A bitter race to claim economic and political power has divided the country, and the human cost can no longer be ignored. Nesrine Malik, November 2025 Old guard v the emboldened new … the conflict has encroached on what was once a peaceful existence. Illustration: Pejman Faratin/Guardian Pictures Almost everywhere I go, I am asked about Sudan. The questions are partly from concern for family and my birth country and partly from a genuine desire to understand how the conflict there has turned into something so intense and seemingly unstoppable. This week, I break down what is happening in the country and why it has escalated to catastrophic proportions. A sense of incredulity Bewildering … members of the RSF wave through Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images The first answer I give when asked about my thoughts on the war is always the same: I still can’t believe it is happening. Three years into the conflict, there is still a sense of incredulity that Sudan has unravelled so quickly. This is probably how it always feels to those whose countries have suddenly succumbed to war. To outsiders, war remains a story, a headline, a political event, and perhaps, particularly in Africa , not a remote or unexpected occurrence. But it is no one’s natural lot, and every day is as hard and bewildering as the one before. Two histories of war There are two histories to the war in Sudan . One long and one short. The long history is of a country where political and economic power has always been in the hands of the few. Regions such as Darfur have historically been marginalised and ignored. The region has suffered competition for resources and conflict along ethnic lines between Arab and African groups for decades, and a genocide against its non-Arab population was perpetrated in the early 2000s by Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, with the blessing and support of central government. The result was that, even as Sudan as a whole never fell apart, intense localised conflicts rumbled on for decades, leading to the growth and empowerment of militarised groups. The most concrete legacy of that history is the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia that was formalised out of armed groups and is now at war with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). A sabotaged revolution Short-lived … protesters thronged Khartoum in 2019. Photograph: Ozan Köse/AFP/Getty Images The short history has its roots in Sudan’s popular revolution of 2019, in which president Omar al-Bashir who ruled Sudan for almost 30 years was deposed after months of protest. It was a revolution that had two demands: first the removal of a dictator, and second the ejection of the military (from whose ranks Bashir came when he led a coup in 1989) from power once and for all. In the aftermath of the revolution, it became clear that the RSF, which had partnered with Bashir and his government to suppress rebellion in Darfur, had amassed significant power. With Bashir gone, the RSF and the SAF entered what was supposed to be a transitional power-sharing agreement with civilians in order to pave the way for civilian rule. It was short-lived. The SAF and RSF turned on the civilians, and then each other. Sudan, it turned out, was only big enough for one armed body. What the war is—and what it isn’t Sudan’s conflict is often described as a “civil war”. But there is no civilian feature to this war. They did not take up arms against one another, and their lives and livelihoods have been the price of the power struggle between the two parties. The war is also spoken of as the “forgotten war”, but that glosses over the fact that the duration, intensity, and reporting of the conflict leave little room for doubt that it is anything other than a war that just isn’t proportionally cared about. The war is not forgotten; it is ignored and sometimes tolerated. The UN’s humanitarian response plan for Sudan remains chronically underfunded . The Trump administration has gutted humanitarian aid, hitting Sudan particularly hard , and scaled back the entire Africa engagement effort. All the while, valiant accountability and reporting efforts continue, as do dogged campaigns to raise awareness and funds on the part of Sudanese at home and in the diaspora. You will also hear of Sudan’s conflict as a “proxy war”, which gives the sense that outside forces are lining up equally behind all parties. Several actors have been drawn in, but the main outside influence in this war is the United Arab Emirates, which has pumped funds and arms into the hands of the RSF while denying any involvement. To the UAE, securing influence in Sudan, a strategically located, gold-rich and fertile country, would significantly expand the Emirates’ political and economic power. What the war actually is: an existential battle between the old guard; the Sudanese army and the associated parties and interests it represents, and a new militia that amassed staggering influence and support outside the official auspices of the state, and now seeks to claim it. The violent, heartbreaking toll It is difficult to know where to start. Again, statistics about the millions of displaced, hundreds of thousands estimated to have been killed, sexual violence, and humanitarian catastrophe and hunger still cannot capture the individual tragedies or their reverberations. The loss of home and loved ones resonates with my own family story. Our house in Khartoum was taken over by the RSF, looted, and then left gutted, deep holes dug in the ground and walls to extract even the pipes and wires. There are the millions of elderly people scattered around Sudan and the