Tom Kucharz, Raquel Luna – According to Pedro Ramiro and Juan Hernández Zubizarrieta, authors of the report, the European Commission’s plan can be summarized as “militarisation, borders and extractivism”. The report describes the intersections between these three pillars, which are built on the defence, migration and trade policies of the EU. The report warns that …Read More

Julie Smit – 1. According to the Philippine Human Rights Group Karapatan (1), the human rights situation in the Philippines has worsened since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in 2022 and rural communities, particularly Indigenous Peoples, are increasingly being subjected to militarisation, including indiscriminate aerial bombing. Could you explain what is behind this increasing …Read More

Raquel Luna – The result of the popular referendum in Ecuador to keep fossil fuels in the ground in the Yasuní National Park in Ecuador is an historic decision: unique and unprecedented. Why is it relevant today? What are the developments and challenges facing the closure, dismantling, restoration and healing of Yasuní? Faced with the …Read More

Conrad Otto Lude – Militarisation: a return to hard power projection in Europe? Over the last decade, militarisation has become an increasingly relevant policy item in response to a perceived deterioration in the European security landscape. But what exactly is militarisation, and which developments have led to its rise in popularity? While the term’s definition …Read More

Tom Kucharz – A report published in Spain analyzes the current geostrategic repositioning of the European Union (EU), which combines the pillars of defense, migration and trade policy, and warns of the consequences of European military green capitalism. On July 18, 2024, when the European Parliament ratified Ursula von der Leyen for another five years …Read More

Raquel Luna – At the 2024’s World Economic Forum in Davos, the president (and editor-in-chief) of Devex, Raj Kumar, presented a panel named “the humanitarian system under pressure”[1]. He noted that “humanitarians (…) are giving a sense that they never felt so stretched before. Their institutions feel overwhelmed”. According to Kumar, the world is in …Read More

Rédaction du brennpunkt – On 22 April 2024, the European Confederation of NGOs working on Sustainable Development and International Cooperation (CONCORD) published the following press release on the leaked DG INTPA’s draft Briefing Book for the next European Commission. The document displays the EU’s retreat from international cooperation, with the European Union’s efforts to implement …Read More

Summary by Raquel Luna of the main insights of the interview ‘We must understand the historical span and longevity of conservative movements’, Sur Journal, issue 32, December 2022[0]. Revised by Sonia Corrêa. In this interview Corrêa describes how the advent of far-right forces across the United States, Europe, and Latin America is neither surprising nor …Read More

Ashish Kothari – About 50% of the world’s population will be voting in national elections in 2024, across several dozen countries. Some (Bangladesh and Taiwan) have already taken place, some (India) are underway while finalizing this article. This is the biggest polling year ever in history. But more than the mind-boggling statistics, what is remarkable …Read More

Nadine Haas – Last December, the European institutions agreed on the main outlines of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). The stated objective of this directive is “to foster sustainable and responsible corporate behaviour and to anchor human rights and environmental considerations in companies’ operations and corporate governance”.[1] While the directive has been …Read More