Yemen has been termed by the UN as 'the world's worst humanitarian crisis'. 80% of the population – 24.1 million people – need some form of humanitarian assistance, and the UN continues to warn of impending widespread famine. The UN has described this as a 'man-made crisis', caused by the conflict in Yemen that has been ongoing for six years now.

The overthrow of Ben Ali's dictatorship in 2011 was revolutionary both in its method and in its outcome, involving mass participation and opening the way for the establishment of democratic institutions. However, like all such events, it is part of a process that continues as Tunisians grapple with the challenge of bringing about significant change not simply in their governing institutions, but also in the other areas of political, social, cultural and economic life that shape the lives and the rights of citizens.

How can international human rights obligations be enforced against all-powerful permanent members of the UN Security Council? What is the role that the civil society can play in upholding states' human rights obligations? Expert panellists examine the role of international law, civil society and the domestic UK response in addressing China's alleged commission of international crimes in the Xinjiang detention camps.

This event will be held online via Zoom. See the event webpage for more information and to register.

Reducing inequality has been a central international development concern for a long time and is one of the globally agreed Sustainable Development Goals. The damaging effects of social inequalities have now been acknowledged by governments, but inequality has continued to widen and has been supercharged by the Covid-19 crisis. Inequality is also driving other crises including environmental degradation and global warming.

Arrivals from 0900 for a prompt 09.30 start. Plenaries with John Paul Lederach (University of Notre Dame), Thania Paffenholz (Inclusive Peace), Cedric de Coning (NUPI and ACCORD), and Phil Clark (SOAS).

OxPeace invites applications for its three-day intensive Training Workshop, Mon 14 - Wed 16 March 2022, on ‘Negotiating and mediating successfully in international and grassroots conflict resolution’, in person, in Oxford.

Course summary:
This workshop will give you an overview of the fundamentals as well as real-life practice of Peace Negotiation and Mediation. It will allow you to immediately apply what you have learned in a series of increasingly complex simulations and to exchange with practitioners about lessons learned from the field.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, much attention within political and military circles has been devoted to examining the origins of the seemingly unexpected war. However, these analyses have primarily explored the foreign policy objectives of Russia and the motivations of its president. This talk will instead consider the cartographical causes and consequences of the conflict.

Reflexive control theory is a theory of influence that was developed in the 1960s, in Soviet Russia. During this lecture Maria will talk about the cybernetic origins of the theory, what we know about reflexive control, and what we do not know about it. She’ll then talk about why this under-researched theory from Soviet times is important to take into account in the todays world and how it can help us think about strategic decision making in hybrid warfare.