The AU We Want Coalition, a group of civil society organization, warned the African Union (AU) that “the situation in Burundi is spiraling out of control, with hundreds of civilians killed or disappeared, due to the ongoing political impasse over moves by President Pierre Nkurunziza to run for a third term in June.”
Born in Ethiopia Meklit Hadero was raised in the US. She holds a BA in Political Science from Yale University but she is globally known as a singer/song writer. Meklit has released five studio albums, tours regularly and is currently signed to Six Degrees Records. She is a TED Senior Fellow and has served as an artist-in-residence at NYU, where she curated a performing arts series at the Lincoln Center Atrium. Meklit has completed musical commissions for the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Fund for Artists, Brava for Women in the Arts, and the De Young Museum. She has been a panelist and grants evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, and worked with Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) to establish an artist fellows program. Meklit is the founder of the Arba Minch Collective, a member of the de Young Museum’s Inaugural Artist Council, one third of the Ethiopian Hip-Hop Space Opera trio CopperWire, Lead Artist for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in Community Program, and former Co-Director of the Red Poppy Art House. She is currently working on a body of music steeped in Ethio-Jazz. Addis Standard interviewed Meklit on her works. Excerpts:
The ever hopeful UN kept on observing, every 10th of December, what it calls “Human Rights Day.” Last December, the day was commemorated around the world (almost) with one motto: Human Rights 365. This year will mark half a century since the world agreed to give effect to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. Butwith less than a year to go the UN frets that “on any scale, 2014 will be remembered as a year of daunting human rights challenges.” UN’s task of ensuring these wish lists in countries which are signatories to the declarations is indeed daunting and monumental at the same time.
