On July 2, 2014 a Burmese blogger alleged that two Muslim brothers who own a cafe in Mandalay raped their Buddhist employee. The blog post went viral on Facebook with infamous ethnic-nationalist monk Ashin Wirathu sharing the story on his page. In retaliation to the unverified allegations of rape,...
Over the last few days the Una Hakika team has conducted volunteer ambassador trainings in communities around the Tana Delta. We have completed four such sessions so far in Pokomo, Orma, and ethnically mixed villages, some of which were directly affected by violent clashes that claimed the lives...
March was a momentous month for the people of Garsen, home to The Sentinel Project’s Una Haikika violence-prevention initiative in the Tana Delta area of Kenya, with many high-profile political events taking place here. Interestingly, during SP’s surveys in this area in February, we...
We’ve been talking and writing a lot lately about Una Hakika but haven’t really taken the time yet to fully describe what it is. After all, what does it mean in practice to prevent atrocities in a remote part of eastern Kenya by using mobile phones to counter misinformation? This is a unique and...
In this interview Drew Boyd, the Sentinel Project’s Kenya Situation of Concern Team Lead, weighs in on rumour-spreading in the Tana Delta, emerging trends in our field research and aspirations for the future of Una Hakika. What were your expectations for the Una Hakika project in the Tana Delta?...
It is often noted by observers of the continued violence in Burma that the crippling poverty in the country’s western-most Rakhine State is part of the root cause of the anti-Rohingya campaign. Lack of hope, historical animosity, and other grim conditions in Burma are exacerbated in its...
Yesterday members of the Sentinel Project were invited to the Tana Delta Peace Forum held in the Maridhiano Hall in Minjila village, outside of Garsen. The Peace Forum is held once a month and is attended by NGO and government representatives from around the area, with Deputy County Commissioner...
In the month of December 2013, Reuters revealed shocking details about the system of human trafficking created to handle the expulsion of Rohingya and other Muslims from Burma, also known as Myanmar. The agency discovered that the Thailand government was selling Rohingya refugees to human...
Over the first three months of 2013, our sources have shown instances of stage 1 (Classification) and stage 4 (Polarization) of Gregory Stanton’s 8 stage model of the genocidal process. The January report commentary highlights a resurgence in international awareness regarding the repression...
The last few weeks have seen a string of alarming reports in two countries at risk of mass atrocities, first in the Central African Republic (CAR) as an international force attempts to stabilize a crumbling state and protect civilians, and now in neighbouring South Sudan as rumours of a coup have...
Earlier this week, we returned from our first visit to Kenya since initiating the Tana Delta Misinformation Project last month. Abhishek, John, and I made a brief planning visit to get things started and I want to share a quick update with everyone following our progress. The goal of this trip was...
Today I have the exciting task of announcing the biggest milestone in the Sentinel Project’s history as an organization so far. Beginning immediately, we are launching a two-year field project in the Tana Delta region of Kenya together with our partners at iHub Research in Nairobi. This work is...
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