Digital Media on the Frontline: Supporting the Ones who Support the Rest

For Dr Farzana Khan, a frontline worker and a second-generation immigrant from Pakistan living in California, social media helped her connect and realign herself during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Importance of Being Listed: Why Politics Threaten the Protection of Children in Armed Conflict

Frontline workers who document and respond to violations against children have faced a particularly challenging last year, from the impact of Covid-19 on operations and child protection to the record levels of displacement worldwide to the ever-worsening threats from militaries and non-state armed groups.

Boldly Finance Recovery to Build Forward Better

COVID-19 has become a “developing country pandemic”, retreating from the North’s mass vaccination. With developing countries heavily handicapped, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns of a “dangerous [new] divergence”.

Kuciak Case Retrial An Opportunity to Break Global Cycle of Impunity in Journalist Killings

A ruling last week ordering a retrial in the murders of a Slovak journalist and his fiancée has led to a “unique” opportunity to break a global cycle of impunity in journalist killings, press freedom groups have said.

Education Cannot Wait for Refugee Children in Crisis, says Yasmine Sherif

With financing, the number of out-of-school refuges could be reduced to zero, Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW) says, as the world commemorates World Refugee Day.

The Energy Revolution Is Here: How to Be Part of It

The industrial revolution took 100 years. The digital revolution, two decades. The next global revolution, the energy revolution, has already begun. But how fairly and how fast it happens is the biggest challenge of our time.

For People with Disabilities, COVID-19 Lays Bare the Weaknesses in Social Safety Nets

People with disabilities were particularly hard hit by the social and economic impacts of efforts to control COVID-19.

Call for Political Belt-tightening to Prevent Drought Becoming the Next Pandemic

“Drought is on the verge of becoming the next pandemic and there is no vaccine to cure it.”

Apocalypse Now? Christian Fundamentalists and COVID-19

  Getting hard to breathe hard to believe in anything at all, but fear. Peter Gabriel, Mother of ViolenceLike most male Swedes of my age I had to enter obligatory military service for almost a year. In my barrack was a “born-again-Christian” who when he became angry shouted “Now you mock me, but when the Last Judgement has come I will sit in heaven and smile down at you while you burn in Hell!” Since then I have wondered about the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation. It was written by a frustrated Christian man who by the end of 100 CE by Roman authorities had been deported to an isolated island where he wrote a long letter to Christian congregations in Asia Minor.

Will a British ICC Chief Prosecutor be Brave Enough to Investigate UK & its Allies?

As British barrister Karim Khan QC begins his term as ICC chief prosecutor, his first steps should be to proceed with investigations into alleged war crimes involving UK allies in Afghanistan and Palestine.

Setting the Stage for Wars During a Global Pandemic

Looking through my emails for the last year, I was struck by how often the adjective “unprecedented” occurred. The term, of course, referred to the global Covid-19 pandemic. One would imagine that this unprecedented year would result in unprecedented trends in other aspects of life.

Soil for Survival: Countries Commit to Halt Land Degradation

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told the first United Nations General Assembly meeting on desertification and drought in a decade, that his country’s report card will show it is well on track to meet its land restoration commitments.

World’s Nuclear Arms on High Operational Alert — & Ready to Strike

The world’s nine nuclear armed states have downsized their military arsenals, but made up for their loss by increasing the number of weapons on high operational alert, according to a new report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Powerful States Push Tax Race to the Bottom

Last week, the largest rich countries, home to most major transnational corporations (TNCs), agreed to a global minimum corporate income tax (GMCIT) rate. But the low rate proposed and other features will deprive developing countries of their just due yet again.

The Real Price of Marriage in South Sudan

August of this year will mark the one-year anniversary of the end of South Sudan’s civil war, yet recent surges of violence suggest that peace is far from being realized. These attacks by armed groups include instances of sexual violence against women and girls.

To Improve Global Health Security, We Must Not Abandon Tackling Existing Epidemics

As world leaders come together in the UK for the G7, the global response to COVID-19 and how we can build a better defence system against infection is at the forefront of discussions.  Whilst we applaud the incredible global efforts in tackling COVID-19 and support calls for vaccines to be shared equitably across the world, we also urge G7 leaders not to abandon efforts to tackle existing epidemics such as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), HIV/AIDs, malaria, TB and polio.

Why Mixed Messages Could Turn Boris Johnson’s Glasgow Climate Summit Dream into a Nightmare

How are preparations for the Glasgow Climate Summit in November proceeding? Currently, we are more than halfway through three weeks of virtual preparatory negotiations taking place in June. These online talks are challenging in their own right, just as many had feared  (see: ‘Should the 2021 Climate Summit in Glasgow Still Take Place?’). 

UN Scientists: Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss. Two Parts. One Problem.

Earth is in the throes of multiple environmental crises, with climate change and the loss of biodiversity the most pressing. The urgency to confront the two challenges has been marked by policies that tackle the issues separately. Now, a report by a team of scientists has warned that success on either front is hinged on a combined approach to the dual crises.

A Staggering 160 Million Are Victims of Child Labour

Among the many daunting issues leaders of the G7 will have to discuss in their upcoming summit in idyllic Cornwall on June 11-13, child labour won’t be on the official agenda.

Preventing Hunger While Building Peace

Acute hunger is expected to soar in over 20 countries in the next few months, warns a recent report on global “hunger hotspots” from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). An estimated 34 million people are “one step away from starvation”, pushed to the brink by climate shocks, conflict, and the Covid-19 pandemic.