A report entitled ‘Mapping Refugee Reception in the Mediterranean’ released on Friday 7 July 2017 challenges the misconception that the majority of people risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean into Europe labelled as economic migrants. The report reveals more than 84% of the estimated 1,008,616 arrivals in Greece, Italy
Human Rights Watch declared grave concerns this week for the rights of detainees, indiscriminate attacks, and the treatment of displaced people by the U.S.-led coalition, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and other local armed groups in the offensive against Islamic State (ISIS) for the city of Raqqa. The Syrian city
Many Colombians have never lived a day of peace. The internal armed conflict between the guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the government and paramilitaries was driven by inequality, drug-trafficking, and territory control lasting over fifty years. Every generation was affected. More than 220,000 people died and
On Monday, May 1st, 20 LGBT rights protesters were arrested in St. Petersburg for taking part in the first demonstration inside Russia against the horrifying treatment of gay men in Chechnya. Among the detainees is Igor Kochetkov, director of the Russian LGBT Network, an activist group providing safe houses for gay
In a chilling response to reports of extreme levels of homophobic violence against men “with non-traditional sexual orientation, or suspicion of such” in Chechnya, Russia. A Chechen government spokesperson, has gone so far as to deny the very existence of gay people in the region: “you cannot arrest or repress
According to the International Organization for Migration, between 700,000 to 1 million migrants are expected to be held in Libya, and many are hoping to cross into Europe. Although the death toll of those making this perilous journey surpassed 5,000 in 2016, the Mediterranean crossing they hope is ahead of
On April 4th 2017, the United Nations Security Council welcomed the efforts of the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera, to restore peace and security to the crisis-torn country, also stressing the need for the “swift operationalization” of his plans. In its Presidential Statement, the Security Council
Six aid workers were killed by unknown attackers on Saturday 25 March 2017 in South Sudan, as famine intensifies three years of brutal civil war and fears of ethnic genocide increase. At least 79 aid workers have been killed in the country since the conflict began in December 2013. Aid
A report for the Lancet Commission on Syria, published on Tuesday, March 14, 2017, to mark the sixth anniversary of the Syrian conflict, condemns pro-government forces’ targeted attacks on health facilities and workers. In the ‘weaponization’ of healthcare in Syria, “healthcare facilities are attacked, workers are targeted, medical neutrality is
Around 1,300 stockbreeders and farmers arrived in the Greek capital Athens on overnight ferries from Crete in the early hours of the morning of Wednesday 8th March 2017 to demonstrate against the government’s latest austerity measures. The protests turned violent, with farmers’ shepherds crooks clashing with riot police teargas, when
On Monday, February 27, 2017, the Bangladesh parliament approved a law that will allow girls under the age of 18 to marry under “special circumstances” if parents or guardians deem it in their “best interests.” Children’s rights charities and organizations fear that the law is open to abuse since it sets
Donald Trump’s planned ‘Travel Ban’ provoked outrage across the world and set an ominous tone for those hoping that US Foreign Policy might prioritize a humanitarian solution to the lethal conflict in Syria, now in its sixth bloody year. In 2002, James Fearon of Stanford University put the average length
