South Sudan’s Impending Food Crisis
By Ricky Passarelli: As the political conflict continues in South Sudan, feuding sides have yet to realize that impending famine could disarm them both. While governments throughout the Middle East and Africa loudly devolve, a much quieter implosion threatens the future stability of this already war-torn country. With more than 1 million people displaced by […]
Stimson Chairman’s Forum cited in Peacefare on US Ambassador Jones
America’s admirably frank ambassador to Libya Deb Jones answered a lot of questions at the Stimson Center this afternoon about Libya, where an American citizen militia leader, Khalifa Hiftar, has been whacking extreme Islamist militias he holds responsible for political violence in Benghazi and Tripoli. This comes on top of more than a year of […]
Russia, Ukraine And Sanctions: A Double-Edged Sword
Unraveling the events in Ukraine, and the reaction in Russia, is another exercise in peeling back the layers of the onion of Russian imperial history. While most of the more spectacular events of the past few weeks are already well known in the West, there are some nuances that deserve examination in a little more […]
Justice for Victims of Sexual Violence at the ICC?
This Friday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is expected to reach a decision that could be a major milestone. If the defendant is found guilty of rape and sexual slavery it would be the first conviction on sexual violence charges at the ICC, which would strengthen international norms and create new legal precedents for sexual […]
A strategy to rescue diplomacy on Syria
The Syrian crisis is rapidly turning into a humanitarian and security nightmare with regional and possibly global implications. The conflict is now firmly entrenched in a military stalemate. While “stalemate” conveys a sense of stasis, the impasse translates into the deepening deterioration of conditions on the ground. Meanwhile, the supercharged sectarian dynamic emanating from Syria […]
How the U.N. should handle South Sudan
By Alison Giffen: Tens of thousands of people in fear for their lives are sheltering inside six United Nations bases in the world’s youngest country, South Sudan. They have fled to these “safe havens” to escape the violence of a civil war that has been tearing apart their country since mid-December. Swift and decisive United […]
Central African Republic: Peacekeeping Forces Face Multitude Of Challenges In Troubled Nation
By Katharina Nachbar – The unanimous vote Thursday by the U.N. Security Council to authorize an African Union peacekeeping mission backed by French soldiers in the Central African Republic is good news for the 4.6 million people of the nation plagued by months of instability and sectarian violence between Muslim and Christian communities. However, major […]
Community Perceptions as a Priority in Protection and Peacekeeping
By Alison Giffen – Perceptions influence judgment, decision-making and action. They inform an individual’s decision to flee from or submit to violence, to denounce a perpetrator despite risk of retaliation, or to take justice into their own hands. The perceptions of conflict-affected communities are among the most important sources that peacekeeping operations and other external […]