Say YES to peace within yourself.

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As of October, the UOC School for Cooperation will validate subjects on the Master's in Conflictology in English for United Nations personnel who are studying on any of the courses on the UNITAR training programme. Thanks to this institutional collaboration, many of the workers on peace missions will be able to gain a UOC university…

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This is a guest post on how-matters.org by Lea Krivchenia, who brings the work of unarmed peacekeeping to life and helps folks understand this relatively new field. 

I sit on a sack of something – probably sorghum – in a trailor attached to a tractor, bracing myself against the bumps, a constant exercise on any road in South Sudan. The moon is bright above us, providing the only light in between the cattle camps, where…

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The book entitled "United Nations: The Legal Responsibility for Peacekeepers' Human Rights Violations" was published on 15th of March 2012 and addresses issues such as responsibility, universal jurisdiction, cosmopolitanism and human rights.

You can read a summary of this book…

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Joint Protection Teams: A Model for Enhancing Civilian Security

Publication Date: November 2010

Authors: Tobie Whitman

Abstract: Joint Protection Teams (JPTs) are a promising model for advancing protection efforts by peacekeepers currently being used by the UN in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By promoting contact between peacekeepers and the local community, bringing civilian… Continue

World

• Vincenc Fisas of the School for a Culture of Peace released his report on the progress of peace processes in the third quarter of 2010. Sudan, Chad, the Western Sahara, Myanmar talks with the NLD, China-Tibet talks, Israeli-Palestinian talks and Yemen were all listed as progressing poorly in their respective peace…

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This week in conflict...

World

• The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative has recently launched its Multidimensional
  
  Poverty Index (MPI), a new way to measure poverty in the world. The MPI expands on the previous Human Development Index (HDI) and includes 10 indicators of health (child mortality and nutrition), education (years of schooling and child enrollment) and standard of…

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I have may have spoken too hastily in the past regarding conflict resources in the DR Congo. My rage at the inherent abuse led me to think that boycotting and protesting companies was perhaps the best way to go. I realize now, that I was wrong. This is the wrong approach.

Over the past six years, I have delved into this subject more than any other and have even gone so far as to ban all products for my personal use if I didn't know EXACTLY where they came from and what…

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MONUC, the UN's mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will sadly soon be coming near an end, even though the country is arguably home to the most deadly and violent humanitarian crisis the world has ever seen.In December, the UN extended their mission another couple of months until…

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The United Nations is only as powerful as its Member states. It can call on its Members for support: financially, logistically or in troops and hope that they answer the call. If this call goes unanswered (as is currently the situation), what powers does the UN have to ensure enforcement or support?







The structures of the International Court of Justice, the UN’s principle judicial organ, are only meant to settle legal disputes between states, and rely on local enforcement… Continue

The UN’s peacekeeping role in global conflicts has evolved since the first mission in 1948. Since World War Two there has been a reported rapid decline in traditional interstate conflict, which seems to have been replaced by a rise in intrastate conflict (Yilmaz, 2005: 13). There has also been an increased tendency to describe the conflicts occurring after the 1980s as “ethnically-based” (Gilley, 2004: 1155), changing the way collective security forces respond to disputes. This change from… Continue

Check out something I posted on my main blog about peacekeeping:

http://igbarb19.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/peacekeeping/

Erle Frayne Argonza



Good afternoon from Manila!



The headlines and front pages of the major dailies here are focused (scoop) on the Ces Drilon abduction by the Abu Sayyaf, the CIA-created jihadist group operating in Mindanao (southern Philippines; Ces Drilon is a rated journalist of the oligarchic ABS-CBN). Reports say the P15 Million rock-bottom ransom is out, and that the jihadists have signaled an ultimatum.



As this is happening, the national army is… Continue