Diplomacy & Crisis News

A United Nations independent high-level board of inquiry has completed a special in-depth investigation into how the UN responded this past February to deadly violence in a protection of civilians site in the town of Malakal, in northern South Sudan.

Addressing an event commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson today stressed the importance of prevention and early response efforts, as well as the need to shift shame and stigma from victims to perpetrators.

While Governments around the world have been working decidedly and collectively to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and nuclear weapons, the international community must intensify efforts in that regard in order to keep up with and effectively address global challenges, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

Progress on the economy and improving security is imperative so that Afghans have confidence in their Government, the United Nations envoy in Afghanistan said today.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has released its 2015 annual report, articulating its response to the humanitarian challenges and human suffering, in all corners of the world that have overstretched the UN relief arm.

More than 240,000 people, or a third of the population, in Niger&#39s Diffa region have now been uprooted from their homes since violence by Boko Haram insurgents began three years ago, a senior United Nations official said today.

With the conflict in Syria now well into its fifth year, and the country dealing with a grinding crisis that has brought death, displacement and regional instability, the international community must not lose momentum in attaining a comprehensive and concrete political solution, senior United Nations officials emphasized today.

A series of gruesome attacks on bloggers in Bangladesh has shocked the country and the world. But they are only one element in a years-long cycle of mounting violence. Large-scale political repression has created a climate of injustice that extremist groups have easily exploited in their war against secularists and liberal thinkers.

Dans l’édition des Échos du 17 juin, Jacques Hubert-Rodier étudie le phénomène de vieillissement de la population mondiale et son impact sur la géopolitique. Il s’appuie pour cela sur l’article de Gérard-François Dumont , « Vieillissement de la population et géopolitique », paru dans le n°2/2016 de Politique étrangère.

« Le monde est confronté à un processus inédit : le vieillissement de la population. Dans son article de Politique étrangère, Gérard-François Dumont, professeur à Paris-Sorbonne, distingue trois éléments : le vieillissement stricto sensu, la « gérontocroissance », selon le néologisme qu’il a créé pour comprendre notamment la hausse de l’espérance de vie, et enfin la féminisation du vieillissement grâce, entre autres, à la réduction de la mortalité maternelle. Ce phénomène touchera toutes les régions, y compris l’Afrique ou encore l’Inde et le Pakistan. Mais il restera extrêmement contrasté d’une région à l’autre.

L’auteur ne se contente pas de dresser un constat. Il tire de l’évolution démographique un certain nombre de conséquences politiques différenciant pays jeunes et « pays vieillis ». Ainsi, pour certains pays européens, ce vieillissement contribue indirectement à une réallocation des ressources, aux dépens, par exemple, de la défense et en faveur des systèmes de retraite. Mais c’est loin d’être le seul facteur. Car il y a une évolution politique dans les cartes. Le vieillissement touche le corps électoral, souligne Gérard-François Dumont, avec même la possibilité de l’apparition de lobbies gérontocratiques. Sans oublier le poids de ces transformations dans les tensions internationales. Emmanuel Todd n’avait-il pas vu, à travers l’évolution de la population soviétique, les prémices d’un effondrement de l’URSS ? »

Retrouvez l’article sur les Échos.fr.

(Own report) - Initial outlines of Berlin's possible reaction to Britain's EU exit ("Brexit") are beginning to seep out to the public. According to a report, government circles, who themselves see no reason to fear the turbulences of the financial markets, are hoping that these will persuade a sufficient number of the British to vote in favor of "remaining." If this does not work, and the British opt for the Brexit, drastic measures should not be excluded. To avoid negative effects on the German economy, some members of the administration are pleading in favor of granting the UK an EU-associate status, similar to that of Norway. However, "a front should be established" to prevent other EU members from following suit and converting to an associate status. The transition to a "core Europe" remains an option and a discussion of it could be initiated at the end of this week. The foreign ministers of the six EU founding countries have planned an exclusive meeting to discuss the consequences of the British referendum.