UN Day: strengthening and reforming
24 October is UN Day, marking the day when there were enough ratifications including those of the five permanent members of the proposed Security Council... Read More
Society after Coronavirus essay #7: Universal Basic Income
This is the seventh in a series of essays exploring the economic, social and cultural effects upon the daily lives of persons living in the... Read More
Society after Coronavirus essay #4: Crime, War and Terror
This is the fourth in a series of essays exploring the economic, social and cultural effects upon the daily lives of persons living in the... Read More
Pandemic and patronage
Our social retreat enables trust-based networks while further weakening faltering political institutions in the Balkans and elsewhere.
Humanity – language, conflict, and violence – part three
If something repeatable within a human relationship precedes the outbreak of violence, what is it exactly? Viewed with a cold eye, the violence creating conditions... Read More
Humanity – language, conflict, and violence – part two
If something repeatable within a human relationship precedes the outbreak of violence, what is it exactly? Viewed with a cold eye, the violence creating conditions... Read More
Unlocking Europe
Covid-19 is not nearly as deadly as the other pandemic diseases, such as the Spanish ‘flu or the Bubonic Plague, that have periodically swept the... Read More
Education for global citizenship
Education for Global Citizenship is part of a long-term process to build the defenses of peace in the minds of women and men. The Constitution... Read More
Coronavirus and narcotics – geopolitical comparison
One way of stamping upon the scourge of drugs, and the deaths they cause, would be indefinitely to lock everyone in their homes so they... Read More
After the plague
The post-capitalist world that may await us, should we delay resurrection of our ordinarily functioning society, may not at all be to our liking. We... Read More
The lamp of liberty in an age of crisis
We must overcome our fear of disease now, notwithstanding the medical uncertainties, and take a cold hard look at what the collective realisation of our... Read More
What questions should we be asking about the Coronavirus?
We need better data, and we need to test specific standardised communities to assess the true nature of the medical risk we face. Only then... Read More
2020 will be more turbulent than 2019, unless…
The year 2020 will most likely be as turbulent if not more so than 2019 due mainly to the lack of American leadership and the... Read More
Peace Direct calls for sustainable peace to be a priority ahead of UK election
Ahead of the UK general election on 12th December, Peace Direct urges all political parties to make sustainable peace a cross cutting priority in their... Read More
Upholding freedom of conscience and belief
There is a worldwide erosion of the freedom of belief and conscience in many parts of the world causing large-scale suffering, grave injustice, and refugee... Read More
Economic sanctions – balancing principles, national interests and the advancement of world law
A discussion on ‘smart sanctions’ has led to a concern with the consequences of sanctions. In 1995, the then UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali proposed... Read More
Migration and awareness of trafficking in persons
One aspect of migration issues is the issue of the trans-frontier trafficking in persons. Awareness has been growing, but effective remedies are slow and uncoordinated.... Read More
Local peacebuilding – what works and why
This report, a collaboration between Peace Direct and the Alliance for Peacebuilding, explores the effectiveness of local peacebuilding, sharing real and impactful initiatives from around... Read More
Insidious discrimination against the Roma is Europe’s shame
Whereas we cannot change human nature, we can change our behavior and become more tolerant and facilitate Roma integration in all walks of life. We... Read More
The metamorphosis of a female fighter into a peacebuilder
The story you’re about to read is that of armed conflict and gender, ideologies and the business of war, self-criticism and healing, peacebuilding and education.... Read More
On Resolution 2467
That the US successfully imposed itself in the wording of a document that addresses women’s rights the world over and managed to force a regressive... Read More
On virtual currency and terrorist financing
Cryptocurrencies as a source of terrorist financing is of yet, limited. But to assume that this will remain static is potentially dangerous. If terrorist actors... Read More
A new despotism in the era of surveillance capitalism
Alexis de Tocqueville warned us that oppression may take forms which are gentle, quiet, calm, but nonetheless, inimical to genuine freedom. To adequately respond to... Read More
Is it sufficient simply to acknowledge the nonviolent heroes among us?
It is not difficult to find heroes at the UN: individuals and communities who, in the face of enormous challenges, maintain a commitment to peace... Read More
The privilege of not listening – how international support is undermining the sustainability of local civil society
If we want to figure out ‘how international interventions might better resolve conflict-related problems by supporting responses based on local civicness’, we must also figure... Read More
