Assessments of security trends in Iraq vary wildly depending on who you speak to, how you count the statistics, and which period of time you study. But one thing is clear: bomb blasts, targeted killings or improvised explosive devices are still a daily occurrence in Iraq.
That a war crimes court should focus on the victims of war crimes sounds like a simple concept. But many of those living in the African communities where most of the atrocities being prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) took place, have long complained they have been forgotten by this controversial and costly institution based thousands of miles away.
Global humanitarian needs declined in 2011 but funding shortfalls continued to widen, according to a report by the UK-based NGO, Development Initiatives. And resilience is the new buzzword in aid response as people across the sector give more thought – but not yet enough action – to helping vulnerable people better withstand shocks, rather than waiting until disaster strikes.
The adoption of the controversial concept of a “green economy“ was to have been the big story out of Rio+20, the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Egypt’s presidential run-off, in which around 50 million people are expected to vote on 16-17 June, is spotlighting challenges such as poverty alleviation, the role of NGOs, and environmental issues.
A Syrian government response plan, agreed with the UN after six weeks of negotiations, satisfies minimum humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality but falls short of the unhindered access the international humanitarian community was calling for, according to aid workers.
Every year, somewhere between US$200 billion and $1 trillion are spent in “mandatory” alms and voluntary charity across the Muslim world, Islamic financial analysts estimate.
Since Muammar Gaddafi’s fall seven months ago, Libya’s non-Arab minorities, including an estimated 250,000 Tuaregs, have begun more vehemently to insist on their rights.
Last week a group of countries including those from the EU, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), small island nations threatened by sea-level rise, and progressive countries in Latin America, known as the Durban coalition, met in Brussels to discuss climate change.
Twelve years gone, and three years still to go: as the Millennium Development Goals’ (MDG) target date of 2015 gets closer, the debate is intensifying about what went right and what went wrong, and – perhaps more importantly – what kind of goals should be set for the future.
