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Recent Blog Posts
Yesterday, the Republican-led Subcommittee of State and Foreign Operations Appropriations proposed a draft budget for spending on foreign aid, including funding of the United Nations, the State Department, and various peacekeeping operations around the world. The proposed amount was $40.1 billion as a base budget of the State Department, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and international affairs programs in other agencies. Additionally, they allocated $8.2 billion for diplomatic and development programs related to the ongoing wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.
Early this morning, Sudan has endorsed the African Union's "peace road map" to avoid an all-out war with South Sudan. This came after South Sudan had endorsed the AU's plan themselves. The AU's plan includes seven specific steps, including a deadline of this Tuesday to restart negotiations and a three-month grace period after that to agree upon a more concrete solution.
Just yesterday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution that would take "appropriate measures," including nonmilitary sanctions, if Sudan and South Sudan did not resolve all outstanding issues, namely border disputes, uneven divisions of oil revenues, and the citizenship of Sudanese and South Sudan peoples. As previously mentioned, tensions have flared between the two nations just a few months after South Sudan's July 2011 independence, which followed a peace treaty signed in 2005.
Today, the Brookings Institution held a panel discussion on what role women play in conflict and disaster situations. Nearly three months ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quoted saying "when we think about peacemaking, which is, after all, one of the critical tasks of any of us in international security, [...] there are not enough women at the table, not enough women's voices being heard." The struggle to include women in peace negotiations still stands.
The panel unanimously agreed that women play a huge role in conflict situations; whether it involves the importance of including more women in peace negotiations or the severity of gender based violence during conflict and how it affects women and communities. The best way to combat these offenses is to include women in all forms of conflict resolution.