Bi-weekly News and Opinion Roundup - June 9, 2022 |
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C&SN Director Paul Carroll unpacks an Israeli ordinance, to take effect July 5, that would further a longstanding campaign to stifle Palestinian civil society by severely restricting foreign travel to the West Bank. Read his analysis in Just Security. (June 8).
Ongoing litigation based on the Anti-Terrorism Act threatens to dramatically expand the legal risk faced by nonprofit organizations (NPOs) that work to save lives and protect human rights in conflict areas around the world. Read C&SN’s issue brief here. (June 1).
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During the week of June 20th, ActionCorps, Demand Progress, Peace Action, Just Foreign Policy, and Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation are partnering up to lead a Yemen Week of Action, hosting Action Webinars for grassroots activists across the country to pressure your representatives to cosponsor the newly introduced Yemen War Powers Resolution (H.J.Res.87). This bill would stop U.S. support for the brutal bombing campaign and alleviate suffering in Yemen. Register for the event here. (June 20 - 24).
On June 15, from 10 - 11:30 am EDT, the Alliance for Peacebuilding is hosting a launch event for the Institute for Economics and Peace’s (IEP) 2022 Global Peace Index (GPI)—the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. Learn more and register here. (June 15).
On June 14, from 9:30 am - 12:30 pm EDT, Conciliation Resources, Bond and the Muslim Charities Forum are hosting a joint event that will offer “a chance to hear firsthand the financial access challenges faced by NGOs and to learn about initiatives in the UK and internationally to address the problems.” Learn more and register here. (June 14).
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This Alliance for Peacebuilding report offers recommendations for donors who want to support locally-led peacebuilding. Read the report here. (May 2022).
The UN Sustainable Development Group published a good practice note that offers “practical guidance and concrete tools for UN entities to integrate conflict sensitivity into programming – with a view to contribute to building and sustaining peace.” Read the good practice note here. (May 2022).
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The Nicaraguan government is canceling nonprofits by the hundreds. According to the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, “These cancellations have the objective of eliminating all social and political vision that differs from that established by the regime.” AP reports. (June 2).
Asmik Arutyunyan, a Senior Program Specialist at the Center for Russia & Europe at the US Institute of Peace, highlights the women leading efforts to oppose Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the successful history of women-led peace movements. Read her analysis in Inkstick. (June 1).
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The Open Society Foundations (OSF) is working to support democracy and provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine amidst Russia’s ongoing war. Devex reports. (June 3).
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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has named Violaine Clerc as its new Executive Secretary, where “she will work closely with the FATF’s 39 members and the nine FATF-Style Regional Bodies, whose members help make up the FATF Global Network of over 200 countries and jurisdictions.” Learn more on FATF’s website. (June 1).
This video from the Global NPO Coalition on FATF “presents an in-depth analysis of an extensive survey of findings (729 nonprofit sector representatives surveyed in the 17 participating countries), and recommends reforms that can be implemented.” Learn more and find the video here. (May 1).
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Since March 2015, the U.S. has been supporting a Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen that has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians and pushed the country into famine. Once again, Congress is working to end that support by invoking the War Powers Act as a means of accelerating an end to this devastating war. Kate Kizer, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, reports in Responsible Statecraft. (June 1).
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According to the UNICEF Deputy Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, the situation is worse than the 2011 famine in Somalia that claimed the lives of some 250,000 children, with “386,000 children in acute need of lifesaving treatment for severe malnutrition in Somalia alone.” UN News reports. (June 7).
The World Bank has now pledged over $4 billion to Ukraine in total in an effort to support healthcare, education, social services, utilities, and infrastructure, as the war continues to put strain on all of these government services. Reuters reports. (June 7).
Around 1.5 billion people rely on food and fertilizer from Ukraine and Russia, the shipments of which have been severely curtailed even though sanctions do not prohibit their purchase from Russia. Within Ukraine, over 15.7 million are now in urgent need of humanitarian aid and protection. UN News reports. (June 3).
Childcare has too often been overlooked in the humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine, despite the UN’s refugee agency estimating “that 90 percent of the more than 6.5 million refugees who have fled Ukraine are women or children under the age of 18.” The New Humanitarian reports. (May 23).
The first episode of the International Committee for the Red Cross’ new podcast, Humanity in War, features “a conversation with Naz Modirzadeh and Dustin Lewis on whether and how we can reconcile the current clash between a growing global counterterrorism architecture and impartial humanitarian activities.” Listen to the podcast here. (May 18).
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According to the Commission of Inquiry’s first report, “The continued occupation by Israel of Palestinian territory and discrimination against Palestinians are the key root causes of the recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict in the region.” Read the Commission’s press release here and its report here. (June 7).
Chadian authorities have arrested civil society activists following protests in support of a peaceful transition to civilian rule. Human Rights Watch is calling on the government to release them. Human Rights Watch reports. (May 30).
A dozen human rights groups called on the creators of Real Housewives “to publicly oppose the violence against women as well as the homophobic laws perpetrated by the rulers of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates,” ahead of the show’s debut in Dubai, arguing that the show will serve to whitewash the human rights abuses of the UAE’s absolute monarchy. Yahoo News reports. (May 27).
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The Alliance for Peacebuilding has updated its Global Call to Action for Ukraine with updates on recent developments as well as new assessments surrounding civilian protection challenges and needs. Read the call to action here. (May 31).
In case you missed it, the Alliance for Peacebuilding has updated its report on the climate crisis and its implications for U.S. foreign policy and development work. Read the updated report here. (April 2022).
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Families of 9/11 victims, Afghan diaspora organizations, and former Afghan diplomats are calling on the Biden administration to release Afghanistan’s frozen reserves in order to address the dire humanitarian situation in the country. The Intercept reports. (June 6).
Nicholas Mulder, an assistant professor of modern European history at Cornell University, looks at the changing landscape in sanctions policies and impacts, exploring the history of sanctions as well as their current application against Russia. Read his analysis on the International Monetary Fund’s website. (June 2022).
Russian journalist Alexey Pivovarov recently traveled to Iran to film a documentary about life under sanctions that now has over 8 million views on Youtube. While the geopolitical context of sanctions against the two countries is quite different, the impacts on the poor and middle class are quite similar. The Washington Post reports. (May 26).
The Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund hosted a virtual seminar on “The Economic Weapon; The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War,” a new book by Nicholas Mulder, an assistant professor of modern European history at Cornell University. The seminar looks at the efficacy (or lack thereof) of sanctions, their political and humanitarian impacts, and their impacts on international financial institutions. Watch the seminar here. (May 17).
Sajjad Faraji Dizaji, an Associate Professor at Tarbiat Modarres University in Tehran, examines the impacts of sanctions on the Iranian banking sector, finding that sanctions significantly contribute to cost inefficiencies at Iranian banks. Read his findings. (May 15).
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