October 2016 Review

TransConflict is pleased to present a selection of articles published during October, plus updates from the Global Coalition for Conflict Transformation. 

1) What happened to America?

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir – President Obama’s legacy is on the line. He must either rise to meet the challenge by taking courageous and decisive military measures; or continue his futile diplomacy, watch the systematic disintegration of a whole country, severely damaging America’s international standing, and undermining its critical global role in the pursuit of peace and stability. Read on…

2) Battle for Mosul – can there be respect for the laws of war?

Rene Wadlow – To prevent and alleviate human suffering, to protect life and health, and to ensure respect for the human person – these are the core values of humanitarian law. These values may get lost in the “fog of war” of the battle for Mosul. Therefore, there needs to be a wide public outcry in the defense of humanitarian law so that violations can be reduced. As the tanks move ahead, the time for the defense of humanitarian values is now. Read on…

3) Paying for peace in Presevo

Laura Wise – The recent agreement on providing Albanian-language textbooks for schools in southern Serbia suggests that lessons have been learned from previous relations between Serbia’s Albanian minority, Kosovo, and Albania, and on the role that kin-states can play in southern Serbia’s development. Read on…

4) U 5/98-III: why it is doomed from an interpretive point of view (part 2)

Dražen Pehar – The Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) Constitutional Court decision of 1 July 2000 (U 5/98-III) attempted to demonstrate that the Dayton BiH Constitution implies a thesis on the constitutionality of all three BiH peoples throughout BiH territory, without qualification. This essay aims to demonstrate that the decision is implausible and that it rests on a flawed interpretation of the constitution. Read on…

5) Armenia’s new government and policy analysis

David Davidian – It is highly doubtful that a single person or group within the government can change Armenia’s military or foreign policy, for Armenia would still be subject to the same objective geopolitical realities in the region no matter who is in charge. Read on…

6) Statesmanship versus demagoguery

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir – Netanyahu will do well to think whether he wants to be remembered as the statesman who realized Peres’ dream, or the demagogue who led his people astray and shattered their millennium-old aspiration to finally live in peace. Read on…

7) Supporting the Kingdom of Morocco

Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir – Could it be that Morocco committed to democratic empowerment and sustainable development of communities and individuals will inspire a golden era of decentralized power and achievement for countries of the entire global South? Read on…

8) GCPEA releases guidance on what schools can do to protect education

A new report by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), entitled “What Schools Can Do to Protect Education from Attack and Military Use” documents how principals, teachers, and community members in conflicts worldwide are working within schools to protect them from violence by armed parties. Read on…

9) GCPEA condemns attack on Syrian schools

The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack strongly condemns the killing of students and teachers in the October 26, 2016 bombing of a school compound in Idlib, Syria. Read on…

The Global Coalition for Conflict Transformation

1) ‘A cure far worse than the disease’ – Sri Lanka’s new draft counter terrorism law

Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice – The draft ‘Counter Terrorism Act’ (CTA) – intended to replace the ‘Prevention of Terrorism Act’ (PTA), widely condemned as one of the main causes of serious human rights violations in Sri Lanka – would significantly widen the scope of repressive powers. Read on…

2) Young Peacebuilders Forum 2016 – raising the bar of youth advocacy for peace

Matteo Tonella – The Young Peacebuilders Forum 2016 identified some of the challenges lying ahead for the youth peace movement, and helped lay the ground for a common understanding of the needs we face together as well as common priorities for the actions we need to undertake.  Read on…

3) Sri Lanka – never the answer

Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice – While the conviction of Duminda Silva should have been a welcome sign of Sri Lanka’s return to normalcy, such an interpretation was immediately undermined by the sentence that was passed: death. Read on…

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