Welcome to our roundup of news and current events related to ethics and international affairs! Here’s what we’ve been reading this month:
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo delivers a press briefing at the U.S. Department of State on rising tension with Iran (Photo Credit: Michael Gross via Flickr)
Al Jazeera: Iran-US tensions: All the latest updates
On June 20, Iranian military forces downed a U.S. surveillance drone that had allegedly entered the country’s airspace. Details of the incident are in dispute, but after the U.S. withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and imposed tough post-JCPOA sanctions, such a move by Iran was perceived as a provocation of war. The U.S. president has since refrained from military action.
Read more about conflict escalation, diplomacy, and just war theory in Ethics & International Affairs:
EIA Interview: The Alternatives to War: From Sanctions to Nonviolence, with James Pattinson (October 2018)
Threats and Coercive Diplomacy: An Ethical Analysis (2018: Volume 32.3)
Just War Theory and the Last of Last Resort by Eamon Aloyo (2015: Volume 29.2)
Sudanese protesters chant near army HQ in April. (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
BBC: Sudan crisis: What you need to know
After Sudan ousted former President Omar al-Bashir in April, the country descended into a political crisis. Demonstrators in Khartoum calling for a stable transition from the interim Transitional Military Council (TMC) to a civil administration were met on June 3 by a brutal military attack that left thirty dead.
Read more about civil resistance and democratic legitimacy in Ethics & International Affairs:
The Responsibility to Accompany: A Framework for Multilateral Support of Grassroots Nonviolent Resistance (January 2015)
Backfire: The Dark Side of Nonviolent Resistance (2018: Volume 32.3)
Briefly Noted: Democratic Legitimacy: Impartiality, Reflexivity, Proximity & Why Civil Resistance Works: the Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (2012: Volume 26.3)
Millions take to the streets of Hong Kong in protest of Chinese extradition law. (Photo Credit: Studio Incendo via Flickr)
The New York Times: For Hong Kong’s Youth, Protests are ‘a Matter of Life and Death’
In response to a controversial bill allowing the extradition of fugitives to mainland China, massive protests have engulfed the streets of Hong Kong. Protesters say they are alarmed by the human rights implications of the bill, noting that the move by Beijing challenges Hong Kong’s judicial independence.
Read more about civil resistance in China and secessionist norms and conflict in Ethics & International Affairs:
The Crack-Up: A Hundred Years of Student Protests in China, with Jeffrey Wasserstrom (June 2019)
Secessionist Conflict: A Happy Marriage between Norms and Interests? (2019: Volume 33.1)
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands. (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
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Reuters: ICC Prosecutor seeks Bangladesh and Myanmar investigation
Chief ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, has requested permission to open investigations into alleged crimes against humanity committed against Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Though Myanmar is not itself a State Party to the Rome Statute, the Prosecutor attributes the Court’s jurisdiction to Bangladesh and the trans-border nature of the conflict.
Read more about the power of international criminal law and the ICC in Ethics & International Affairs:
Trials as Messages of Justice: What Should Be Expected of International Criminal Courts (2016: Volume 30.4)
Book Review: International Criminal Tribunals: A Normative Defense (2018: Volume 32.2)
Book Review: Rough Justice: The International Criminal Court in a World of Power Politics (2015: Volume 29.3)
Jordanian employees and an official from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) tour the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. In recent years, Jordan has seen a massive influx of Syrian refugees fleeing violence and persecution. The camp now hosts over 80,000 refugees. (Photo Credit: William Proby via Flickr)
The Guardian: More than 70 Million people now fleeing conflict and oppression worldwide
With over 70 million forcibly displaced people worldwide (41.3 million internally displaced people, 25.9 million refugees, and 3.5 million asylum-seekers) the inadequacy of international approaches to burden-sharing and durable solutions is palpable. Despite record highs in displacement statistics—13.6 million people were newly displaced in 2018—there is little movement to expand resettlement programs and, to the contrary, resettlement targets have declined.
Read more about the refugee protection regime, responsibility to protect, and burden-sharing in Ethics & International Affairs:
Unresolved and Unresolvable? Tensions in the Refugee Regime (2019: Volume 33.1)
Book Review: Refuge: Rethinking Refugee Policy in a Changing World by Alexander Betts and Paul Collier (2018: Volume 32.3)
Introduction: The Responsibility to Protect and the Refugee Protection Regime (2017: Volume 33.1)
Shame on EU? Europe, RtoP, and the Politics of Refugee Protection (2017: Volume 33.1)
Capable and Culpable? The United States, RtoP, and Refugee Responsibility Sharing (2017: Volume 33.1)