wider region, who now live their last days wrenched and in painful impoverished exile. And there is the systematic massacre by the RSF of the African population in Darfur, re-opening the wounds of the earlier genocide. The largest SAF Darfur stronghold city of El Fasher, fell last month to the RSF after a year and a half of brutal siege, and the reports of summary executions that have soaked the land in blood continue to emerge. With El Fasher’s takeover, the RSF consolidated its hold over the west of the country, leaving Sudan essentially divided into two, with the rest under the control of the SAF. Neither party seems to have the capacity to decisively overwhelm the other, and few western powers seem to have the appetite to decisively intervene to put pressure either on sponsors like the UAE, or apply leverage on to either belligerent party. The uncertain future A brutal siege … displaced girls from El Fasher sit on the ground camp in Al-Dabbah, Sudan. Photograph: El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters Another strange psychological feature of war is the inability to conceive of a future other than the one that looks like the past. There is still a part of me that believes in an unrealistic return of the genie back in the bottle, a homecoming for all where we can pick up the pieces and somehow reconcile the country. But I know, and refuse to know, that this is not a likely scenario. In the meantime, there is only hope that this cannot continue forever and that the more the world learns about Sudan, the more its war becomes not just a lamenting headline, but a matter of intolerable urgency. © 2025 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)

Source: EU Debates, News & Opinions The Ten Stages of the Russian Genocide in Ukraine By Emily Mullin And the Genocide Watch Ukraine Team   Talks about a negotiated settlement of Russia’s war against Ukraine have dominated international headlines. As many hope that President Trump can talk Mr. Putin into ending the Russian invasion, we must never forget the incalculable suffering Russia has inflicted on the Ukrainian people.   Russia has committed every war crime and crime against humanity, including relentless, indiscriminate attacks against civilians, systematic torture, mass rape, and the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.    The war in Ukraine is a genocide. The Russian government has set out to   intentionally destroy  the Ukrainian nation. Russia has committed every act of genocide listed in Article 2 of the Genocide Convention: “In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:(a) Killing members of the group;(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.   In analyzing the phenomenon of genocide,   Genocide Watch , a non-governmental organization founded by Gregory Stanton in 1999,  uses “ The Ten Stages of Genocide .” The model is not linear. [1] The processes of genocide don’t occur in a fixed order. Many occur simultaneously. The “Ten Stages of Genocide” is an early warning model that that breaks down the development of genocide into ten predictable processes: Classification, Symbolization, Discrimination, Dehumanization, Organization, Polarization, Preparation, Persecution, Extermination, and Denial. A powerful feature of the model is that it suggests tactics to slow or stop each of the genocidal processes.   Mass killing does not occur out of the blue. It is a product of years of discrimination and dehumanization by the perpetrator. As societies exhibit more and more genocidal processes, they get nearer to genocide. T he model isn’t linear, but it is logical like a Matrioshka doll. Each stage has within it other stages. At each stage, societies at risk can take measures to stop or prevent genocide from developing.    This analysis breaks down Russia’s genocide against Ukraine using the Ten Stage Model.  All stages are present in Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine.   For centuries, Russia has laid the groundwork for carrying out its current genocide against the Ukrainian nation. Since 1793, the Russian Empire ruled Ukraine. Putin’s aggression is an attempt to reimpose Russia’s domination. Russia’s new imperialism began with its invasion of Crimea in 2014. In 2022, Russia’s full-scale invasion began its merciless attempt to reimpose the systematic repression of Ukraine’s national identity under the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.    1.    Classification : At this stage, social groups are classified into “us versus them.” Classification lays the groundwork for genocide by denying the legitimate citizenship of the targeted group.   Russia systematically classifies Ukrainians as inferior to Russians. The Kremlin denies Ukraine’s independent identity, sovereignty, and legitimacy, portraying Ukraine as an   artificial   or   illegitimate  nation and Ukrainians as “ Little Russians ”.   Putin even claims that Ukrainians and Russians are “ one people .” Russian propaganda labels those who consider themselves Ukrainians, especially their leaders, as “ Nazis ” and “ Western puppets ” to depict them as a hostile enemy, like the Germans who invaded Russia and Ukraine in World War II.   2.    Symbolization : The classifications are symbolized. Groups are distinguished by their language, dress, names, religion, and customs. In some cases, symbols are imposed on the targeted group (e.g. yellow stars). New identity cards may be issued in the language of the perpetrator, and the targeted group is required to carry them.   