Human Security Centre Human Rights and International Security Research

The commencement of air strikes against the assets of ISIS in Syria last month marked the opening of the US-led coalition’s second front against the extremist group. Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also contributed aircraft to the operation. In addition to ISIS, a group of apparent Al Qaeda operatives that were providing support to the Islamist Jabhat al-Nusra rebel group was also targeted.

In the 1960s, the American Civil Rights Movement took the country by storm. Decades later, and well into the new century, the recent tragic events of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner have questioned national unity

Almost ten years from the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) referral of the situation in Darfur, in Resolution 1593, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) the humanitarian situation in Darfur remains volatile.

More attention needs to be given to the destabilising impact that ransom funding provokes. This could entail a network of sanctions that would categorically link ransom payments to the illegal act of funding terrorism.

The fear of ‘appearing sectarian’ or ‘showing favouritism’ is the poorest, the weakest and the most appalling excuse for not speaking up for a persecuted group in a distant land that happen to share your beliefs.