Topic: War and conflict
'Price of conflict is too high': hunger at crisis levels in eight countries
News / 30th January 2018The number of hungry people living in conflict zones is rising, with eight countries recording crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity in at least a quarter of their people, food agencies warned the UN security council on Monday.
Thousands still dying at sea en route to Europe
News / 18th January 2018Amid concerns that 160 people may have drowned while attempting to cross the Mediterranean this week alone, the UN refugee agency have urged countries to offer more resettlement places.
Famine may be unfolding 'right now' in Yemen, warns UN relief wing
News / 23rd November 2017The United Nations relief wing on Friday warned of famine-like conditions unfolding in Yemen, as a blockade on aid and other essential goods by a Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels there enters its 12th day.
How can we turn military spending into a budget for the people?
Blog / 1st November 2017While President Trump’s 2018 budget proposes giving more than $700 billion to the military, it will come at the expense of trillions of dollars in cuts to the safety net over the coming decade. But an alternative is mapped out in The People's Budget, which aims to limit investment in the military and pump money into jobs, education, health care and climate resiliency. And it's getting growing support, writes Frida Berrigan for Waging Nonviolence.
Banning nuclear weapons: the beginning
Blog / 6th October 2017Against all odds, 122 countries agreed in July to ban nuclear weapons. At the heart of the United Nations treaty is an explicit ethical goal: to protect peoples of the world from the humanitarian catastrophe that would ensue if nuclear weapons were employed.
Global humanitarian needs have never been higher, says UN official
Article / 4th October 2017The number of those needing humanitarian assistance is at its highest since the end of the Second World War – some 145 million people. Several protracted crises in Africa and the Middle East are deteriorating and climate-induced emergencies, sometimes combined with violent conflict, continue to wreak havoc on vulnerable communities. Amid all this, United Nations-coordinated response plans remain severely underfunded.
The world’s common humanity and US foreign policy
Article / 28th September 2017'A sensible and effective foreign policy recognizes that our safety and welfare is bound up with the safety and welfare of others around the world.' By Bernie Sanders.
Philanthrolateralism: Private funding and corporate influence in the United Nations
Article / 28th September 2017In order to make the UN system really ‘fit for purpose’, member states and UN bodies have to take bold action to overcome selective multilateralism, the weakening of democratic governance, and the financial erosion of public institutions. A special issue article by Karolin Seitz and Jens Martens for Global Policy.
World hunger is on the rise again
Report / 18th September 2017A UN report it reveals that in 2016 the number of chronically undernourished people in the world is estimated to have increased to 815 million, up from 777 million in 2015, although still down from about 900 million in 2000.
‘It’s a slow death’: the world’s worst humanitarian crisis
Article / 7th September 2017The United Nations has called the situation in Yemen the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with more than 10 million people who require immediate assistance. And the situation could become even worse.