Human Security Archive

Over two days in Miami earlier this month, the leaders of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador met with officials from the United States and Mexico to discuss the longstanding challenges of combating transnational crime, narcotrafficking and corruption in Central America. Any discussion of migration policy, however, was explicitly off the table at the Conference on Prosperity and Security, which included U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. Despite brutal conditions in the region that have driven a spike in migration north in recent years, the Trump administration’s narrow priorities in Central […]

Last Tuesday, which was World Refugee Day, the United Nations refugee agency reported three new shipwrecks off the coast of Libya involving vessels carrying refugees and migrants. One of them, a rubber dinghy, “began taking on water just hours into its journey,” and 129 people were missing after it capsized. Another boat, which was carrying 85 people, including many families with children, broke in two before sinking. The U.N. reports that more than 77,000 people have tried to make the sea crossing to Europe so far this year. The U.N. refugee agency’s Global Trends study for 2016, released to coincide […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss the next phase of Syria’s civil war and the succession shake-up in Saudi Arabia. For the Report, Linus Unah talks with Peter Dörrie about how competition for resources is fueling violence between Fulani herders and farming communities in Nigeria, a situation the U.N. warns could “spin out of control.” If you’d like to sign up for the beta version of WPR’s Africa-only subscription, you can do so here. It’s free for the first two months. And if you like what you hear on Trend […]

KADUNA, Nigeria—The funeral took place on a sunny, late March morning in Goska, a village in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna state. Against the backdrop of mud homes covered with corrugated zinc roofing, people bustled down the single dusty road that runs through the town to a patch of land next to a church. Hundreds formed a crowd around a brown casket to bury 50-year-old Gideon Morik, a community leader who died on March 16. One of Gideon’s solemn-faced wives made her way silently to the center of the field. She dabbed her face with a handkerchief as she placed a vase […]

On Thursday, April 13, Dr. Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist renowned for treating victims of sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, attended a meeting with Gildo Byamungo, a colleague who was running a clinic near the city of Uvira. The two men talked at one point about the lack of security in the area, and Byamungo confided that he had received multiple threats from armed groups. “He told me about his fears for his safety,” Mukwege recalls. That night, Byamungo was shot and killed at his home, becoming the latest victim of spiraling violence that Mukwege attributes to President […]

Last month, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus won the election to serve a five-year term as the director-general of the World Health Organization, beginning July 1. He may have one of the most unenviable jobs in the world. The World Health Organization does not enjoy the most stellar reputation these days, with its legitimacy and authority up for debate. Its response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 was widely and roundly criticized; no less than six high-level panels recommended substantial changes to how the WHO responds to crises and finances its operations. Member states have refused to […]

On Jan. 13, 2017, as his term was winding down, former U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order announcing plans to revoke longtime sanctions imposed on Sudan. The order also called for a sanctions review by next month that would determine whether the government of Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, had continued with what the order described as “positive actions,” including maintaining a cease-fire in conflict areas, improving access to humanitarian aid and cooperating with the U.S. to address regional conflicts and terrorism threats. As Sudan awaits the sanctions review, this week marked the six-year anniversary of the conflict in […]