Global Issues

The photograph from the G7 summit at La Malbaie, Canada, released recently on Instagram by German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s team, had the internet buzzing. Jesco Denzel’s image of Merkel in discussion with US President Donald Trump went viral, provoking memes that ranged from an

Developments in technology are challenging economists, businesses, and governments alike, confronting traditional methodologies and foundational ideas. Technology is genuinely disruptive.  There is a growing disconnect between businesses facing frenetic change and economic discussions which

This article is based on episodes 2 and 3 of the Good Will Hunters podcast, with Professor Paul James, former Director of UN Cities, and Beth Eggleston, Co-Founder and Director of the Humanitarian Advisory Group.  On 9 June, the first TEDx event to be held in a refugee camp took place in

629 migrants aboard the MS Aquarius were allowed ashore at Valencia, Spain, on 17 June, after a week-long ordeal resulting from the Italian government’s refusal to let the boat dock at any Italian port. The Aquarius, operated by Doctors Without Borders, had rescued the migrants from six

Debate arose in Papua New Guinea last week over comments made by Communications Minister Sam Basil about the possible imposition of a month-long ban on Facebook. This partial internet shutdown, according to Basil, would allow the government to conduct research on the use of anonymous

On 8 May, the Democratic Republic of Congo notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of a confirmed outbreak of Ebola. Since early April, there have been 49 reported cases of the disease in Congo, including 26 deaths. While the majority of cases have occurred in the rural town of Bikoro, over the

At the Council on Foreign Relations, Claire Felter and Amanda Shendruk explain “What is Temporary Protected Status?” In the past few months, US President Donald Trump has ended temporary protection status designations for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, Nepal, and

Concerns about the negative impact of technology on the labour market are not new. As early as 1817, at the beginning of the first industrial revolution, economist David Ricardo explained how jobs in the English textile industry were being lost as a result of the introduction of automatic weaving

One evening recently, over a glass of wine at an art opening, a friend who works in the cultural sector told me an interesting piece of news about my Twitter account. “Do you know my company has put you on the watch list because of your Twitter account?”, she asked. I couldn’t be more

A joint paper released this week from Treasury and the Department of Home Affairs, “Shaping a nation: Population growth and immigration over time”, examines the effects of migration on population growth and population distribution. The paper determines that migration has a positive

Rare earth. The term sounds like something derived from the imagination of J. R. R. Tolkien, but these composites of seventeen rare minerals are a silent but central foundation of global industry. Rare earth metals are critical to the production of a massive array of industrial goods,

Watchers of international financial markets have focused in recent months on the possible ramifications of an escalating trade war. The World Trade Organisation recently warned that rising trade tensions are impacting business confidence and investment decisions. Against the background of

The decision to terminate a long-standing arrangement that saw the Australian High Court act as a partial appellate court for Nauru, as reported last week, has heightened concerns about Nauru’s appropriateness as a venue for an Australian immigration detention centre. The timing of the

Facebook has now spent almost two years careening from public relations disaster to public relations disaster. Fake news, election meddling, radicalisation, and the relatively unknown mental health effects of using the social media network have all had their time in the media spotlight. With&

The Council of Foreign Relations has created an excellent backgrounder to the immigration debate in the US, covering everything from how Americans feel about immigration to the prospects for immigration reform. Despite the Department of Home Affairs arguing against the decision, the Federal

In The New Yorker, Bernard Avishai claims that “the absence in Israeli law of an inclusively democratic conception of citizenship, let alone democratic criteria for immigration” underpins the current refugee situation in Israel, where the government will begin en masse deportations in April.&

In continuing analysis of this year’s Global Compact negotiations, Jennifer Gordon at Refugees Deeply looks at the need for the Global Compact for Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees to overlap, in order to adequately address the issue of jobs for refugees. At the Centre for Global

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep. Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (1923) Early in 2018, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres delivered on the

In a recent article for The Interpreter, Madeleine Nyst rightly pointed out that while researchers in the field of countering violent extremism (CVE) are still immersed in the challenges of trying to determine best practice for implementing programs, “governments are forging ahead with

The zero draft of (or initial proposal for) the Global Compact on Refugees addresses internal displacement only in a footnote. A new post on the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre blog discusses three major reasons why internal displacement needs a more prominent place in the

Foreign aid fails to prevent emigration from developing countries, according to a new study from the Center for Global Development. The report finds that the capacity of aid to address the “root causes” of migration is “small at best”. Last Sunday, 22 asylum seekers from Nauru

Last month, France hosted the launch of the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons. The effort is aimed at holding to account individuals and groups in the Syrian Government responsible for chemical weapons attacks, and to deter any possible further use of

In The New York Times, a new report and photoessay offers a glimpse of life for asylum seekers in Indonesia awaiting resettlement. UNHCR has started to inform nearly 14,000 refugees and asylum seekers that finding a new home is highly unlikely, and that they should consider

The UNHCR released an updated fact sheet this week assessing the situation of refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island, with physical security remaining a primary concern.  In further news from Manus Island, a second group of refugees has left for the US as part of the resettlement deal,