As an alternative to Russian gas, Europe is returning to coal from Colombia that is drenched in human rights abuses that occurred during that country’s deadly civil war during and that continues today. Europe is thereby avoiding one bloody conflict by exacerbating another.
From International Day Against Violence Against Women (November 25) to International Human Rights Day (December 10), the United Nations’ global Orange the World-campaign draws attention to gender-based violence during these 16 Days of Action. Together with our local partners, PAX works against gender-based violence in Iraq. We spoke to our Iraqi partners Esraa, Baraa, Maryam and Zahraa about their fight for a gender-equal society.
On Dec. 2, farming communities in the Cesar department in northern Colombia were again rocked by paramilitary violence. Around noon, a farming community in the municipality of El Copey was invaded by a group of heavily armed men in uniform who identified themselves as members of the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), the largest armed group currently present on Colombia’s Atlantic coast.
The US has been fighting the armed group Al Shabaab for years in Somalia. New PAX reporting highlights the disastrous impact of years of airstrikes on Al Shabaab-controlled territory on civilians, both in the short and long term. In doing so, the report raises questions about the desirability of the overall US military approach in light of the significant harm it causes, combined with an apparent failure to bring peace and security to Somalia.
Nine Dutch banks, pension funds, insurers and asset managers invested 12.5 billion euros from 2019 to August 2022 in companies involved in the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. This puts them at high risk of contributing to systematic human rights violations.
From International Day Against Violence Against Women (November 25) to International Human Rights Day (December 10), the United Nations’ global Orange the World-campaign draws attention to gender-based violence during these 16 Days of Action. Under the Leaders of Peace-program, PAX works together with our local partners against gender-based violence in South Sudan. We spoke to our South Sudanese partners Gloria, Martha, Martina and Vicky about their fight for a gender-equal society.
In the past few days, there has once again been a great deal of unrest in and around Jerusalem. On Sunday 9 October, the Israeli army blocked access to parts of Jerusalem, including Anata and the Shuafat refugee camp. This was in response to the death of a female Israeli soldier after a shooting incident at the checkpoint on the road to Shuafat. Two other Israeli guards were also wounded.
On 25 August 2022, the US Department of Defense (DoD) released its long-awaited Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMR-AP). This document announces a series of actions that, once implemented, will mean an overhaul of current US policy regarding the monitoring, mitigation of, and response to civilian harm caused by US military operations. Its development was prompted by a directive of Defense Secretary Austin after media reports about the August 2021 Kabul (Afghanistan) and March 2019 Baghuz (Syria) civilian casualty incidents brought to light systemic failures in how the US deals with and responds to such events, as well as civil society calls for a complete overhaul of US policy in this area.
The Sahel is facing a tumultuous period. Popular unrest over the handling of the region’s security crisis has led to recent military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso. France has redeployed its military presence away from Mali in favour of a tightened partnership with the democratically elected government of Niger. How are these developments perceived by civilians in the Sahel? What attitude should foreign governments adopt in the face of rising authoritarian tendencies? What policy responses are conceivable beyond military engagement alone?
The cabinet should invest in a civilian harm fund, argue PAX Erin Bijl and Jip van Dort in an opinion editorial in Dutch newspaper Parool on 13 September. “Compensation is an acknowledgment of suffering.”
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