The Council of Europe's Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings was opened for signature on May 16, 2005 and entered into force on February 1, 2008.

Ma Sang-yoon of the Catholic University of Korea discusses the April 11 Republic of Korea national assembly elections, explains their relationship to the December South Korean presidential elections, and highlights issues relevant to the future of U.S.-ROK relations.

Registration is now closed for Egypt's upcoming presidential election. CFR's Steven A. Cook discusses major contenders, including the Muslim Brotherhood's Khairat al-Shater and last-minute entrant Omar Suleiman, Hosni Mubarak's one-time spy chief.

Joshua Kurlantzick and Elizabeth Leader discuss how the newest threats to expression and access on the Internet are not coming from authoritarian states, but instead from somewhere more surprising: electoral democracies like Thailand, Turkey, and South Korea.

The Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others was approved by the UN General Assembly on December 2, 1949 and entered into force on July 25, 1951.

Joshua Kurlantzick says that even though its by-elections were relatively free and fair, Burma remains a long way from a truly democratic culture of elections.

The elections brought democratic forces into parliament for the first time in fifty years. But Myanmar's rapid reforms still must be viewed as small steps in a country where military forces retain considerable power, writes CFR's Joshua Kurlantzick.

Isobel Coleman, Ed Husain, and Michael Willis discuss the relationship between Islam and politics following the Arab uprisings, including how Islam affects women's and minority rights, democracy, and secularism.

This session was part of a CFR symposium, Implications of the Arab Uprisings, which was made possible by the generous support of Rita E. Hauser, and organized in cooperation with University of Oxford's St. Antony's College.

There are no good solutions to the mess in Syria, says James Traub, a fellow of the Center on International Cooperation.

The Ouagadougou Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially Women and Children was adopted on November 23, 2006 by the EU and African states. The EU says, "It aims at developing co-operation, best practices and mechanisms to prevent and combat trafficking in human beings between the European Union and the African Union. The Action Plan takes a holistic human rights approach and includes measures also to protect the victims and prosecute the traffickers."

The Brussels Declaration on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings was adopted on November 29, 2002 at the European Conference on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.

The UN Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air was adopted on November 15, 2004 and entered into force on January 28, 2004.

The Arab League summit in Baghdad is focused on Syria, but events on the ground appear to have already outpaced the regional group, says CFR's Mohamad Bazzi.

This was a meeting of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Roundtable series.

This paper focuses on identifying the nature and characteristics of members of two groups of former extremists: former Palestinian and Israeli militants and former U.S. gang members. By exploring the underlying processes that led these two groups to turn away from violent extremism, the authors aim to decipher the "psychological code" of former extremists in order to help develop effective antiradicalization programs.

The authors summarize the findings of the Summit Against Violent Extremism and find that the reasons individuals have for joining and leaving violent groups cut across geographies and ideologies.

When faced with a rising tide of violence, largely caused by their own policy mistakes, the U.S. occupation embarked on the reconstitution of an Iraqi military. The resultant Iraqi security forces, under the control of Nuri al-Maliki, are today on their way to occupying the same role as the armed forces of the Ba'athist regime, writes Toby Dodge.

China faces growing internal and external calls for economic and political reforms. Expert Minxin Pei looks at the political transition under way and discusses prospects for change.

The UN Security Council issued this Presidential Statement concerning Syria on March 21, 2012.

President Obama gave these remarks on Nowruz, Persian new year, on March 20, 2012.