Violence

Owning a gun in South Africa offers some safety, but risks run high for users and society – expert

By Guy Lamb, Stellenbosch University South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, eclipsed only by Honduras and a handful of Caribbean island states. Furthermore, South African police crime data shows that South Africans experience above average levels of robbery, assault and rape. The 2022/23 Victims of Crime survey, which surveyed a representative sample of 42,746 South Africans, showed that the population had […]

29 April, 2024 24

Africa

Chad’s election outcome already seems set: 4 things Mahamat Déby has done to stay in power

By Helga Dickow, University of Freiburg Chad’s presidential election campaigns officially kicked off on Sunday 14 April 2024 in the capital city, N'Djamena. Transitional president Mahamat Idriss Déby held a large meeting on the Place de la Nation directly in front of the presidential palace. In attendance were members of the government, the military and various political parties, identifiable, in the blistering heat, by their different […]

24 April, 2024 12

Environment

Report links H&M and Zara to major environmental damage in biodiverse Cerrado

A report by U.K. investigative NGO Earthsight links supply chains of fashion giants H&M and Zara to large-scale illegal deforestation, land-grabbing, violence and corruption in Brazil. The country’s Cerrado region, home to a third of Brazil’s species, has already lost half of its vegetation to large-scale agriculture and is under increasing pressure from a booming cotton industry. The two major producers linked to illicit activities, SLC Agrícola and Grupo Horita, […]

23 April, 2024 37

Uncategorized

Obstetric and gynecological violence: Empowering patients to recognize and prevent it

Women who receive obstetric and gynecological care must be heard when they say that they have received inadequate, violent treatment. (Shutterstock) By Audrey Ferron-Parayre, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Catherine Régis, Université de Montréal; Emmanuelle Bernheim, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa, and Sylvie Lévesque, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) In recent years, media and social networks have brought to light growing denunciations of obstetric and gynecological care that is considered […]

17 April, 2024 16

Africa

Why children are prime targets of armed groups in northern Nigeria

Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images Hakeem Onapajo, Nile University of Nigeria Due to growing insecurity, Nigeria is gradually becoming one of the most dangerous places to live. The 2020 Global Terrorism Index identified the country as the third most affected by terrorism. There was a sharp increase in Boko Haram’s targeting of civilians by 25%, and killings by herdsmen increased by 26%, compared with the previous year. The two countries […]

2 April, 2024 18

Africa

Nigerian bandits strategically target school children for kidnappings – here’s why

By Oluwole Ojewale, Institute for Security Studies It is every parent’s worst nightmare: armed criminals attacking their child’s school, kidnapping students and teachers. In some parts of Nigeria, this scenario is not just the stuff of nightmares – it has become all too common in the past 10 years. The most famous incident was the mass abduction of 276 students from a girls’ school in Chibok, a […]

27 March, 2024 18

Health / Medical

‘Tied to the bed’: Horrors of giving birth in Serbia

By Miodrag SOVILJ Biljana Cicic-Stanic still bristles when she remembers the pain, violence, and humiliation she endured while giving birth to her son in Serbia, an experience many women say is normal in the Balkan country's hospitals. Cicic-Stanic said medical staff tied her to the bed with restraints and nurses used their elbows to press against her stomach. "Everything was so violent," Cicic-Stanic told AFP, saying doctors […]

13 March, 2024 27

Africa

South Sudan: some spoilers want peace to fail, putting 2024 elections at risk

By Edgar Githua, Strathmore University South Sudan is expected to hold its first general election in December 2024. It became an independent state in 2011. The long overdue election is one of the pillars of a peace agreement signed in 2018. It helped end the 2013-2018 civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people and displaced millions. Since then, the country has progressed in relative peace, with fewer […]

20 February, 2024 42

Uncategorized

Mungiki, Kenya’s violent youth gang, serves many purposes: how identity, politics and crime keep it alive

By Bodil Folke Frederiksen, Roskilde University Kenya has scores of youth gangs known for their violence and links to the politically powerful. None is more infamous than the Mungiki movement, with a past membership estimated to be at least a million. Though banned, it’s constantly in the news as a tool or target of big political players. Bodil Folke Frederiksen, who has studied Mungiki as part of […]

15 February, 2024 15