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The document analyzes the African Group's engagement at the UN Human Rights Council, noting a tension between a desire for regional leadership and a tendency to grant accused governments veto power over resolutions. While some 'human rights-friendly' states consistently support country-specific resolutions, others systematically abstain or oppose them, leading to an uneven response to crises across the continent and globally.

The report examines the 'peace potential' of oil and gas resources, analyzing how joint development, revenue sharing, and infrastructure projects like pipelines can either mitigate or fuel conflict. It contrasts successful cooperation, such as the Saudi-Kuwaiti Partitioned Neutral Zone and Turkey-Iraqi Kurdish relations, with failures in the Caucasus and disputes in the South China Sea and Eastern Mediterranean. The study also addresses the role of international environmental law and the climate impact of transitioning from coal to natural gas.

A coalition of global social and climate justice movements, meeting at the PreCOP Social in Venezuela, condemns the 2014 Israeli military offensive and blockade in Gaza. The statement calls for an immediate end to the violence, the lifting of the blockade, and the implementation of a global campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions to ensure Israel respects United Nations resolutions and ends its occupation of Palestinian territories.

A coalition of global social movements and climate justice organisations condemns the 2014 Israeli military invasion and bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The statement calls for the immediate lifting of the blockade imposed since 2007 and advocates for a global campaign of boycotts, divestments, and sanctions to end the occupation of Palestinian territory.

A statement issued by Friends of the Earth International and a coalition of global civil society organizations meeting in Venezuela, condemning Israeli military attacks and a land invasion of the Gaza Strip in July 2014.

The document argues that agricultural cooperatives promote inclusive investment by allowing farmers to maintain control over resources while achieving economies of scale. It highlights that well-organized cooperatives reduce risk for foreign investors and facilitate more efficient contracting. The brief emphasizes that government support should be limited to creating an enabling legal environment and providing technical resources, rather than interfering in internal management, as bottom-up initiatives are generally more successful.

The document promotes agricultural cooperatives as a socially and politically acceptable alternative to 'land grabbing,' allowing farmers to retain control of their resources while accessing markets and finance. It distinguishes between production and service cooperatives and highlights the benefits of collective bargaining and resource sharing. The text emphasizes that while foreign investment can reduce risk and provide capital, government support should be limited to creating a favorable legal environment and providing technical training, rather than direct interference in management.

The report details how the Israeli occupation in the West Bank utilizes environmental degradation, resource expropriation, and restrictive land-use designations as tools for colonization. It highlights the systemic theft of water resources, the dumping of industrial and nuclear waste on Palestinian lands, and the use of 'nature reserves' to justify the displacement of Palestinians and the destruction of their agricultural assets. The document concludes that these environmental crimes are inseparable from the political struggle for Palestinian self-determination.

The report describes a 'ecological Nakba' in the West Bank, where Israeli occupation manifests through the systematic appropriation of land and water, the dumping of toxic and nuclear waste, and the establishment of polluting industries in 'closed zones'. It highlights how environmental protection is used as a tool for land seizure, specifically in areas like Wadi Qana, and details the severe disparity in water access between Palestinian communities and Israeli settlements.

The report details how the Israeli occupation of the West Bank manifests as an 'environmental Nakba,' involving the systematic expropriation of land and water, the dumping of toxic and nuclear waste, and the establishment of polluting industries in 'seam zones.' It highlights specific cases such as the villages of Kafr Dik and Om Elkheir, and the Wadi Qana nature reserve, to illustrate how environmental degradation and 'green washing' are used to displace Palestinians and facilitate settlement expansion.

The authors find substantial support for the existence of democratic waves, arguing that they are driven by a combination of economic development, democratic diffusion from neighboring countries, the 'stickiness' of consistent institutional configurations, and systemic shocks such as world wars and the creation of new states.

The author analyzes the Occupy movement as a response to a systemic crisis driven by neo-liberal wealth redistribution and austerity in Europe. While praising the movement's concept of solidarity and its focus on the '99 per cent', the text warns that spontaneous protests are insufficient without a structured alliance of institutions, unions, and parties. The author calls for a new societal model that replaces consumerism with a vision of a 'good life' for all, incorporating fairer taxation and politically negotiated limits on resource use to prevent poverty and climate wars.

