Kai M. Thaler, University of California, Santa Barbara
When President Daniel Ortega returned to power in 2006, church figures supported him. Violent repression after the 2018 protests has soured the relationship and made clergy targets for intimidation.
Government sanctions against Hamas, which the US and the European Union consider a terrorist group, mean that aid groups are not able to directly work with Hamas.
The politics of delivering aid in war zones are messy, the ethics fraught and the logistics daunting. But getting everything right is essential − and in this instance could save many Gazans’ lives.
Hospitals have been destroyed, and doctors and health care staff killed. Gaza’s health services may take years to recover, warns a Palestinian health specialist.
A scholar of humanitarianism sums up what she saw on the ground during a five-week research trip to Poznań, Lublin, Warsaw, Krakow and several smaller cities along the Poland-Ukraine border.
Russia has used similar tactics in both countries, including bombings that flatten homes, schools, hospitals and key infrastructure. The humanitarian needs are vast.
Yannick Kluch, Virginia Commonwealth University and Eli Wolff, University of Connecticut
The International Olympic Committee oversees several humanitarian initiatives. But it avoids letting human rights concerns interfere with the Games, even in countries with rampant violations.
A scholar from Afghanistan outlines what more than $150 billion in assistance did and didn’t accomplish in two decades following the arrival of U.S. troops un 2001.
Large-scale tree-planting projects are politically popular and media-friendly, but without effective planning and long-term management, they can do more harm than good.
Civil society activists responding to the COVID-19 social crisis face important challenges and tensions. They should tackle these choices head-on as they develop longer-term plans.