Armistice Day is approaching, 11 November, the day that guns fell silent marking the end of the First World War in 1918. As we know, that was not the end of all wars, as much as the millions who suffered from it might have hoped. Wars did not even end after World War II and…
As Members of the Peacemaking Reflection Group (PRG), composed of former UN civil servants, we are alarmed by the crisis situation in Israel and Gaza. We unequivocally reject and condemn the heinous attacks launched by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and the taking of civilian hostages. We welcome and support the approach the UN Secretary-General…
The carnage in Israel and the Gaza Strip seems to have no end, with hundreds if not thousands of fatalities on both sides and a region ready to explode. Who is to blame and how can this end? Peace or justice first, under whose interpretation and on what terms? For people like me who have…
It has been a hot, unbearable summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Wherever the temperatures are not breaking new records and the forest fires are not filling the air with suffocating smoke and other pollutants it is the floods that are hitting the high mark, including in places where water is becoming worryingly scarce over time….
As we observe International Women’s Day, 8 March 2023, and CSW67 (Commission on the Status of Women, Session 67) is taking place, with UN Women continuing to run local programs worldwide, one crucial question remains: What women? To whom is the UN talking? The UN’s theme for 2023 is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender…
September 2023 is forecast to be heavy in summiteering, as already two summits and a ministerial meeting are scheduled to take place in the space of a few days, around the high-level “UN Week”, namely: an SDG Summit, another Climate Summit, and a Ministerial Meeting in preparation of the September 2024 Summit of the Future….
Two weeks from the finish line, 2022 can safely be said to have been a year of conflicts, tensions, and upheavals par excellence. The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February may still be the darkest highlight of the year, but certainly not the only one. Some hopeful signs with ceasefires that held/are holding in…
On this commemoration of Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, Marking the silencing of weapons at the end of World War I, We, the undersigned concerned citizens of the world, Call for a ceasefire in all conflicts currently raging on our planet, between and within countries, on all continents. How many more millions of dead human…
This essay is written to distance proper understanding of the Russian war against Ukraine from any false equivalence that this is a conflict between two belligerents, whose perspectives deserve equal recognition as a prelude to a negotiated outcome. Attempts to explore alternative avenues to peace, and identify differentiated messages and appropriate envoys and institutions should…
An event under the title “Global Governance: Breaking down or breaking new ground?” was convened by the Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS) and the Global Crisis Information Network (GCINET), with support from the Global Challenges Foundation, in New York City on 23 September 2022, on the sidelines of the high-level week of the…
