Beyond the strong international outrage over the suffering of the Rohingyas and other affected communities in Myanmar and Bangladesh, it appears there is still no meaningful concerted action at the international and regional levels. This presents some basic but critical questions: What are some priority areas in responding to this humanitarian crisis in the region? What role can ASEAN play in cooperation with the UN, the Myanmar government, and other stakeholders?
Analysis
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Ivory Coast is three months out from the final departure of its UN peacekeeping mission (UNOCI), but recent mutinies and unrest among former rebels within the military raise concerns about long-term stability. One of the central problems in Côte d’Ivoire’s war-to-peace transition has been the role of the former rebel commanders of the Forces Armées de Forces Nouvelles (FAFN). Many of these commanders developed deep ties in the communities that they governed during the armed conflict between 2002 and 2011, and the persistence of these wartime networks in Côte d’Ivoire continues to hamstring peacebuilding efforts and security sector reform (SSR).
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Global action for conflict prevention, peace and development—as set out in the 2030 Agenda and the Sustaining Peace UN resolutions—is urgently needed, but requires an international community that is serious about peacebuilding, ready to safeguard a coherent, peace-oriented approach to development and prepared to reject reactive, securitized responses to security threats.
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The political events of last week in Colombia made clear that while the country has a real chance for peace, the road is still riddled with difficulties, and the window of opportunity to establish the foundation for the long-term implementation of the agreement is quickly closing, especially given the possibilities that the new government won’t be supportive of the peace process.
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Given its central position in IGAD and the EAC as well as at the African Union Kenya’s electoral approach will have a significant bearing on ongoing efforts by the African Union and the United Nations to strengthen peace and security in the East African region.
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Even as more and more women around the world run for office, claiming their right to equal participation (as enshrined in the United Nations CEDAW convention), efforts to promote women’s political leadership have rarely been coupled with mechanisms to ensure their security and well-being in the public sphere.
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The Gambia’s fragile transition since national elections in January this year provide considerable room for studying and responding to the root causes of conflict by pursuing both peace and development in a holistic manner.
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October 1 witnessed scenes of brutality on the streets of Barcelona as Spanish police tried to stop people from voting in a referendum on Catalan independence called by the Catalan autonomous government, graphically demonstrating the inability of Spain’s political actors to find a political solution to Catalan demands for either great autonomy or independence.
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Barzani has worked to establish himself as the figurehead who will lead the Kurdish people toward independence. The danger is that unfulfilled expectations may reduce his political mileage in the near future.
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The Rohingya crisis has sparked a change of tone from Guterres, who has been criticized for failing to shine a light on human rights abuses and atrocities.
