Armed Conflicts

Contradictions Beset U.N. Response to Sexual Abuse by Peacekeepers

By Lyndal Rowlands
An internal United Nations expert report released Monday by the non-governmental organisation AIDS-Free World reveals serious contradictions in the U.N.’s reporting of sexual exploitation and abuse by U.N. peacekeepers.

Women Often Forgotten In Cases Of Forced Disappearance

By Josh Butler
Governments must do more to address the impacts of forced disappearances of women, according to an international justice report released Monday.

Middle East Conflicts Give Hefty Boost to Arms Merchants

By Thalif Deen
The ongoing conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen have helped spiral arms sales upwards to the Middle East, according to a study released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

More Fighter Jets in Nicaragua, Second-Poorest Country in the Americas

By José Adán Silva
Nicaragua, the second-poorest country in the Americas, is tapping into its depleted coffers to upgrade its ageing military fleet with costly new equipment from Russia – a move that has sparked controversy at home and concern among the country’s Central American neighbours.

Meet the 10 Women Who Will Stop at Nothing

By Kanya D'Almeida
On Apr. 6, 2013, Nadia Sharmeen, a crime reporter, was assigned to cover a rally organised by Hefazat-e-Islam, an association of fundamentalist Islamic groups in Bangladesh whose demands included a call to revoke the proposed National Women Development Policy.

Feeding a Warmer, Riskier World

By José Graziano da Silva
Artificial meat. Indoor aquaculture. Vertical farms. Irrigation drones. Once the realm of science fiction, these things are now fact. Food production is going high tech – at least, in some places.

Humanitarian Aid Under Fire Calls for New Strategies

By Julia Rainer
In the face of the growing number of crises taking place at the same time worldwide, humanitarian aid organisations – many of which have already reached their financial and logistic limits – are in desperate need of global coordination.

Eighty-Three Percent of Lights Have Gone Out in Syria

By Josh Butler
A single image can be more powerful, more descriptive and more potent than an entire essay – ‘ a picture says a thousand words,’ as the cliché goes.

What’s Driving the Merciless Asylum Seeker Policies in Australia?

By Catherine Wilson
As conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere pushed the number of refugees to 13 million last year, the international community is struggling to shoulder the humanitarian responsibility of protecting those fleeing violence and persecution in their homelands.

First the Taliban, then the Army, now Hunger: The Woes of Pakistan’s Displaced

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
A doctor shakes his head in despair as he examines a 10-year-old child at the Jalozai refugee camp, about 35 km by road from Peshawar, capital of Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

Opinion: A Year of Progress for “Children, Not Soldiers”

By Leila Zerrougui
One year ago, representatives of the last eight governments of the world named by the U.N. secretary-general for the recruitment and use of children in their security forces gathered at the United Nations in New York to declare they were ready to take the steps necessary to make their security forces child-free.

Congolese Citizens Forced to Pay for Police, Protection Services

By Josh Butler
Parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo are as dangerous and lawless as ever, with police and the state offering citizens little or no protection from armed groups.

Opinion: A Legally-Binding Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons

By Ray Acheson
Five years after the adoption of the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) Action Plan in 2010, compliance with commitments related to nuclear disarmament lags far behind those related to non-proliferation or the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

World Misses Its Potential by Excluding 50 Percent of Its People

By Thalif Deen
The meeting is billed as one of the biggest single gatherings of women activists under one roof.

Syrians “Have No Faith” in International Community to Solve Human Rights Crisis

By Josh Butler
Syrian citizens “have no faith” in the international community to solve the chaos and war raging across their country, according to a prominent human rights defender.

An American Missionary Kidnapped in Nigeria as Neighbouring Countries Seethe

By Lisa Vives
With kidnappings and violent attacks almost a daily occurrence in Nigeria, the disappearance of an American missionary appears to have stirred a new wave of outrage among the international community at the worsening conditions in the West African country, once considered a rising star and the largest economy on the continent.

Gaza Reconstruction, Hampered by Israeli Blockade, May Take 100 Years, Say Aid Agencies

By Thalif Deen
Despite all the political hoopla surrounding an international pledging conference in Cairo last October to help rebuild Gaza, the reconstruction of the Israeli-devastated territory is apparently moving at the pace of paralytic snail.

Families See Hope for Justice in Palestinian Membership of ICC

By Khaled Alashqar
"I have lost all meaning in life after the death of my child, I will never forgive anyone who caused the tearing apart of his little body.  I appeal to all who can help and stand with us to achieve justice and punish those who killed my child."

U.N. Member States Accused of Cherry-Picking Human Rights

By Thalif Deen
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has criticised member states for ‘cherry-picking’ human rights – advocating some and openly violating others – perhaps to suit their own national or political interests.

Syrian Conflict Has Underlying Links to Climate Change, Says Study

By Thalif Deen
Was the four-year-old military conflict in Syria, which has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, mostly civilians, triggered at least in part by climate change?

Environmental Damage to Gaza Exacerbating Food Insecurity

By Mel Frykberg
Extensive damage to Gaza’s environment as a result of the Israeli blockade and its devastating military campaign against the coastal territory during last year’s war from July to August, is negatively affecting the health of Gazans, especially their food security.
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