Janessa Schilmoeller

Janessa Schilmoeller is a Mint Press correspondent and staff writer based in Southern Africa. Janessa has worked with intercultural education programs for several years and focuses on topics of international relations, social change and human rights. She has previously lived in Jordan and has traveled to various countries in the Middle East. Janessa is currently reporting from Southern Africa where she coordinates study abroad programs focused on nation building, liberation theology and decolonizing the mind while reporting on social and political issues in the region. Follow her on Twitter at @jschilmo

Ethnic Uighur Detainees Resettled In El Salvador After Decade of Struggle At Guantanamo

(MintPress)-Two detainees from western China were voluntarily transferred to El Salvador for resettlement after being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba for nearly a decade without charge, the U.S. Department of Defense said Thursday. “They are well and very happy,” said Susan Baker Manning, a Washington D.C.-based lawyer for one of the men. […]

Janessa Schilmoeller
By Janessa Schilmoeller
Ilshat Hassan, 47, an Uighur, sits by an Uighur flag in his apartment in Arlington, Va., Thursday, May 14, 2009. Hassan hopes that Uigher Guantanamo detainees will be released and has made plans to house two of them in an apartment that he will share. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

(MintPress)-Two detainees from western China were voluntarily transferred to El Salvador for resettlement after being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba for nearly a decade without charge, the U.S. Department of Defense said Thursday. “They are well and very happy,” said Susan Baker Manning, a Washington D.C.-based lawyer for

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CIA Open Government Policy Not Doing Enough for True Transparency

(MintPress)-The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is seeking permission from President Obama to expand its covert drone campaign in Yemen to allow strikes against terrorism suspects based on observations of suspicious behavior without knowing the identities of those who could be killed. The expansion would allow the CIA to strike targets based on intelligence showing suspicious […]

Janessa Schilmoeller
By Janessa Schilmoeller

(MintPress)-The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is seeking permission from President Obama to expand its covert drone campaign in Yemen to allow strikes against terrorism suspects based on observations of suspicious behavior without knowing the identities of those who could be killed. The expansion would allow the CIA to strike targets based

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New Countries Favor Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, US Bill of Rights Outdated

(MintPress)-Once a model for emerging democracies worldwide, a new study by two U.S. law professors suggests the American Bill of Rights is losing its influence, with more countries choosing to create constitutions based on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms instead. The study shows a shift in perspective from 1987, when Time magazine reported that […]

Janessa Schilmoeller
By Janessa Schilmoeller
New countries are more likely to use the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom in place of the U.S. Bill of Rights when they are drafting their own, new constitutions. (Photo by Bitpicture)

(MintPress)-Once a model for emerging democracies worldwide, a new study by two U.S. law professors suggests the American Bill of Rights is losing its influence, with more countries choosing to create constitutions based on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms instead. The study shows a shift in perspective from 1987, when Time

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Complex Taxpayer Policies Lead More Americans Abroad To Renounce US Citizenship

(MintPress)-As tax day comes and goes, so begins the automatic two-month extension for US citizens and resident aliens living abroad. To some, an extension is a relief, but to more and more Americans it is a reminder of the heavy burdens associated with international tax payer policies in the US – policies that have prompted […]

Janessa Schilmoeller
By Janessa Schilmoeller
Photo credit: Flickr Stream of swimparallel

(MintPress)-As tax day comes and goes, so begins the automatic two-month extension for US citizens and resident aliens living abroad. To some, an extension is a relief, but to more and more Americans it is a reminder of the heavy burdens associated with international tax payer policies in the US - policies that have prompted thousands of people

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US Settlement of Tribal Trust Lawsuits Brings Closure To 100 Year Old Cases

(MintPress)-American Indian tribes will begin receiving money from the federal government this week following one of the biggest settlements of tribal trust claims, some of which date back more than 100 years. The Obama administration announced last week it will pay over $1 billion for the mismanagement of funds and natural resources held in trust […]

Janessa Schilmoeller
By Janessa Schilmoeller
Charles Tiger is pictured during an interview in his FEMA trailer home in Little Axe, Okla., Thursday, June 16, 2011. Nearly six years after the hurricane, the mobile homes that became a symbol of the government's failed response are finally being put to good use. FEMA has quietly given many of them away to American Indian tribes that are in desperate need of affordable housing. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

(MintPress)-American Indian tribes will begin receiving money from the federal government this week following one of the biggest settlements of tribal trust claims, some of which date back more than 100 years. The Obama administration announced last week it will pay over $1 billion for the mismanagement of funds and natural resources held in trust

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The Afghan War On Poppy

(MintPress)-A suicide attack last week in Helmand Province, the poppy-growing capital of the world, left four police officers dead and the chief injured, sending an important reminder to the United States that key to winning the “War on Terror” lies in the production of poppies. While the poppies of the west are used to commemorate […]

Janessa Schilmoeller
By Janessa Schilmoeller
In this Friday, April 8, 2011 photo, an Afghan armed man member of the Afghan Public Protection Force destroys an opium poppy field during an eradication campaign in Marjah district, Helmand province of Afghanistan. Afghanistan supplies most of the world's opium. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaleq)

(MintPress)-A suicide attack last week in Helmand Province, the poppy-growing capital of the world, left four police officers dead and the chief injured, sending an important reminder to the United States that key to winning the “War on Terror” lies in the production of poppies. While the poppies of the west are used to commemorate soldiers who

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MPs Denied Access To Information About UK-US Involvement In CIA Renditions

(MintPress)- As new developments emerged last week about the establishment of US black sites in Poland, so too emerged the desire of U.S. agencies to keep its extraordinary rendition program a secret. A U.S. District Court Judge in Washington recently ruled that exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allow the Central Intelligence Agency […]

Janessa Schilmoeller
By Janessa Schilmoeller
A watch tower overlooks the area near the Polish intelligence school just outside of Stare Kiejkuty, Poland, on Friday, Dec. 16, 2005. The installation has become the focal point of allegations of secret CIA prisons in Poland. The United States has denied access of information concerning extraordinary rendition to UK MPs. ( AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

(MintPress)- As new developments emerged last week about the establishment of US black sites in Poland, so too emerged the desire of U.S. agencies to keep its extraordinary rendition program a secret. A U.S. District Court Judge in Washington recently ruled that exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allow the Central Intelligence

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