Armed Conflicts

US Takes Back Signature on Arms Trade Treaty

By Thalif Deen
The United States dropped a political bombshell when President Donald Trump announced his administration would withdraw from the historic Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) which the former Obama administration signed in September 2013.

Muslim Terrorists Heading Towards a Jihadist Hell Hole

By H.L.D. Mahindapala
The history of terrorism in Sri Lanka reveals a clear pattern. The first to take up arms in the post-Independent era were the misguided Sinhala youth. They were educated youth desperately running in search of a quick solution to establish their classless paradise. Their violence did not take them anywhere.

US & Western Arms in Yemen Conflict Signal Potential War Crime Charges

By Thalif Deen
When US political leaders urged the Trump administration to either reduce or cut off arms supplies to Saudi Arabia – largely as a punishment for its indiscriminate bombings of civilians in the four-year old military conflict in Yemen—President Trump provided a predictable response: “If we don’t sell arms to Saudi Arabia, the Chinese and the Russians will.”

Women and Girls “Preyed on as the Spoils of War”

By Sam Olukoya
“They forcefully took us away and kept us like prisoners,” Lydia Musa, a former Boko Haram captive who was abducted at the age of 14 during an attack on her village in Gwoza, in Nigeria’s north eastern Borno State, tells IPS. Musa and two other underaged girls were captured and forced to marry Boko Haram fighters in spite of their protests that they were too young to marry.

Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Carnage: Quo Vadis?

By Purnaka L. de Silva
I returned from attending a three-hour Easter Sunday mass at the Fordham University Church around midnight New York time on April 20, 2019, when my phone rang and a colleague asked me what’s going on in Sri Lanka? I said what is going on? He said there were a series of coordinated terrorist bombings with multiple fatalities and scores of injuries in my native country. For the next four and a half hours I was on the phone trying to piece together what happened, including reaching out to Sri Lanka’s Secretary of Defence Hemasiri Fernando.

Trump’s Veto Will Trigger More US Arms to Kill Civilians in Yemen

By Thalif Deen
President Donald Trump’s decision to veto a bi-partisan Congressional resolution to end US military involvement in a devastating Saudi-led four-year conflict in Yemen-- is expected to escalate the ongoing war in the trouble-plagued region.

Shining a Spotlight on the Strengths & Challenges of Civil Society in the Balkans

By Lysa John
It is an incredible privilege to welcome you all to the ‘International Civil Society Week’. I am going to remind us of the reasons that make it so important for us to be here in Belgrade this week.

Attacks on Media in the Balkans Sound Alarm Bells for Democracy

By Susan Wilding
Anti-government protesters invading Serbia’s state-owned television station, demanding that their voices be heard. Journalism bodies writing to the Albanian prime minister over plans to censor online media outlets. A Belgrade corruption-busting reporter forced to flee his house that had been torched; a Montenegrin investigative journalist shot in the leg outside her home.

Executive Director of the Geneva Centre: “The pursuit of economic gains from war, armed conflict and human suffering remains the 21st century’s greatest injustice”

By Geneva Centre
Illegal arms exports and human trafficking adversely affect the enjoyment of human rights across the world including in the Arab region, the Geneva Centre’s Executive Director Ambassador Idriss Jazairy said at a panel debate held at the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG).

Is Republic of China Still a Permanent Member of the Security Council – Despite its Ouster in 1971?

By Thalif Deen
The Republic of China (Taiwan) withdrew from the United Nations in protest when it was ousted from its highly-prized permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC) about 48 years ago.

The NPT & Conditions for Nuclear Disarmament

By Daryl G. Kimball
Fifty years ago, shortly after the conclusion of the 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), the United States and the Soviet Union launched the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT).

UK Announces Aid Package for Gazan Hospitals Near Breaking Point

By Roger Hamilton-Martin
The UK Government has announced an aid package to support hospitals in Gaza that are “near breaking point”. The £2 million package will go to the International Committee of the Red Cross’s 2019 Israel and Occupied Territories (ILOT) Appeal. The aid will contribute to surgical equipment, drugs, wound dressing kits, prosthetics, and post-surgery physiotherapy for up to 3,000 disabled people.

Using Climate-Smart Solutions to Promote Peace in South Sudan

By Isaiah Esipisu
Almost a month to go ahead of the traditional rainy season in Gbudue State, 430 kilometres west of South Sudan’s capital, Juba, smallholder farmers are already tilling their land as they prepare to plant purer, drought-tolerant seeds.

Syrian Crisis Enters Ninth Year with 11 Million Refugees Overseas & 6 Million Home

By Hervé Verhoosel
The bell rings and the halls erupt with the sounds of chatter and excitement as hundreds of children run to the dusty courtyard for recess. I joined them to play football but the game instead turned into a round of questions.

Multilateralism: A Testimony

By Ambassador Idriss Jazairy and Roberto Savio
For over 70 years, the UN system has been perceived as the guardian of peace and development in the world. However, multilateralism today is undeniably under strain. The effectiveness of global institutions and of global policymaking is questioned, and alliances are fraying.

Preaching World Peace by Day, Peddling Lethal Weapons By Night

By Thalif Deen
The Middle East, one of the world’s most politically-volatile and war-ravaged regions, has doubled its arms imports during the past five years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Eight Years on, Fukushima Still Poses Health Risks for Children

By Akio Matsumura
On March 11, we commemorate the 8th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. To an outside observer, this anniversary passes as a technical progress report, a look at new robot, or a short story on how lives there are slowly returning to normal.

International Women’s Day in Cameroon: A Day for All Women?

By Sarah Rayzl Lansky
On March 8, women all over Cameroon will don custom-made dresses sewn of pagne, specially printed for International Women’s Day. They will parade through cities and towns, joining women around the world in celebration of the day.

Veteran Diplomat Challenges Security Council’s Imbalance of Power, Offers Solutions for Reforms

By Arul Louis
A reexamination of the role of the United Nations and a tallying of its successes and failure get underway as it prepares for the 75th anniversary next year in the world of the 21st century while its core entity, the Security Council, is trapped in the time warp of 1945, its founding year.

Royal Wedding Received Triple the Media Coverage of Yemen in 2018

By Jim Lobe
The ongoing war in Yemen, called the world’s “worst humanitarian disaster” by the United Nations and independent aid agencies since early last year, received a grand combined total of 20 minutes of coverage on the ABC, NBC, and CBS weekday evening news programs in 2018.

Ignorance-Inspired Brexit Imperial Nostalgia

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
As the possible implications of Britain’s self-imposed ‘no-deal’ exit from the European Union loom larger, a new round of imperial nostalgia has come alive. After turning its back on the Commonwealth since the Thatcherite 1980s, some British Conservative Party leaders are seeking to revive colonial connections in increasingly desperate efforts to avoid self-inflicted marginalization following divorce from its European Union neighbours across the Channel.
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