Fragments of the Iraq War Ten Years Later: International Law, Constitutional Law, and Erga Omnes
Ten years after the US invasion of Iraq, Professor of International Law and Vice President of IALANA Dr Kenji Urata discusses some of the literary fragments we are left with, including attempts to justify preemptive war, domestic assertions that a foreign nation should be “liberated”, reassertions of American exceptionalism, and the emergence of universal jurisdiction and global constitutionalism.
Fallujah and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Victoria Fontan reports from Fallujah where the medical consequences of war and the US occupation of Iraq continue to express themselves through congenital malformations and high cancer rates, particularly among children.
Memory of Toyama Air Raid (1st-2nd August 1945)
August 1st marks the 69th anniversary of the Toyama air raid, one of the forgotten atrocities of the Second World War. In this article, Takuo Namisashi comments on the history and commemoration of the air raid on Toyama city.
Syria’s Civil War: Regional and International Implications
Jehun Alexander Hong discusses the continued escalation of the Syrian civil war in terms of internal, regional, and international power struggles, in the overlapping sectors of ethnic, religious, political, and economic rivalry. Emphasis is placed on the question of chemical weapons and the high number of child casualties, as well as the impacts of the conflict on neighbouring countries, in terms of displaced persons and wider conflict.
Women in Iraq
This article introduces a gender-framed analysis of the Iraq war and continuing occupation. Through this analysis the author illustrates how the coalition forces’ ignorance of the cultural context within which their actions took place has impeded upon women’s empowerment. By analysing the conflict and occupation within the framework of honour and shame, the further argument is made that, despite the rhetoric of ‘women’s liberation’ used to justify the war, the consequences of the conflict have run contrary to any claim made to emancipate women.
The author concludes that it is only through re-framing our analysis of the Iraqi conflict, with gender at the fore, that we are better able to understand the conflict as a whole. Further that it is only through self-reflection and a concentration on the peaceful empowerment of society as a whole that we are able to counter all forms of violence against women.
Keywords: Gender, Iraq, Insurgency, War on Terrorism, Occupation, Humiliation, Honour and Shame, Self-reflection, Empowerment.
Terrorism and International Adjudication
In the past few years the international community has seen a rise in international terrorism, and international law has been stunned with a new problem that it has not been prepared for. Without international legislation defining what constitutes international terrorism, no alternative dispute settlement bodies are prepared to deal with such a phenomenon. This paper focuses specifically on the proliferation of international adjudicative mechanisms and whether or not this momentum can promote the creation of a new international adjudicative body to cope with the rise of international terrorism as an alternative means to the War on Terrorism.
US influence in El Salvador’s civil war
US influence in El Salvador’s civil war Author: Oscar Alvarado Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on 03/06/2009 In El Salvador the rich and powerful have systematically defrauded the poor and denied eighty percent of the people any voice in the affairs of their country. A revolution is now underway and we are one […]
Water War
Sam Wolf Cheney comes from a small town in Northern New Mexico, near the state capital of Santa Fe where he has lived for much of his adult life. The conflict there stems from familiar sources: struggle over scarce natural resources (primarily water); the arrival of one ethnic group into territory long held by another; a struggle between divergent cultural values; endemic poverty. Hope lies in shared responibility…
We All Look Alike, But We Are Not the Same: The Root Cause of the Conflict in Sri Lanka
UPeace Asia Leaders Fellow Aingkaran analyzes the conflict in Sri Lanka within the framework of the relationship between political power and modern ethnic identities.
2011 in Peace and Conflict
The Peace and Conflict Monitor digests some of 2011’s most relevant events in peace and conflict.