Trans-national Organized Crime: Identifying and Tackling a Growing Threat
Organized crime transcends state boundaries and finds its niche in transnational markets. Despite international sponsored programmes to better quell the expansion of illicit trade, small arms, narcotics, as well as people continue being trafficked. Hugh Griffiths provides an inside look at the flow of illegal trafficking.
Who Will Save Darfur
Genocide in Darfur is stuck between international bureaucracy and lethargic, discriminate Sudanese politics. Pkalya probes Western states, special interests, and humanitarian aide initiatives, while we sit and wait to see who will save Darfur.
Stand By Your Man
American war movies have a tendency to slip themselves into time-honored gender role clichés – women as comforters, women as patriots, women as whores. In doing this, they not only ignore the rich and varied roles that women have played in times of conflict, but they reinforce certain stereotypes that are best either broken down or left out. In some cases, lessons can be drawn from examples of African film and literature.
Responsible Governance: A Panacea to Conflict in Niger Delta
The Niger Delta region of Nigeria has become known for spates of violence and conflict that have eluded attempts at peaceful resolution. This paper traces the crisis in relation to the current attributes of the region and advocates for responsible governance, which embraces corporate social responsibility, along with trustworthy national and state governance as panaceas to the entrenched cycles of violence and conflict in the Niger delta region.
Prospects for Peace in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Bulelwa Mukenge considers the failures of various peace initiatives in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mukenge suggests cooperative dialogue between the Rwandan Government and the Front Democratic for Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in order to solve this long-lasting conflict. Since 1994, these peace talks have yet to succeed; preventing a peaceful solution to the prevailing war.
International Cooperation to Control the Intergovernmental Small Arms Trade: Case Study China-Sudan
After outlining the deadly scope of today’s small arms trade, this paper touches on questions of international law and responsibility, or lack thereof, as illustrated by the legal intergovernmental transfer of arms from China to the Sudan, despite international pressure urging the contrary. References include United Nations documents, task force and international NGO campaign reports, contemporary media coverage and University for Peace lecture discussions.
Mediators Beyond Borders: Pathways to Peace and Reconciliation
In this timely article, Kenneth Cloke reflects on the potential of mediation to inspire conflict transformation and social development in times of interpersonal as well as international crisis.
Technical aspects of mediation are also discussed, as Cloke draws from his considerable experience in the field, offering practical and accessible advice for the promotion of cooperation and coexistence in our own lives and beyond all borders.
Theatre of Peace: reflections
In the theatre the public gazes at a remarkable event, one based on conflict; but the audience of the theatre of war gazes at violent conflict. Is there some connection between these definitions of theatre that is more than semantic? Could there be a theatre of peace?
Zimbabwe’s new constitutional dispensation and children’s right to education
Zimbabwe’s new constitution reiterates the right to education for all citizens and permanent residents, and calls for state resources to be made available in order to fulfill this right without discrimination. What is needed now is the political will to realize the right to education for all, and to harmonize existing legislation with the new constitutional provisions.
Understanding the 2013 Coup d’état in the Central African Republic
This article explores the political and economic motives behind the March 2013 Coup D’état in the Central Africa Republic, and the formation of the Séléka. This analysis also addresses the many social grievances of the country and looks towards the potential for continued unrest.