In May 2019, the OHCHR released a report that concluded North Korea was failing to provide its citizens with a number of basic rights – including an adequate standard of living.

Germany wants to set the agenda in Europe, yet it does not commit financially and support a modernisation of NATO through fair burden-sharing.

While the European Union worried about Russian involvement in the Western Balkans, China has been taking advantage of the last few years to quietly become one of the big players in the region.

The horrific scale of fatalities and types of crimes committed in Rwanda in 1994, shocked the globe and rightly triggered powerful shifts in reform and practice for the international domain.

The UK House of Commons Defense Committee has today published its report into the termination of the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, with evidence from the Human Security Centre featuring prominently.

Regardless of whether or not an event of Balkan Spring proportions is coming to the region, it is beyond evident that continuity is no longer an option – and that, one way or another, the present state of affairs will be coming to an end.

India is considered to be the largest democracy in the world and on the verge of becoming one of the super-nations on Earth alongside the United States and China. But while India’s economic future may be global, its security issues are very much local.

Mohammed Bin Salman is demonstrating Saudi Arabia’s intention to create a strategic counterweight to its ties with western partners.

Even if the current protests fail to achieve their goals in the short-term, they are yet another signal that the status quo is unfeasible in the long-term. With European Union candidate status come Western-level demands and expectations – and the Serbian people's tolerance for a self-serving leadership has reached its limit.

With the first month of 2019 already concluded, the triumphs and shortfalls of 2018 appear increasingly distant, with new issues and priorities quickly taking their place. However, with many governments only recently returning to full function after their New Year breaks, now is an opportune time to reflect on the year that was and contemplate what lies ahead for 2019.