Photo: Julie Lunde Lillesæter / PRIO
My Christian faith was formed in an intellectual framework. I do not mean intellectual in the academic sense of the word. It was more that thought became part of my faith.
This is what PRIO’s first philosopher, Henrik Syse, tells PRIO’s first pastor, Trond Bakkevig, in the beginning of the dialogue that follows – about faith, justice, reconciliation and PRIO as a home for peaceful thinking.
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
At the time of writing in early May 2020, Norwegians have in many ways escaped lightly from the first phase of the pandemic. The outbreak was contained at an early stage, the number of cases is low and there have been few deaths. In addition, Norway has money in the bank to secure basic welfare for its citizens. Internationally, Norway is being presented as a success story. We have now entered the re-opening phase.
Afghan National Police officer in 2010. Photo: Brian Ferguson/DVIDSHUB via Flickr
After a year and a half of negotiations in Doha, the United States and the Taliban signed a peace agreement on 29 February. Essentially the agreement provided that the Taliban, in return for the withdrawal of international forces, would not allow Al Qaeda or similar groups to use Afghan soil to threaten the United States or its allies. The negotiations took place without the participation of the Afghan government, which had rather seen that the talks did not take place. Since the US-Taliban signing ceremony, there has been little progress in securing any dialogue between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Military questions in particular, which have been little discussed, continue to impede further progress.
This blog critically assesses the potential of legal tech for improving access to civil justice as measured by the new Sustainable Development Goals indicator 16.3.3.
Photo: TheDigitalArtist via Pixabay
Did you know that HIV was created by the US government in order to oppress the country’s African American population?
Or that researchers engineered the Zika virus to ruin Brazil’s hosting of the 2016 Olympics?
Or that coronavirus is linked to the roll-out of 5G mobile networks?
Illustration: Texas State University
While these claims obviously are far removed from reality, they are nonetheless widely believed. They are examples of conspiracy theories that have arisen as a result of, or in conjunction with, infectious diseases. Epidemics generate conspiracy theories and in general these theories all tend to have the same basic structure: someone very powerful has decided to use a disease to influence or injure us in order to achieve specific goals.
How can we prevent and combat conspiracy theories? The coronavirus crisis lends these questions current relevancy, but the topic is broader and will be relevant far beyond our current times.Read More
On 23rd March 2020 the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for a global ceasefire to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Given the ambition of Colombia’s peace agreement and the strong support of the international community for its implementation, it is worth asking: how is the pandemic affecting the peace process?
A cooperative of FARC-EP excombatants at the ETCR of Pondores, Guajira, make masks during the pandemic. Read more here. Photo used with permission.
Yemeni Soldiers in 2011. Photo: Al Jazeera English via Flickr
On 10 April Yemen confirmed its first COVID-19 case in the southern province of Hadramout. The news came one day after the Saudi coalition declared a two-week unilateral ceasefire prompted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ call for a global ceasefire to allow all actors to fight the pandemic and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to vulnerable populations. Despite the coalition’s decision and UN Special Envoy Martin Griffith’s subsequent initiative to end the war, the Houthis rejected the ceasefire. Since then the Houthis allegedly violated the ceasefire 95 times within 24-hours and have fired ballistic missiles over the Marib governorate. Saudi Arabia has closed its borders with Yemen, and flights between the northern and southern part of the country have stopped. How will COVID-19 impact the war in Yemen? The country’s response is severely limited by at least two factors: the lack of structural capacity and the conflict parties’ unwillingness to unite for a single cause.
“Gate to Lampedusa – Gate to Europe.” A monument dedicated the migrants lost at sea, by Mimmo Paladino. Photo by Vito Manzari, 2014. Wikimedia Commons.
How can colonial history help us to understand and explain the present European approach to migration across the Mediterranean?
Arthur Westing joined PRIO in January 1988. Sverre Lodgaard, who had worked at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) for the past six years, returned to Oslo to take over the position as Director of PRIO.
As a bonus, he was able to bring Arthur to Oslo at the same time, along with his project on ‘Peace, Security, and Environment’ funded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). SIPRI’s loss was PRIO’s gain.
At PRIO Arthur edited a volume on Environmental Hazards of War, which dealt with the planned or inadvertent release of pollutants following the destruction of major industries in war. A year earlier, he had finished another volume, Comprehensive Security for the Baltic, also published in PRIO’s book series at Sage. This volume focused on security in the Baltic region as seen through the lens of an extended concept of security. Arthur did not invent the concept of environmental security. But his work was (and remains) one of the most thorough and thoughtful expositions of it.Read More
During March, 145,000 Afghans returned from Iran, many infected with coronavirus. In Afghanistan, the number of people infected with the virus is increasing every day. This is bad news for Afghan children, who already live in the world’s most dangerous country.