In 2019, the links between the extractive industry and the escalation of conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were documented in a report to the UN Security Council. For over two decades, experts on the Great Lakes region, including diplomats,...
In the first 15 years of the United Nations’ post-9/11 counterterrorism program, gender issues were hardly mentioned. This, despite the clearly stated intention of violent extremists and terrorist groups to suppress gender equality, women’s rights, girls’ education,...
Matthew Hauenstein and Madhav Joshi On November 8, 2019, the parties to South Sudan’s 2018 peace agreement approved a second extension of its initial implementation period. This new extension is intended to conclude with the inauguration of a unity government between...
Stephen Oola The Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) is an oversight body established to track implementation of the South Sudan peace agreement signed in August 2015. The JMEC is comprised of representatives of the signatories (parties), other South...
Susan D. Page The recent hundred-day extension of the first phase of the implementation period for the South Sudan peace agreement provides a small window of time to build a continuous dialogue and improve trust, not only among the five signatories, but also within...
Laurie Nathan In 2015, Nigeria held elections that were widely expected to lead to large-scale violence. The risk derived in part from the country’s severe regional tensions, which included the religious and political cleavage between the North and the South, as well...
Laurie Nathan, Adam Day, João Honwana and Rebecca Brubaker From its inception, the United Nations (UN) has engaged in preventive diplomacy in situations of conflict in order to prevent the outbreak of large-scale violence. Preventive diplomacy has recently been given...
George A. Lopez United Nations Security Council sanctions continue to be used frequently to address a range of peace and conflict issues, from nuclear nonproliferation to the prevention and settlement of armed conflict. UN sanctions have also been utilized for...
Cora Currier is on staff at The Intercept and a journalist with a focus on national security, foreign affairs, and human rights. Her work has been published in Stars and Stripes, The Nation, Al Jazeera America and many other outlets. Last fall, my colleagues at The...
Catherine Bolten On November 17, 2012, the small West African Nation of Sierra Leone held its third general election, which was notable for the lack of violence and the consensus by election observers that it was conducted in a free, fair, and transparent manner. This...
Ernesto Verdeja Genocide has long been seen as the “crime of crimes” in media and policy circles. Since international law requires its prevention, it is likely that genocide will continue to demand sustained attention. We know a great deal about the general social and...
Ryne Clos The United States has adopted a static and stark picture of al-Shabaab that has magnified the truly dangerous aspects of the organization and alienated dimensions of the movement that could contribute to a solution to Somalia’s problems. Al-Shabaab is an...
Mary Ellen O’Connell In early September 2011, President Sarkozy of France declared the NATO-led military intervention in Libya a success. I disagree with his assessment for four reasons: The known result of six months of fighting is thousands killed and even more...
David Cortright I supported the no-fly zone over Libya as a necessary measure to protect civilians from imminent threat of military attack. During the course of the intervention, however, many questions emerged. What began as a limited mission to prevent a massacre...
George A. Lopez I disagree with my colleagues David Cortright and Mary Ellen O’Connell regarding the scope and direction of the Libyan intervention of the Security Council and NATO. The essential dilemma faced by the international community, as manifest in Security...
Emad El-Din Shahin Of the several uprisings and pro-democracy revolutions sweeping through the Arab region, only two — Tunisia and Egypt — have been successful so far in toppling despotic rulers and embarking on a transitional process to establish a free democratic...
David Cortright The enormity of what the Egyptian people have accomplished is breathtaking. The Mubarak dictatorship was brought down in just 18 days through unarmed mass revolution. Estimates of the number of people actively involved range from a low of 7 million to...
Noha Tarek Noha Tarek Abbas is a 25-year old student at Cairo University. She was actively involved in Tahrir Square during the 18 days of the revolution. These comments are transcribed from an interview in Cairo on June 8, 2011. When we planned the actions that...
John Katunga Religious institutions, especially the Anglican and Catholic churches, have played a leading role in peacebuilding in Sudan for decades. Their role in the process leading to South Sudan’s independence is the most recent example. Through a process of...
Peter Quaranto The United States has been actively engaged in seeking to prevent a return of North-South war in Sudan. The U.S. worked with international partners to assure that the Southern Sudan referendum in January was on time and peaceful and that the results...