“Listen to what refugees are telling us” was the simple advice that Volker Türk, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), gave to an IPI meeting on November 2nd on Addressing Contemporary Protection Challenges in Complex Crises.He spoke at a time when displacement has reached critical dimensions, with 68.5 million […]
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This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, an international framework that authoritatively restates the rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs). This presents an opportunity to put the plight of IDPs back on the radar of the international community. At the same time, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development presents […]
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The implementing of United Nations counterterrorism (CT) measures can end up impeding principled humanitarian action and the provision of essential and life-saving medical care in armed conflict, and on October 17, IPI held a policy forum to discuss this dilemma and how to disentangle it.Central to the conversation was a newly launched IPI report, Safeguarding […]
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Philippe Lazzarini, the United Nations Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, was recalling how Jan Eliasson, the former UN Deputy Secretary-General, described the country to him before he first went there on assignment 30 years ago.“It’s like a man hanging on the twelfth floor of a building, having a neighborhood looking […]
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In the past decade, counterterrorism measures have had an increasingly adverse impact on the provision of medical care and the conduct of principled humanitarian action in armed conflict settings. Whether inadvertently or not, they have impeded, and at times prevented, the provision of essential and lifesaving aid, often in violation of international humanitarian law (IHL).This […]
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Meeting the needs of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)—people who have been forced from their homes but are still within their national borders—is essential to the successful fulfillment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), participants at an IPI July 17th high-level event said.“For many, many IDPs, once they enter displacement, and it’s multiple displacement; […]
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The international community has developed a wide array of policies, frameworks, and structures to help respond to health needs in conflict-affected settings, but the international health response still faces gaps and challenges. On June 7th and 8th, 2018, IPI and the Global Health Centre of the Graduate Institute took up this subject in a retreat […]
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Counterterrorism measures are developed to ensure individual and collective security in response to terrorist attacks, but there is growing evidence that counterterrorism measures can infringe upon the protection of civilians by inhibiting the provision of assistance and protection. This tension was the subject of an IPI policy forum on May 23rd, entitled, “The Protection of […]
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A May 18th IPI policy forum co-sponsored by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), explored concrete ways to reinforce the emergency response capacity of the humanitarian sector in complex, acute crises and to ensure that humanitarian actors adequately act in both emergencies and more protracted crises.Moderator and IPI Vice President Adam Lupel referenced research from […]
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Shahidul Haque, the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, told an IPI audience on February 15th that his government was committed to accommodating the 1.1 million Rohingya people who had fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh but that the overwhelming numbers of the refugees and the speed with which they were arriving had presented Bangladesh with “formidable […]
Read moreDr. Sweta Chakraborty is the host of the Climate and Security podcast and here she interviews Louise Van Schaik, whose research has extensively analyzed the EU's performance in multilateral bodies,…
While the relationship between climate change and violent extremism is not linear, climate change does impose further stress on water and food security, population…
As the debate over climate-related security risks grows, many Pacific Island states are calling for more action by the…
At the start of every month, the Global Observatory posts a list of key upcoming meetings and events that have implications for global affairs.SEPTEMBER 2-13: UNCCD COP 14, New DelhiThe Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 14) will hold its fourteenth meeting to promote awareness and reversal…
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The International Peace Institute is an independent, international not-for-profit think tank with a staff representing more than 20 nationalities, located in New York across from United Nations headquarters. IPI is dedicated to promoting the prevention and resolution of conflicts between and within states by strengthening international peace and security institutions. To achieve its purpose, IPI employs a mix of policy research, convening, publishing and outreach.
The Global Observatory provides timely analysis on trends and issues related to global security.
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