Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes
Last year’s Congo crisis brought home the EU’s limitations as a global power. Will it accept them or try to overcome them? Richard Gowan discusses.
Human Rights
Human rights – a time for reflection
Anthony Dworkin calls for a moment of reflection in the light of the anniversary of the human rights declaration
How MEPs can help save the UN Human Rights Council
A European Parliament debate on the EU?s role on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) comes at an embarrassing moment
It’s Tibet, not the economy, stupid
China?s cancellation of the planned bilateral summit with the EU is a brutal and unprecedented warning of how little Europe means to China
Three fault lines
Pakistan, Congo and Ukraine are three fault lines separating us from the future
Exiting Africa?
The Congo crisis demonstrated the UN’s limitations, but its longest-lasting effect may be to mark the end of European military interventions in Africa
A new partnership in support of international law
Obama’s election offers the opportunity for the EU and the US to come together in pledging to fight terrorism within the framework of fundamental human rights
The EU cannot accept defeat in Congo
If the EU or the UN send in substantial reinforcements, rebel leader Laurent Nkunda might pre-empt them by seizing Goma and take peacekeepers hostage
Europe should help stand-down Zimbabwe’s soldiers
As Europe waits to see whether Zimbabwe restores democracy, the bloc should prepare options for an SSR-specific ESDP mission
Europe’s UN human rights problem
There are clear signs that the EU’s influence at the UN is declining in one of the areas on which it is most united: human rights