UNHRC Report: Increasingly Complex and Widening Conflicts Take Huge Toll on Children in 2015 Increasingly complex and widening conflicts have taken a huge toll on children in much of the Middle East in 2015, with parts of Africa and Asia facing protracted and relapsing wars that show no signs of abating, wrote Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, in her annual report to the Human Rights Council. The Report covers the period from December 2014 to December 2015. “Children were disproportionately affected, displaced and often the direct targets of acts of violence intended… More

The Island on Washington DC Book Launch At the Atlantic Council early January, 2015. (L-R) Bharath Gopalaswamy, Director of the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, Mark Salter, author of To End a Civil War, Erik Solheim and Richard L. Armitage, former US Deputy Secretary of State. Here’s some nice publicity for the book in yesterday’s edition of one of Sri Lanka’s best-established newspapers. Only shame is its offering such a jaundiced perspective on the Norwegian mediation effort in the country . . . Norway failed in SL for want of broader int’l involvement – Solheim The Island, 9 February 2016,… More

The UN Human Rights Commissioner visits Sri Lanka UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Hussein has just wrapped up a four day visit to Sri Lanka. During the course of his visit Hussein reportedly held discussions a wide range of people. The photos below highlight a couple constituencies he met with that particularly interest me. The first, two of the country’s most respected Buddhist leaders,  Chief Prelates of the Malwathu and Asgiri Chapters, the Most Venerable Sumangala and Aththadassi Thera. The second a group of Tamil civilians, who Hussein met at a welfare centre situated inside one of the numerous IDP… More

 L’oignon no more Quelle abômination! No wonder the ‪#‎JeSuisCirconflexe‬ hashtag is already spreading comme la foudre . . . And what on earth comes next? A friend suggests the following. “2015: oignon. 2016: ognon. 2030: le truk ki fe´ pleure´ …” From The Guardian, 5 Feb. 2016 Not the oignon: fury as France changes 2,000 spellings and ditches circumflex #JeSuisCirconflexe campaigners fight back against decision by the Académie Française to ‘fix anomalies’ and scrap the circumflex accent French linguistic purists have voiced online anger at the loss of one of their favourite accents – the pointy little circumflex hat (ˆ)… More

One Year of ‘Yahapalanaya’ in Sri Lanka: Transitional Justice in Crisis? Here’s an excellent Groundviews analysis from Niran Anketell – well informed for once by comparative international experience – of Sri Lanka’s current transitional justice challenges – and what needs to be done to address them. Thoroughly recommended. —————— In October 2015, the Sri Lankan government took a giant stride towards reconciliation when it co-sponsored a historic resolution at the Human Rights Council. Despite howls of protest from fringe elements within the Sinhala and Tamil community who opposed it, the Resolution was defended stoutly by mainstream members of both ruling… More

Sverige: here’s 1 of 1000 reasons not to abandon your asylum policies Encountered on my way back from the swimming pool: this Sunday afternoon demo. Look hard and you’ll see that’s imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan on the back of a Kurdish participant’s T-shirt. The main chants: ‘Erdogan – Terrorist’, ‘Turkish Army out of Kurdistan’. And yes, they’d have had a very tough time holding this demonstration back home in Turkey. All in all, one of a 1000 reasons for you to hold onto your long-established asylum & refugee policies, dear Sweden.

This Is London: Life And Death In The World City Brilliant, incisive-as-ever essay excerpted from Ben Judah’s new book on London today published in the  February 2016 edition of Prospect. His eye for the telling detail combined with empathy, informed by real understanding, for the often intertwined fates of the capital’s new immigrant communities is extraordinary. A must read – the book This Is London: Life And Death In The World City now included. ————————– London’s skyline. ©Ben Judah Pawel does not look like a builder, with his thick black glasses and plush grey mane. Pawel doesn’t sound like one… More

‘I want to feel proud of Denmark, but it’s not easy’ Syrian refugees arrive at Copenhagen’s main station. Photo: Ole Jensen/Demotix/Corbis A new Danish law allowing police to seize refugees’ assets is a frightening example of how a country with liberal traditions can lurch to the right, says Sofie Gråbøl, star of the internationally acclaimed Danish TV crime series Forbrydelsen [The Killing]. And as she says in the interview  below, “More than ever, we need to live up to the humanistic values that our society was built on. The liberal and open-minded Denmark that I still know is hoping, desperately, that… More

 ‘Policed multiculturalism’ and predicting disaster Police in Paris. Demotix/ Cesar Dezfuli. All rights reserved. Long but excellent interview with a European academic specialising in  European policy responses to terrorism. In particular the interview makes some highly instructive connections between government counter-terrorism strategies and the discourse of  ‘the failures of multiculturalism’ promoted some years back European leaders in cluding Angela Merckel and David Cameron, also highlighting the importance of putting responses to state policy – and behaviour – at the centre of any attempt to understand the root causes of  ‘radicalisation’. ————————————————————— Counter-radicalisation in France draws on British and Dutch policies… More

This just in from my old Oxford college. The Times They Are A’ Changin’ . . . The Rhodes Must Fall movement began in South Africa and has now spread to the UK. In the past few weeks its efforts to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College, Oxford has attracted a great deal of criticism. This criticism too often ignores the wider historical, current and future concerns raised by the movement, and has few answers to the movement’s main aim: to ensure the equal participation of Black and minority ethnic people in societies still affected by racism. … More