Blogs & Opinions

How to Build a More Equal World

Oct 26, 2020 | Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Just as the World Health Organization identified COVID-19 as a pandemic, UN Women launched our analysis of the global status of women’s rights, showing limited…

Key Player in War on Climate Change? The Pentagon

Oct 26, 2020 | Michèle A. Flournoy

To its credit, the DoD has already been investing over $1.5 billion of its annual research and development budget in new energy technologies. In the past,…

Climate Change as an Unconvential Security Risk

Oct 23, 2020 | Cullen Hendrix

As security threats go, climate change is not the wolf at the door, threatening to blow the house down. Rather, it is thousands of termites…

The Environmental Collateral Damage of the South China Sea Conflict

Oct 13, 2020 | Ryan McNamara

Tensions in the South China Sea increased last April when a Chinese coast guard ship sank a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracel Islands—a fiercely…

COVID-19 Recovery - A Missed Opportunity to Fight Climate Change and Gender Inequality?

Oct 13, 2020 | Sven Harmerling

There is a real risk that women will not be able to take advantage of new green jobs as countries overlook gender in pandemic stimulus.COVID-19…

Why Are North & South India so Different on Gender?

Oct 13, 2020 | Alice Evans

Everyone knows that Southern and Northern India are very different in culture, language and socio-economic development. But the most dramatic regional disparity may be in…

Exploring Gender Inequality in Yemen

Oct 13, 2020 | Lily Jones

Due to structural inequalities, women and girls cannot easily access essential services in Yemen, such as education. The effect of this limited access is poor…

World Leaders Should Champion Gender Equality

Oct 13, 2020 | Nisha Varia

Women’s rights, including the right to live free from violence or to make decisions about their own bodies, are in the crosshairs of reactionary forces…

Introducing “Navigating the Poles”

Oct 8, 2020 | Michaela Stith and Mike Sfraga

The polar regions of Antarctica and the Arctic have long captured the world’s imagination as seas and continents covered in unending ice. But the reality…

Man Pleads Guilty to Violating Kimberley Process Law

Oct 6, 2020 | Rob Bates

The Clean Diamond Trade Act, passed in 2003, says that diamonds cannot be imported into or exported from the United States unless they are accompanied by documents…

COVID-19 and Climate Change are a Perfect Storm for Violent Conflict

Oct 6, 2020 | Beatrice Mosello and Adam Day

The global impact of COVID-19 is already combining with climate change to affect millions of the most vulnerable people in the world, including complicating evacuation…

Gender, Climate and Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: From Diagnostics to Solutions

Oct 6, 2020 | Adriana Erthal Abdenur

Women in the region suffer disproportionately from climate impacts, but they also play an essential role in addressing climate change. With the right policy responses,…

The Importance of Land Rights to Rohingya Repatriation

Oct 2, 2020 | Farhaan Uddin Ahmed

Given widespread confiscation of Rohingya land, it is essential that Myanmar instate changes in property rights to encourage the voluntary return of its displaced Rohingya…

How Localization Supports Practical Solutions for Women, Peace, and Security

Oct 1, 2020 | Nanako Tamaru and Mirsad “Miki” Jacevic
CDA

This week marks the 20th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) which is the first of eleven resolutions that comprise the Women, Peace, and Security…

Women, Peace and Security as Evolving and Contested Terrain: A Review of New Directions

Sep 28, 2020 | Aiko Holvikivi and Sarah Smith

In the WPS agenda’s twentieth anniversary year, New Directions brings academics, practitioners and activists into conversation in a book that demonstrates the evolutionary breadth and depth of…

Gender Equality is Important to Building Resilience and Peace during Disasters and Conflict

Sep 28, 2020 | Cindy Zhou

Conflict and natural disasters are often correlated: approximately 58 percent of deaths related to natural hazards take place in the world’s 30 most fragile states. 

COVID-19 Wipes Out East Timor's Dreams of Oil and Gas Riches

Sep 25, 2020 | Ian Lloyd Neubauer

COVID-19 and the global collapse in oil and gas prices appear to have put the final nail into the coffin of East Timor's long-held dream…

Many Companies Struggle to Comply with Conflict Mineral Reporting Rules

Sep 25, 2020 | Cindy Zhou

Over the past decades, conflict minerals have become lucrative sources of funding for armed groups, fueling some of the deadliest global conflicts since World War II.…

The Space Force's Relevance to the Green Agenda

Sep 19, 2020 | Peter Garretson

When most Americans think about Space Force, they probably imagine epic space battles or sprawling science fiction sagas. Policymakers who are more “in the know”…

Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ukraine: An Opportunity for Gender-Sensitive Policymaking?

Sep 18, 2020 | Kateryna Busol

The stigma of CRSV, the patchy domestic legislation, and the unpreparedness of the criminal justice system to deal with such cases prevent the authorities from…

Wildfires in the US and Their Effects on Security

Sep 18, 2020 | Dr. Marc Kodack

Wildfires are burning across multiple states in the U.S. For Washington, Oregon, and California, these fires are having devastating consequences for tens of millions of people and their communities.…

Don’t Politicize Water

Sep 17, 2020 | Erika Weinthal and Neda Zawahri

The recently announced peace deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain stop short of repairing the political damage inflicted on the region…

The Global Impact of COVID-19 on Women and Girls

Sep 16, 2020 | Hannah Chosid

“As we face a global pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 800,000 people as of right now around the world, we certainly…

Water Wars: How Conflicts Over Resources Are Set To Rise Amid Climate Change

Sep 10, 2020 | Anastasia Moloney

With the world's population rising and climate change bringing more erratic rainfall, including severe droughts, competition for scarcer water is growing.

Biometrics Could Give More Vivid Picture of Woman’s Workload

Sep 8, 2020 | Allison Floyd

Asking a busy woman to report her daily activities can give researchers insight into how she spends her limited time and whether child-care and other…

Here’s Why We Need a Global Agreement on Cross-Border Science to Beat COVID-19

Sep 4, 2020 | Saleem Ali

The coronavirus pandemic should be a rallying call to policy-makers and scientists everywhere, bringing the world together to confront a common threat. In practice, however,…

Loss and Damage in Rwanda: A Young Climate Activist Reports

Sep 3, 2020 | Ineza Umuhoza Grace

On 8 September 2020, IIED and ICCCAD are hosting a webinar on climate-related loss and damage in the least developed countries. Here one of the speakers,…

Timor-Leste: The Path from Peace to Prosperity

Sep 3, 2020 | Jason Woodroofe

Standing underneath the 27m tall Cristo Rei statue of Jesus and staring back across at the beautiful city of Dili it is hard to imagine…

Unpacking the Revised and Annotated DRC Mining Code

Sep 1, 2020 | Mining Review Africa

In July 2020, the DRC mining registry published an annotated version of the 2002 Mining Code as amended in 2018 (the Revised Code). The announcement…

More Justice, Less Violence Related to Gender

Sep 1, 2020 | Simone Eggler

Although 25 years have passed since the World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, violence against women worldwide is still at alarming levels. Even…