Explainer Archives - Career Meaning

Explainer: How to advance women’s roles in peace and security

·October 24, 2024·4 min read

Right now, the reality is grim: in 2023, the proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled compared to the previous year, and the number of UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence increased by 50 per cent. Meanwhile, the proportion of international aid committed to supporting gender equality in conflict-affected...

Explainer: What is the Genocide Convention?

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·January 15, 2024·5 min read

Filed with the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ), a UN court, on 29 December, South Africa’s case stated that Israel, particularly since 7 October, “has failed to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute direct and overt incitement to genocide”. So, what is the Genocide Convention? The basics The 1948 Convention on...

Explainer: How Darfur became a ‘humanitarian calamity and catastrophic human rights crisis’

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·December 15, 2023·6 min read

Close to nine million people need humanitarian assistance and reports suggest that some 4,000 people have been targeted and killed because of their ethnicity. There are now concerns that Darfur is returning to the years of brutal fighting and increasing atrocities last witnessed two decades ago that left some 300,000...

Explainer: How aid reaches Gaza

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·November 15, 2023·4 min read

Barricaded for two weeks at the outset of the conflict, the Rafah crossing re-opened on 21 October following an Israel-Egyptian deal for limited entry of humanitarian aid deliveries. Still, only a trickle is getting across the border. While media reports announce fresh efforts to get aid to Gaza, like French...

Explainer: How AI helps combat climate change

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·November 6, 2023·7 min read

The recent launch of the UN-led AI Advisory Body advanced a growing global trend to harness machine learning to find solutions to common challenges. AI is upping the data crunching game and a growing number of governments, businesses and civil society partners are working together to reap its many benefits. That includes...

Explainer: Fighting for facts amid crisis in Israel and Gaza

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·October 29, 2023·6 min read

Harmful disinformation about the ongoing conflict in the wake of the 7 October attacks by Hamas against Israel continues to circulate online, with potentially dangerous consequences on the ground. While misinformation refers to the accidental spread of falsehoods, disinformation can be circulated intentionally by State or non-State actors, including during...

Explainer: A look inside the Gaza crossing convoy

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·October 21, 2023·6 min read

After viewing some of the shipments himself in Egypt close to Gaza, pallets of medical supplies, food, and water among them, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters that right now, the trucks urgently need to move to the other side of the border, as a matter of “life and death”....

Explainer: What is international humanitarian law?

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·October 20, 2023·8 min read

But, what exactly are the rules of war and what happens when they are broken? To find out more about international humanitarian law, known by its acronym IHL, UN News spoke with Eric Mongelard at the UN human rights office, OHCHR. Here’s what you need to know: Rules of war...

Explainer: How the UN works behind the scenes during crises

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·October 18, 2023·9 min read

The humanitarian role is what gets a lot of public attention as agreements are secured to arrange for aid to get through to civilians and to protect them, including trying to ensure that international humanitarian law (often called the laws governing war and broadly covered by the Geneva Conventions) are...

Explainer: How UN delivers life-saving aid amid crises

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·October 12, 2023·9 min read

One in every 33 people (that’s 242 million people) on the planet needed humanitarian assistance in 2022, and most of that aid was coordinated through the UN. Here’s how the UN does it: Coordination: Crisis HQ This week, as the Israel-Palestine crisis erupted on 7 October, the UN Office for the...

Explainer: UN on the ground amid Israel-Palestine crisis

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·October 11, 2023·5 min read

As the conflict intensified amid escalating violence, a complete blockade of food, water, and vital services was put in place by Israel as reports emerged of Israeli ground operations in Gaza, which is home to more than two million people. While UN offices in Gaza sustained “significant damage” from nearby...