For years I had thought I would work in human trafficking (as an advocate for victims as opposed to a perpetrator, just to be clear). But life took a different course and I ended up doing different work. But trafficking was never far from my mind and never far from me – the time I …
Continue reading ‘Yes, Trafficking in Persons is Likely Right in Front of You’ »
I rarely comment publically on Myanmar (who knows, I may want to take a job there someday) but the events of the last few weeks have brought me to the point where I’m willing to burn some bridges because it’s the right thing to do. Because with all of the horrific stuff going on in …
Continue reading ‘My Breaking Point: Burning Bridges for Rakhine’ »
Six years ago, almost to the day, I was reviewing the draft of a programme evaluation report that my organization had commissioned. The writing wasn’t excellent but it was passable. The content, however, and the accusations lobbed at the organization were mind-blowing. ‘Organization X is directly contributing to growing conflict in Poso (in Central Sulawesi …
Continue reading ‘The Challenges of Post-Conflict ‘Residue’’ »
I have been grappling with the issue of the ‘laws of war’ for nearly two decades, when I first began my studies and wrote a paper on the ‘Democratization of the Laws of War,’ and somewhat unwittingly anticipated the chaos of international conflict. At the time I was a young grad student with very little …
In a follow-up to our post last week on ‘Never Again,’ let’s talk about climate migration. Currently, there are climate migrants, but as climate change intensifies, the trickle of migrants will turn into a flood of refugees, particularly from the countries and regions most vulnerable to climate change. These are not necessarily regions prone to …
Continue reading ‘Climate Migration – Prepare Now or React Later?’ »
If ever there was a topic that denoted the very clear line between theory and practice, it would be the refugee ‘crisis’ currenting ‘plaguing’ Europe. First of all, let us all be clear on what a crisis really is. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “a time of intense difficulty or danger.” This usually necessitates …
Continue reading ‘The Refugee ‘Crisis’ – What Happened to ‘Never Again’?’ »
Following the COP21 in December 2015, the Pacific islands have a chance at survival in the face of an increasingly changing climate. Along with other small islands and highly vulnerable states, Pacific island advocacy achieved concessions to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celcius in the outcome document, the Paris Agreement. It is a huge …
Continue reading ‘Governance and the Survival of the Pacific Islands’ »
Melanie Phillips A friend mentioned to me recently that he was thinking of doing a course on development law. My highly eloquent response to that was, “Eh? What’s development law?” “No idea,” said my friend. Out of curiosity, I read few course descriptions and different words and phrases appear: creating legal institutions, international law, rule …
Continue reading ‘Growing Good Law: Discussing development law versus development and the law’ »
Melanie Phillips Introduction To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth universally accepted that a country in the pains of ‘development’ must be in want of an advisor. This may be overstating it, but it should not come as an overstatement to those working in developing countries that independent advisors and consultants are two a …
Cameron Noble By definition, post-conflict aid aims to prevent further conflict and build peace in regions wracked by violence. However, if post-conflict aid is not managed properly, with sensitivity to conflict drivers, it can rekindle old conflicts and create new ones. This essay examines the issue based on the experience of post-conflict aid in Aceh …
