Global Issues
Small hope for justice in Mexico’s deadly “war on drugs”
Fue el estado – “It was the state”. So goes one of the most repeated slogans of the movement to demand the truth of what happened to 43 students of the Ayotzinapa rural…
A chance for the US to change its tune on justice
On Monday last week, 72 countries at the United Nations offered their “unwavering support” for the International Criminal Court (ICC). Among them were Australia, Canada, the UK,…
A backlash against the Women, Peace and Security agenda?
Twenty years ago, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1325, a landmark to formally recognised the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls…
Peace Prize to WFP: A win for international cooperation
The recent announcement that the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Program (WFP) attracted little attention in Australia. It is true that the spirit of…
Analyses
Digital Authoritarianism, China and COVID
The coronavirus has showcased China's cyber-powered social
control capabilities, with implications for human rights worldwide.
But what does “rules-based order” mean?
Although the “rules-based international order” is central to Australian strategy, what exactly this concept means remains a work very much in progress. For Australia to achieve…
Nuclear Ban Treaty: Wishful thinking over realism
You could be forgiven for assuming that governments of the world inhabit two parallel universes. In July this year, Australia launched the 2020 Defence…
Lessons from Covid: Tackling disease with a city-by-city approach
The white flag has effectively been raised by some countries in the “war” against Covid-19, seeing the fight as unwinnable without a vaccine. The Philippines has proclaimed a …
The hate matrix of online gaming
The word that the extreme right use to describe the political radicalisation of newcomers to their worldview is “red pilling”. The metaphor comes from to the techno-dystopian film…
Singapore and Sri Lanka: Newfound opportunities amid Covid-19 pandemic
Photos of empty supermarket shelves became commonplace in the first weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic. The shutting down of borders and decreasing trade have affected many…