori, who stands accused of human rights abuses and murder. Not only did the story confirm a long-suspected belief that there was a relationship between the two offices, but it also affirmed that even though U.S. authorities knew about Montesinos' corrupt ways, they were willing to support him financially (with at least $1 million a year) in order to have Peru as an ally in the drug war. All the while, Montesinos was buying weapons from Jordan and selling them to the very Colombia guerrillas the United States was at war with."
Tags: Center for Public Integrity; International Consortium of Investigative Journalists; CIA; Peru; Fujimori; Montesinos; Colombia; guerrillas; drug war; Jordan
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You're in the Hole: A Crackdown on Dissident Prisoners
A Progressive investigation reveals that "in the hours following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, dissident prisoners were singled out from the general population and take to secure housing units." Some of the isolated inmates were denied access to counsel; their lawyers were denied phone conversations and personal visits with their clients. Cusac finds that most of the segregated prisoners happened to be peace-activists or left-wing. Without any public comment, six weeks after Sept. 11 the Justice Department implemented an interim rule that justified the infringement on the detainees' human rights, and explained the new policy with intelligence and law enforcement concerns.
Tags: Amnesty International; human rights; civil rights; terrorism; John Ashcroft; attorneys; lawyers; military