Gone are the days of peacekeepers patrolling buffer zones between two conflict parties. Instead, they face ever more complicated large-scale situations, with diverse and fragmented actors, both state and non-state, while at the same time receiving more complex multi-layered mandates....
“Waleed Sami Abulkhair is a Saudi Arabian lawyer and human rights activist, and the head of the ‘Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia’ (MHRSA) organization. He was listed by Forbes magazine as one of [the] Top 100 Most Influential Arabs on Twitter. He is the first activist to be prosecuted by the Terrorism Law… On July 6, 2014, Abulkhair was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Specialized Criminal Court…” (Wikipedia, 12 May 2016). Waleed also has a young daughter, born during his detention...
The use of force in UN peacekeeping has sparked heated debates in academic and policy circles alike. After the tragedies in Rwanda and Bosnia & Herzegovina, the UN Security Council authorised the use of force not only in self-defence but also in defence of the mandate....
“To make UNSCR 1325 a reality we need to get out of our comfort zone” – the frank assessment of Marriët Schuurman, NATO Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security (WPS) at the start of a UNU conference on inclusive peace and the future of WPS. Her words reflected a shared sense of urgency: of the need to make bold demands and drastic reforms in the struggle for inclusive peace....
The seventieth anniversary of the United Nations made 2015 a watershed year for international efforts to renew and strengthen two of the world body’s most high profile sets of activities: peacekeeping and peacebuilding....
Ahead of a recent UNICEF 'Tweetchat' on child social protection, Dr. Mindel van de Laar caught up with alumna Dr. Keetie Roelen, who now works for the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex in the UK. Here's what they had to say about the past, present and future of our global development work....
I was born in a country of immigrants. During the first half of the 20th century, when Europe was suffering from wars, dictatorships and economic crises, Argentina was welcoming migrants and giving them residence permits upon arrival at the port of Buenos Aires. Easy as that!...
A conversation between Eduardo Ibarrola-Nicolín (EI), Ambassador of Mexico to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Dr. Melissa Siegel (MS), Head of the UNU-MERIT Migration Group. This interview was recorded after a public lecture on 'Migration from the Mexican State Perspective', delivered on 12 April 2016....
The UN’s relationships with regional organisations are quickly becoming a key aspect of peacekeeping missions. These bodies are playing more assertive roles both politically and militarily, and the most prominent recent example is the United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). In 2007, as a result of the threat to international peace and security from Darfur, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1769 authorising the deployment of the first-ever hybrid peacekeeping operation...
The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), the Brussels-based research arm of the North Atlantic Alliance, visited UNU-MERIT in April 2016 to speak about migratory movements from Afghanistan — specifically the regional security environment and the impacts on mobility. As migratory movements are a predictor of (in)stability, and because little is known in real-time about migration from the region, NCIA sought a consultation with experts from the UNU-MERIT Migration Group. They c...