Month: September 2018

The mass killing of women activists in Latin America: making political violence visible

In 2017, Latin America was described by the UN as the world’s most violent continent for women. The assassinations of women activists and community leaders have continued across the region in 2018. While the killing of Marielle Franco, a favela community leader, and the unraveling of government-private enterprise collusion in the 2016 killing of Berta… Read more »

The Norwegian Libya Commission: An Important Report, But We’re Still Missing Answers

The Norwegian government must have known that the 2011 bombing campaign in Libya could lead to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, argues PRIO researcher Kristian Berg Harpviken. In light of the recent release of the commission’s official report on Norway’s participation in the military operation in Libya, Harpviken was asked to comment in an interview… Read more »

This Week in South Sudan – Week 38

Monday 17 September Extra-Ordinary IGAD summit endorse R-ARCSS and request the UN Security Council to review its mandate for the Regional Protection Force. Thursday 20 September At a briefing for the UN Security Council, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean Pierre Lacroix reported on an increasingly stable security situation in Abyei, thus advocated that the… Read more »

Free Access at a High Price

Plan S.: PRIO would far rather pay fees to ensure that all our publications in subscription journals are made available via open access than be forced to publish our best research in lower quality journals. The new European Plan S – an open access (OA) policy for research results – is ambitious and radical. It… Read more »

This Week in South Sudan – Week 37

Monday 10 September The International Committee of the Red Cross reported that the ceasefire in South Sudan appears to hold. However, the SPLM-IO accused government forces of violating the ceasefire agreement. Tuesday 11 September The Government of South Sudan extended oil production agreements with four companies: South Sudan’s Nile Petroleum Company, Malaysia’s Petronas, China National… Read more »

This Week in South Sudan – Week 36

Monday 3 September The parties to the recent ceasefire agreement started a three-day workshop on ceasefire and transitional security arrangements. Tuesday 4 September South Sudan refugee representatives met with the key stakeholders of the Khartoum peace negotiations. Amnesty International reported that South Sudanese authorities have arbitrarily arrested, detained, tortured and ill-treated people despite promises to… Read more »

This Week in South Sudan – Week 35

Tuesday 28 August The IGAD mediation team proposed a referendum to decide on the number of states in South Sudan. Wednesday 29 August President Kiir promoted more than 120 army officers to major generals. President Kiir arrived in Beijing for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation taking place on 3-4 September. At the forum, China pledged… Read more »