Armed Conflicts

Dollar System Eroding Slowly, but Still Dominant

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The protracted demise of dollar-gold convertibility and associated fixed exchange rates did not end dollar hegemony. With crucial and timely help from political allies, confidence in the dollar system has persisted, albeit much diminished.

Kazakhstan Has Spent 23 Years Bringing Faiths Together. Now Comes the Harder Part.

By Katsuhiro Asagiri
In a world increasingly divided by war, political distrust and competing ideologies, Kazakhstan has spent more than two decades pursuing an unusual diplomatic undertaking: keeping representatives of different religions in conversation.

Nearly 50,000 Women and Girls Killed or Severely Injured in Gaza in Three Years of War – One in 21 Gazan Women and Girls

By UN Women
Since October 2023, 50,000 women and girls in Gaza have been killed or seriously injured.
    • UN Women estimates that nearly 50,000 women and girls in Gaza have been killed or severely injured since the onset of war in October 2023 [1], amounting to one in 21 Gazan women and girls losing their life or living with lifelong disabilities [2].

How AI-Powered War Drives the Critical Minerals Race

By Oritro Karim
The demand for critical minerals is accelerating as world powers scramble to stay on top of emerging technologies. Meanwhile, the environment and frontline communities are paying a steep price.

Ukrainian Groups Urge WHO to Act on Torture of Captives by Russian Medical Staff

By Ed Holt
More than 60 Ukrainian organisations have issued an appeal to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help stop the torture of Ukrainians held in Russian captivity.

Prioritize Multilateralism to Resolve Iran War Deepening Humanitarian Crisis, Says OSF Vice President

By Oritro Karim
Seven months into the Iran War, threats of further military escalation and stalled efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz have heightened fears of worsening humanitarian suffering and wider regional instability.

SUDAN: ‘It’s Shocking to Be Forced into Silence Simply Because You Are a Refugee’

By CIVICUS

 
CIVICUS discusses life as a refugee with an exiled Sudanese civil society activist who has asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.

The Ingenuity Trap

By Hani Shehada
In the 21st century, getting a pencil into Gaza became international news. In January, after more than two years of restrictions, UNICEF finally brought in learning kits with pencils and exercise books. Textbooks stayed out. By then, the UN had recorded damage to 97.5 per cent of Gaza's schools.

BRICS: Growing Ambition, Zero Accountability

By Samuel King and Inés M. Pousadela
At the 18th BRICS Summit, held on 12 and 13 September in New Delhi, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought together presidents Xi Jinping of China, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran, along with Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, representing the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Around the table sat longstanding rivals such as India and China and, in the case of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, states on opposite sides of an ongoing war. That the summit produced a joint declaration every member could sign was a modest multilateralist success.

Overshoot of Paris Agreement and the Looming Super El Niño Drive Urgent Calls for Global Climate Action at UNGA 81

By Oritro Karim
The United Nations 2026 Climate Summit addressed critical strategies to mitigate the compounding impacts of the climate crisis and accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Myanmar: Corporate Complicity in the Spotlight

By Andrew Firmin
On 15 September, Norwegian police and security services raided the headquarters of Telenor in Oslo. Authorities accuse the multinational telecoms company, majority owned by the Norwegian state, of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity in Myanmar and breaching sanctions.

From Vienna to New York: Nuclear Governance Faces New Tests Ahead of First TPNW Review Conference

By Katsuhiro Asagiri
The international nuclear order is facing another test as governments move from an inconclusive review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in New York to renewed disputes over safeguards and nuclear security in Vienna—and toward the first Review Conference of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) later this year.

When African Smallholders Access Finance, They’ll Show You What’s Possible

By Agnes Kalibata
I was born in Rwanda, but my family soon became refugees in Uganda during the conflict and unrest on the cusp of independence. My father was a teacher and went to great lengths to make sure I was well educated. My parents were also smallholder farmers, and I saw firsthand the challenges my parents and other refugee families faced.

A New Arms Race is Threatening to Take-off—this time in Outer Space

By Thalif Deen
The world’s ongoing arms race is threatening to extend beyond planet earth—and spillover into outer space. The US has deployed weapons in space and will use them to defend American forces, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said last week, according to Cable News Network (CNN). His comments marked the first public acknowledgment of such capabilities, though he offered no details about the weapons or when they were put into orbit.

Floods, Hunger and Disease Pile on Myanmar’s Civil War Misery

By Guy Dinmore, and a reporter in Yangon
Isolated and at constant war with itself, Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis is deepening as global challenges far exceed the capacity to respond of a military regime increasingly focused on its own survival.

Sudan: Blood on Foreign Powers’ Hands

By Andrew Firmin
Sudan’s civil war grinds on. It’s close to three and a half years since the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia began their battle for supremacy, and the two forces and their allies continue to slaughter civilians with impunity. As a recent UN report makes clear, the killing is enabled by numerous foreign powers that continue to supply weapons, personnel and logistical support. They have made a civil conflict their proxy war, and their self-interest is sustaining the killing.

War in Ukraine: Hungarian Minority Pushed to the Edge

By Karlos Zurutuza
It happened in 1920. At the Grand Trianon Palace at Versailles, the Allies drew a new map of Hungary that sliced away two-thirds of its territory. Such a cartographic mutilation went down in history as the Treaty of Trianon. No country lost more territory after the First World War.

ETHIOPIA: ‘Reporting on Abuses Shouldn’t Be Treated as a Threat to National Interest’

By CIVICUS

 
CIVICUS discusses renewed conflict and a growing crackdown on independent media in Ethiopia with Yonas Kedir, Editor-in-Chief of the independent news outlet Addis Standard, who was recently abducted and detained by government forces.

Bangladesh Must Face Its Quiet Crisis of Internal Displacement

By Mohammad Zaman
Bangladesh is rightly praised for saving lives during cyclones and floods. Early warning systems, cyclone shelters and community mobilisation have turned once-catastrophic disasters into emergencies in which evacuation is often possible. But behind that success lies a quieter national failure: millions of people are being uprooted inside the country, often more than once, without a clear path back to secure homes, land or livelihoods.

Renewed Hostilities In Yemen Inflame Displacement and Regional Risks

By Oritro Karim
In recent days, the humanitarian situation in Yemen has deteriorated sharply following a new escalation of hostilities between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC). This follows four years of relative stability, marking the most severe resurgence of violence since the collapse of the United Nations (UN)-mediated ceasefire in October 2022.

September 11 and the End of the American Dream
The Day That Changed Everything

By Roberto Savio
On 11 September 2001 I was in New York, on one of my frequent visits to the United Nations, to which I was tied by a consultancy contract. That morning I woke up late, around eleven, sleeping off the jet lag of the flight from Italy. I was staying at the Hyatt Park, today the Millennium. A hotel a few metres from the Glass Palace, built to serve the world of the United Nations.
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