Roche Christine C . Angeles

Twenty-five years after the tragic Rwandan genocide that killed around one million people in 1994, this paper revisited the tragedy by looking into the contemporary narratives on genocide studies. Through a document analysis of the existing discourses regarding the genocide, the authors found that leading scholars in international politics recognized the failure of the international community in the prevention and mitigation of the conflict following the lack of international political will by the United Nations Security Council. They have recognized that each state has the moral responsibility and obligation to protect the human rights of all of humanity. Moreover, following the trend of decreasing global democracy, scholars have also warned us that more mass atrocities may happen with the rise of authoritarian leaders in this current juncture of our history. As such, the responsibility to protect must actively prove its purpose to protect people from torture, slavery, war crimes, and genocide.

Indonesia and the Philippines are the two biggest archipelagic countries in the world spanning more than 25,000 islands. This made both states rich in marine natural resources and were considered to be the global centers of marine biodiversity. With the said availability of aquatic resources, both countries have also experienced the exploitation of these assets by people aiming to make profit from overfishing and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing practices. As such, the authors saw the merit of exploring the recently-implemented policies of both countries aiming to protect and preserve their marine natural resources. These were vital in assessing its effects on the human consumption of fisheries and triangulating the effectivity and efficiency of the said aquatic-related public policies. This study presented the concrete actions that both Indonesia and the Philippines took to battle illegal poaching by Chinese fishermen in the latter's waters, prevent the marine exploitation of fishing operations from the former, and the establishment of community-based marine preservations that gave permanent employment to its population and improved their way of living.

The ancient religion Yazidism and its members were put under the dangers of existence after being subjects of exploitation during the territorial control of the Jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The uniqueness of their religious beliefs, the divergence of members from the usual dominant Islamic and Arabic culture, and their dwindling population have put their lives at an increased risk for terrorism. Practices judged and misunderstood affected their footing during the conflict. In order to understand the contemporary persecution of the Yazidis, this paper systematically reviews the fundamental tenets of Yazidism, the historical persecution of the group starting from the Abbasid period in the Middle East, and their experiences during terrorist occupation in the present era. The author also discusses relevant points on the neglect of the human rights situation of the religious minority in accordance with the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The contrasting credence between the Yazidi minority and the Syrian majority led to violence which later escalated to genocide. Despite the long-running time of mass killings, international recognition remained stagnant. The genocide received slim focus from the international community for it to have ended sooner or to provide succour to the victims. Not much attention was obtained, keeping the extremity of the happening dull to the eyes of others. Lastly, the author compiled the efforts of the international community in alleviating the continuing deterioration of Yazidi human rights.