Armed Conflicts

Investigation a Crucial Tool for Preventing Child Rights Violations in Armed Conflicts

By Nina Suomalainen
There has been a disturbing increase in violence perpetrated against children in conflicts worldwide, coupled with almost total impunity.

Globalization of Indifference: Ai Weiwei and the Refugee Crisis

By Jan Lundius
Humans belong to a species that is constantly on the move . Since some Homo Sapiens 125,000 years ago began to move from the African continent, humans can be found all over the world, even in such utterly inhospitable places as the icebound plateaus of Antarctica. By moving, humans have tried to escape inadequate food-supply or otherwise unacceptable living conditions. Natural forces have forced them to leave, or even more commonly – violent actions by other humans. With them migrants have brought their means of expression and interaction, some of them expressed through their art.

UNFPA Highlights Need to Address Sexual and Reproductive Health of Women in Crisis Areas

By Samira Sadeque
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is appealing for $683million in their mission to address sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls in conflict areas in the world. 

A Humanitarian Response to the Crisis in Zimbabwe

By Craig Dube
In November 2019, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food described Zimbabwe – a country once hailed as the bread basket of Africa – as a state on the brink of man-made starvation.

Children are Bearing the Bitter Brunt of Counter-Terrorism Efforts: Report

By Samira Sadeque
Counter-terrorism efforts adopted by governments around the world in response to threats of terrorism are affecting children negatively in numerous ways, a report by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict (Watchlist) claimed last week. 

US Mideast Peace Plan: from a Paper Pharaoh & a Fake Moses

By Ameen Izzadeen
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu was slapped corruption charges last week while he was hobnobbing with US President Donald Trump in Washington. Bibi has, apparently, done his homework in psychology. He knew the quickest way to get around Trump was to flatter him.

US Mideast Peace Plan: Israelis Offered the Cheese & Palestinians the Holes

By Thalif Deen
The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has described the much-ballyhooed US Middle East peace plan as “more like Swiss cheese-- with the cheese being offered to the Israelis and the holes to the Palestinians”.

**UPDATE** African Nations Caught in Conflict Re-commit to Inclusive Education

By Stella Paul
Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh knows that his country is in need of an education system that is, “innovative, based on universal principles and values and adaptive of the local realities”.

China Ranked World’s Second Largest Arms Producer Trailing Behind US

By Thalif Deen
Donald Trump, the vociferously unpredictable US president, has long chastised China for seeking “unfair” advantage over trade and tariffs, violating intellectual property rights and “manipulating” the country’s currency to its advantage.

Mosul, an Epicentre of the ISIS Conflict, is a Devastated Iraqi City

By Mark Lattimer
As Iraq this month faces the threat of new conflicts – including a proxy war between the US and Iran – the shadow of the last conflict runs long.

UN expresses deep distress over terror attacks

By PRESS RELEASE
The United Nations Country Team in Kenya is deeply distressed by the rising cases of terrorist attacks on schools, teachers and learners, especially in the north-eastern regions of Kenya. While we stand in solidarity with the affected communities, we reiterate that acts of terror and hate are even more egregious when they target innocent, unarmed civilians including children.

Is Iraq Now a Virtual “US-Occupied Territory”?

By Thalif Deen
Pat Buchanan, a senior advisor to three US Presidents and twice candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, once infamously described the United States Congress as “Israeli-occupied territory” -– apparently because of its unrelentingly blind support for the Jewish state.

U.S. Might Pull Troops from West Africa, but Who Will it Affect?

By Samira Sadeque
While the United States is busy with foreign operations such as killing Qasem Soleimani, a key figure in Middle East Politics, behind the scenes it is reportedly considering a change that experts worry might be of grave concern: a potential withdrawal of troops from West Africa. 

‘Unprecedented Terrorist Violence’ in West Africa, Sahel Region

The top UN official in West Africa and the Sahel updated the Security Council on Wednesday, describing an “unprecedented" rise in terrorist violence across the region.

How Gender-based Violence Should be Reported in the Media

Sexual and gender-based violence terrorizes women and girls around the world, affecting as many as one in three women. Reporters play an essential role in bringing these cases to light so that authorities can take action and prevent further abuses. Yet reporting on gender-based violence comes with serious risks to survivors.

2020: a Year Full of Danger

By Farhana Haque Rahman
Let’s face what lies ahead with open eyes: 2020 is going to be a very tough year for the world, and developing countries in particular. The infant decade has already begun with the harbingers of climate disaster as thousands fled to beaches in Australia from raging bush fires, and the Middle East braced for more conflict after a U.S. air strike in Baghdad killed Iran’s top general.

2020 Is the Decade of Action & It Has to Be a Sprint

By Siddharth Chatterjee
Happy New Year, Kenya. 2020 marks a decade of action towards the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Peace and development are inextricably linked, with each making the achievement of the other far more likely. This puts the conflict-prevention and development work of the UN at the heart of the agenda in East Africa, but in a multi-agency and programme environment, making meaningful progress is challenging.

UN Chief Warns of Rising Misogyny, Xenophobia, Discrimination, Racism & Hate Speech

By Antonio Guterres
As we prepare to bid farewell to 2019, we must take a clearsighted look at the global situation and the new challenges we face. Our world is undergoing a shift. It is no longer bipolar or unipolar. But it is not yet truly multipolar. Balances of power are changing, creating new and dangerous risks.

Forced to Flee. Displaced with a Dream. Time for Action.

By Yasmine Sherif
Genesis smiles and holds her hand up proudly to answer questions in class. She claps her hands in support of her classmates when they answer the teachers’ questions correctly. “I miss my cousins and aunts in Venezuela, she says.” Her smile fades and her lips tighten. She struggles to hold back her tears. “I can’t return. I want to stay here in my school, with my new friends.” Her smile returns, as she resolutely states: “I want to become a lawyer, so I can help solve problems.”

Syria Regime Detains, Tortures Doctors in ‘War on Health’

By James Reinl
Syria’s government has arrested, detained and tortured large numbers of medics in a systematic effort to cut off treatment to swaths of the turbulent country’s population and swing the civil war in its favour, according to a new report.

The Story Behind The Gambia’s Lawsuit against Myanmar over the Rohingya Genocide

By Samira Sadeque
On Nov. 11, the Gambia filed a lawsuit against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice for the southeast asian country’s atrocities against the Rohingya population. 
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