Human Security Archive

The deadly terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire in January and March, respectively, show the deep reach of militants affiliated with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and their ability to bounce back from the military drubbing they received as a result of France’s intervention in the Sahel, which began in 2013. The spectacular attacks are part of a long pattern illustrating the enduring resilience of AQIM and its ability to regenerate itself by adjusting strategy and tactics to mounting pressure from both counterterrorism operations and rising jihadi competition in the Sahel and West African region. As alliances […]

In September, a number of media outlets in Japan published stories about the Japanese politician Renho Murata, who was running for the leadership of the opposition Democratic Party. The attention centered on whether Renho, as she is known, who was born in Japan to a Taiwanese father and Japanese mother, had fully renounced her Taiwanese nationality as required by the Japanese Nationality Law. In an interview with the Huffington Post at the time, Renho decried all the fuss. “I was born and brought up in Japan,” she commented. “What can I say except that I’m Japanese? Quite honestly, I think […]

In a sharp rebuke to the United Nations, Kenya has started the process of pulling its troops from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. To make matters worse, Kenya is simultaneously disengaging from peace efforts in South Sudan, where a 15-month-old agreement to bring together warring parties was already on the verge of collapse. The moves by Kenya, which has been a key regional force in pushing for South Sudanese stability, could cement its failure. Kenya’s moves come in response to the firing of Lt. Gen. Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki, the Kenyan commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in […]

The timing of Donald Trump’s stunning upset to become the president-elect of the United States couldn’t have come at a more inauspicious moment for global efforts to blunt climate change. As the election returns were pouring in last week, across the Atlantic in Marrakech, Morocco, representatives from nearly 200 nations gathered at the beginning of a major conference following up last December’s historic global climate accord signed in Paris. The Paris Agreement for the first time committed the U.S. and 192 countries to an ambitious international regime to curb global emissions, aiming to cap global temperature rises by the end […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss the global implications of Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the United States presidential election. For the Report, Andrew Green joins Peter Dörrie to talk about the forgotten conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region. Listen:Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant Articles on WPR: What Does Trump’s Election Victory Mean? Learning to Live With Uncertainty What Does the Presidential Election Mean for U.S. Foreign Policy? As Renzi’s Referendum Gamble Approaches, Italy Could Be the EU’s Next Headache Delays Are the Least of Somalia’s Election Troubles Darfur’s Conflict […]

Jacob Berry is searching for any sign he can return to the home in Darfur he fled 13 years ago. In 2003, near the outset of the ongoing conflict in Darfur, a Khartoum-backed militia attacked Berry’s village. In their efforts to root out a rebel movement, government troops and state-supported fighters have committed countless targeted atrocities against civilians, and Berry’s village was not spared. Houses were set alight, residents scattered, and an unknown number of people killed, including his father and brother. Berry, then 15, fled all the way to Libya’s Mediterranean coast, before boarding a boat for Alexandria, Egypt. […]

When French authorities dismantled the migrant camp in Calais known as the Jungle in late October, many asked what would happen to the encampment’s 9,000 residents. The answer was not long in coming: Rather than relocating to government-run shelters, many simply swelled the ranks of France’s other migrant encampments that had until now escaped the glare of international press coverage. Calais is far from being the only site of France’s migrant crisis. Since June 2015, French police have demolished some 30 makeshift encampments—home to thousands of migrants, primarily from Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Sudan—in Paris. But the crisis worsened following the […]

With the world’s three highest homicide rates since 2010, the Northern Triangle of Central America—the countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras—have become the fulcrum of regional insecurity. In addition to levels of violence surpassing those of countries at war, the region is a base for transnational drug cartels, the virulent youth gangs known as “maras,” and criminality ranging from mass deforestation to money laundering. The reverberations of this multifaced security crisis, particularly the waves of underage migrants fleeing north to the United States, has finally focused attention enough to forge a concerted response. In February 2015, the Obama administration […]

Has Venezuela reached its boiling point? The country’s economic, political and humanitarian crises have deepened since the opposition took control of the legislature last December. Venezuelans have taken to the streets with increasing fervor, demanding the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro, who has in turn taken unilateral measures to consolidate his power. Hostility has intensified between the president and the opposition, and the embattled government’s actions have only exacerbated tensions and done little to address popular frustration. World Politics Review has compiled 10 articles that chronicle Venezuela’s slide toward the abyss. The following 10 articles are free to nonsubscribers until […]

On Friday, Mouhcine Fikri, a fishmonger in the northern Moroccan town of Al-Hoceima, jumped into the compacter of a garbage truck in an attempt to salvage some $11,000 of fish that had been confiscated by the police. He was subsequently crushed to death. Footage of the carnage was shared widely online. Moroccans immediately took to social media, decrying “hogra,” a term used to describe injustice at the hands of the government. Angry posts turned into mass protests, which began Sunday in the Rif region and spread across the country. Some protesters called Fikri’s death premeditated. The demonstrations, which are ongoing, […]