The report analyzes the views of 55 Egyptian stakeholders, including policy makers, political parties, and NGOs, regarding the operation of the Rafah Crossing Point (RCP). It examines the tension between humanitarian needs and security concerns, the impact of the tunnel economy, and the role of international agreements like the Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA). The findings highlight a fragmented Egyptian approach, where security agencies prioritize countering smuggling and militant infiltration, while political groups like the Muslim Brotherhood advocate for normalized relations with Hamas. The report concludes that a functioning border depends on resolving the Israeli blockade and establishing a unified Palestinian government.

The document examines how the Kimberley Process (KP) failed to address human rights abuses in Zimbabwe's Marange region because its definition of 'conflict diamonds' only covers those used by rebel groups. It details the involvement of Zimbabwean security forces in torture, rape, and smuggling, and the lack of transparency regarding diamond revenues. The authors recommend that the KP expand its definition to include governments, establish local monitoring mechanisms, and require transparency in mining licenses.

The document argues that the PLO is in acute need of democratic reform to address widespread distrust in its unelected leadership. It proposes a model of fully proportional representative elections for the PNC based on the geographic distribution of Palestinians globally. While political will exists between Fatah and Hamas following the May 2011 Cairo Agreement, the author identifies significant obstacles, including the risk to Jordanian citizenship for voters in Jordan and pressure from Western powers (the Quartet) who oppose a Palestinian leadership that includes Hamas.

The document examines how the Syrian conflict destabilizes the 'resistance front' (Syria, Iran, Hizballah, and Hamas) and alters regional power balances. In Lebanon, the crisis exacerbates sectarian tensions and threatens Hizballah's strategic supply lines. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, it has forced Hamas to shift its political alignment from Damascus to Qatar and Egypt, potentially strengthening Hamas relative to Fatah but not necessarily advancing the Palestinian national cause. The authors argue that the 'new Arab cold war' framework is becoming less relevant as the Syrian regime collapses and regional actors like Egypt seek new diplomatic paths.

The document examines the tension between international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL), identifying four primary legal logics—co-applicationist, separatist, sceptic, and operational—that shape how these frameworks interact during armed conflict. It highlights that while convergence is often viewed as a positive development in Norwegian policy, it creates significant practical and legal dilemmas regarding extraterritoriality, the principle of proportionality, and the operational clarity required by military forces.

The paper examines the instrumental link between income inequality and social trust, which is considered essential for the collective action required for sustainability. Using a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) on World Values Survey data from 20 country-year combinations, the author finds that both absolute income and income inequality significantly influence social trust. Specifically, trust rises with income but falls as income inequality (measured by the Gini coefficient) increases. The analysis suggests that neither economic growth nor redistribution alone is sufficient to significantly raise trust levels in low-trust societies; instead, a combination of stable growth and narrowing income distributions over approximately two decades is required to produce meaningful changes in social cohesion.

The report examines seven transboundary river basins—Congo, Okavango, Red, La Plata, Danube, Mekong, and Jordan—to evaluate how ecosystem services (ES) are integrated into Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). It finds that while IWRM planning is common, actual implementation is weak and often focuses on traditional services like hydropower and navigation, neglecting critical ES such as carbon sequestration and flood regulation. The authors argue that moving toward an ES-based 'benefit-sharing' model, supported by economic instruments like Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), can overcome political, institutional, and financial barriers to sustainable transboundary water management.

The paper argues that since 2000, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shifted from a border struggle back to an ethnic conflict, characterized by a 'status quo' regime of Israeli control. This regime utilizes settlement expansion, the Separation Barrier, and the strategic division of Palestinians to maintain Jewish ethnic superiority. The author contends that the two-state solution is currently unachievable due to deep-seated religious radicalization within the settler movement and the IDF, as well as a US policy focused on process over structural change. The document concludes that Israel will only move toward a two-state accommodation when the international costs of maintaining the current regime outweigh the domestic costs of dismantling it.