How can the international community better act to halt attacks on aid workers and hijacking of vital supplies, while ensuring humanitarian access to vulnerable civilian populations caught in the midst of violent conflicts? In the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue’s (HD Centre) latest podcast, Mr Dennis McNamara, Senior Humanitarian Adviser at the HD Centre, argues that humanitarian mediation offers both a means to reduce conflict-related suffering, while potentially feeding in to wider conflict mediation efforts at the political level. Read the rest of this entry »
26 April 2011
The Arab Spring is 2011, not 1989
The Arab revolutions are beginning to destroy the cliché of an Arab world incapable of democratic transformation. But another caricature is replacing it: according to the new narrative, the crowds in Cairo, Benghazi or Damascus, mobilized by Facebook and Twitter, are the latest illustration of the spread of Western democratic ideals; and while the “rise of the rest” may challenge the economic dominance of Western nations, the West will continue to define the political agenda of the world. Read the rest of this entry »
20 April 2011
Women’s Exclusion from the Peacemaking Process in Nepal
When armed conflict linked to the Maoist insurgency started in the country in 1996, the populist movement was not only targeted at changing political paradigms but was also against poverty, inequality and the exclusion of marginalised groups (including women) from mainstream governance. Thus it was also known as the “people’s war”. Women constituted 40 per cent of the Maoist rebel forces at a time when state law prohibited women as combatants within the Nepal Army. Read the rest of this entry »
20 April 2011
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act in relation to women and gender in peace processes
As a child, I grew up in India’s Northeast state of Manipur thinking that all citizens of this country are equal. And then as I grew up and started understanding the country and its politics, I discovered that some Indians are less equal than other Indians.
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6 April 2011
ASEAN and the Thai Cambodia border tensions
A landmark agreement among ASEAN Foreign Ministers in February effectively defused a dangerous stand-off between Thai and Cambodian forces along their common border by agreeing on the deployment of Indonesian monitors on either side of the border and also the convening of bilateral talks between the two sides in Indonesia. Read the rest of this entry »
29 March 2011
The Mindanao peace talks: what has gender got to do with it?
Under the new administration of President Benigno S.Aquino III, the peace negotiations between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are getting back on track. After some months of going back and forth on procedural issues, the two parties are at last poised to take up substantive issues to be contained in a comprehensive peace agreement. Read the rest of this entry »
24 March 2011
East Timor impact on ASEAN
East Timor hopes to become a member of ASEAN in the near future. But whilst the region’s newest nation has garnered support from Indonesia and Thailand, amongst other member states, there are some in the ten nation regional association that are unconvinced, arguing that East Timor’s admission will hold up economic integration plans. Read the rest of this entry »
8 February 2011
The Nepal Transition To Peace Initiative and the Women Peace Building Network: An effective way to include women?
A decade long armed conflict ended in Nepal with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in November 2006. The dialogue process which led to the ceasefire that preceded the CPA, as well as the CPA itself, failed to ensure women’s participation at the formal negotiating table. Read the rest of this entry »
8 February 2011
Police, security and women in peace processes
Why is it that although rule of law and police reform are often stated to be priorities during peace processes, women still face rising insecurity in ‘post’-conflict societies? Afghanistan offers some lessons on the triangular nexus between police, security and women in peace processes. Read the rest of this entry »
8 February 2011
Sri Lanka: the link between women’s political representation and the peace process
Sri Lanka has very commendable human development indicators for women, which include high literacy rates and exceptional educational achievements. However, despite almost 70 years of female franchise and the election of the world’s first woman Prime Minister, the country lags far behind most of the developing world with regard to women’s representation in political institutions at local, provincial and national level. 
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