February 2018 Review

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

1) The US’ enablement jeopardizes Israel’s future

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir – Further enablement of Israel by the US will be the kiss of death to an Israeli-Palestinian peace and will make Israel a pariah state surrounded by walls and fences, constantly threatened and living by the gun. Read on…

2) Syria conflicts highlight violations of humanitarian international law

Rene Wadlow – The Association of World Citizens again calls for respect of humanitarian international law and for a world-wide effort for the re-affirmation of humanitarian international law.Read on…

3) Human rights and the environment

Matthew Parish – As globalisation and technological advancement progress so as to make pursuit of the aspirational ideals of the Sustainable Development Goals ever more realistic, so may the jurisprudence of international human rights law develop to as to provide a legal framework to protect the achievements that pursuit of those goals represents. Read on…

4) Murder by Congress

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir – Every legislator who does not act on gun control is complicit in all murders and atrocities committed by the barrel of a gun. They are responsible for all past and future killings of every man, woman, and child who dies in vain by firearms. This will be the badge of shame that they will wear for as long as they live. Read on…

5) New report on the ongoing use of surveillance, harassment and intimidation in Sri Lanka’s North

Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice – The release a new report looking at a disturbingly persistent aspect of life under the current government in Sri Lanka: the ongoing use of surveillance, harassment and intimidation against war-affected individuals and human rights activists by various state security agencies. Read on…

6) Georgia – the hard fate of the conflict zone bordering villages

Giorgi Stepnazde – Developments last fall created serious threats for the main sources of livelihood of Tsitelubani residents – livestock and agriculture. The Russian occupation line placed the so called ‘border’ marking banners on agriculture lands and pastures owned by the villagers. As result, a major part of agricultural lands appeared on the other side of the banners. Russian ‘border guards’ strictly warned the locals that trespassers would be detained. Unfortunately, it was not just a warning.Read on…

7) Five ways in which Europe can move the youth, peace and security agenda forward

The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, has expressed the European Union’s continued commitment to the youth, peace and security agenda. If only intentions automatically translated into action, the world would be a different place. Unfortunately, the journey from intention to action in bureaucratic Brussels will face obstacles at many turns. Read on…

8) Basking in the shadows of the Ottoman Era

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir – The West must no longer invoke Turkey’s geostrategic importance as an excuse for doing nothing to arrest Erdogan’s adventurism. No punitive action should be ruled out to stop him from further destabilizing the region because of his ill-fated aspirations to resurrect some semblance of the Ottoman Empire and satisfy his lust for ever more power. Read on…

8) The plight of Gali residents

Vakhtang Shamugia – Gali Georgians have to cross the so called Georgian-Abkhazian border, part of the ugly heritage of the nineties, on a daily basis. The perimeter is fully-controlled by Russian soldiers, namely employees of the Federal Security Service, while their Abkhazian colleagues have only a secondary role. Read on…

Interested in writing for TransConflict? Contact us now by clicking here!