Weekly Roundup January 7 to 13
ACLED 2018: THE YEAR IN REVIEW
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) is a disaggregated conflict collection, analysis and crisis mapping project.
“Disorder is spreading. While the overall scale of political violence slightly decreased in 2018, the scope expanded. Political violence and protest surged in more countries than they declined, and the total number of conflict-affected areas rose sharply around the world. Close-proximity violence against civilians escalated, and half the countries across Africa, South & Southeast Asia, and the Middle East witnessed an increase in reported violent deaths.”
“A review of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) 2018 dataset demonstrates that the global political violence landscape has substantially shifted over the past year, registering distinct threat patterns across each region of ACLED coverage. The number and type of organized violence and protest events; the volume of reported fatalities; the proliferation of armed actors; and the geographic footprint of violence – all vary markedly across time and location.”
ACLED 2018: The Year in Review surveys and contextualizes these trends, providing a comprehensive look back at a year of evolving disorder.
2018: Children pay the heaviest price in conflict
“Children continue to pay a high price in today’s global conflicts. The recruitment and use of children remains a hallmark of war and the UN Secretary-General’s 2018 annual report, released in June, listed 56 non-state armed groups and seven state armed forces for recruiting and using child soldiers in 2017.”
The power of mindfulness in a war zone
“After more than a year conducting mindfulness workshops in South Sudan, Paula Ramirez is struck by how emotionally shut off many aid workers in the country have become. Ramirez is the co-founder of Swiss-based NGO Breathe International, which promotes mindfulness for peacebuilding in conflict-affected areas, and has spent 13 years working around the world. She has helped survivors of torture, sexual assault, and landmines, as well as school teachers and those who have been internally displaced, affected by conflict in countries such as India, Thailand, Nepal, and Colombia.”