Symbolization in the war against Ukraine is present in   Russia ’s prohibition of the Ukrainian language, Russification of place names, revision of historical references in educational curricula, prohibition of the display of Ukrainian national emblems, and imposition of Russian names on individual identification documents     Ukrainian national symbols , like the flag and trident, are demonized and banned. Ukrainian signage is removed , street names are replaced with Russian names .   Russian is the only language permitted on public signs. Russian is the only language permitted in public places .   Russian authorities in occupied areas issue new Russian passports  and  birth certificates  to Ukrainians, a denial of their Ukrainian identity and proof of the Russian intent to destroy the Ukrainian nation.   Ukrainian identity is forcibly altered  – residents are pressured to obtain Russian passports.     Discrimination : Perpetrators use legal or cultural power to exclude groups from full civil rights (e.g. the German Nuremberg Laws, American segregation, or South African apartheid laws).   Russia systematically oppresses and discriminates against Ukrainians. Ukrainians in occupied territories face   severe legal and political discrimination . The process of f orced Russification  includes the banning of the Ukrainian language, culture, and education, closing Ukrainian churches, and dismantling local governance.   Ukrainians are denied the right to Ukrainian personal identities. They are pressured to accept Russian passports, with refusal leading to economic penalties, restrictions, or arrest . Simply identifying oneself as Ukrainian in occupied areas  carries significant risk of arrest, exclusion from commercial dealings, and suppression of Ukrainian Orthodox religious worship.     Resistance to Russian occupation is met with   detention, torture, or forced disappearance . Tens of thousands of   Ukrainian children  have been forcibly taken to Russia, subjected to ideological reprogramming, and placed in Russian families through forced adoptions.   Many   Ukrainian Orthodox churches  have been closed, with Russia promoting the Moscow-affiliated Russian Orthodox church, eliminating religious freedom.   The full extent of human rights abuses  in occupied territories is not yet well documented, with many atrocities only coming to light when areas have been retaken by Ukrainian forces. Genocide Watch is working with Ukrainian NGOs, Truth Hounds and a Luhansk NGO, to document Russian oppression in occupied territories.   3.    Dehumanization : This stage is where the genocidal vortex pulls entire societies into its depths. The victim group is portrayed as subhuman. The targeted group is called animals or likened to disease, vermin, rats, cancer or plague (e.g. referring to Tutsis in Rwanda as “cockroaches”). In preparation for its invasion of Ukraine, Russian propaganda fed Russians dehumanizing rhetoric about Ukrainians . Russian leaders refer to Ukrainians as “ Nazis,” “Nazi filth,” “Nazi scum,” “Nazi tumors” “brain cancers,” “bestial,” “zombified,” “subordinate elements of an alien civilization,” “diseased or contaminated,” and the “epitome of evil . ” Such language is designed to strip Ukrainians of their humanity. Ukrainian leaders are classified as “ drug addicts”  to delegitimize them and justify their replacement in areas conquered by Russia. Putin and the Russian Army   deny the value of Ukrainian human life. They characterize Ukrainian men as criminals and Ukrainian women as prostitutes. Dehumanizing  language  conditions Russian soldiers to believe that their murders, torture, rape, sadism and war crimes are  justified .  A stark example of Russia’s genocidal intent is in a 2022 article  published by Russian state news that called for the “de-Ukrainianization” of the country, arguing that Ukrainians who resist occupation should be “re-educated” or “eliminated.” Such slur-laden rhetoric is in social media platforms like X and Telegram. which reach international audiences . 4.    Organization : At this stage, hate groups are organized, militias are trained and armed, convicted murderers are recruited into the army, and the armed forces are purged of officers, recruits, and any others who might oppose genocide.   Russia’s actions against Ukraine are highly organized by   Russian federal and regional authorities, locally hired occupation officials, the Russian military ,  and  non-state militias like   the former Wagner Group, and local proxies .   These organizations enforce Russian control, suppress resistance, and perpetrate systematic human rights abuses through military operations, police terror, and oppressive administrative rule, particularly in occupied territories and filtration camps.    Russian filtration camps  in occupied territories serve as a centers of repression, subjecting Ukraine to a system of security checks and personal data collection , including body searches, interrogations about personal background, family ties, and political views and allegiances. Interrogations are marked by physical and psychological abuse.   Ukrainians identified  as having any ties to Ukrainian forces or State institutions or possessing pro-Ukrainian or anti-Russian views face arbitrary detention, torture, disappearances, and deportation  to exile in Russian and Siberian prisons. Ukrainians who fail filtration interrogations are often tortured, in a Russian strategy to eliminate Ukrainian resistance to subjugation.    Ukrainian prisoners of war  (POWs) endure systematic abuse, including torture, sexual assault, and psychological torment. Russian authorities subject many POWs  – including officers, specialized personnel, and those affiliated with particular battalions - to especially harsh conditions, including freezing cold, overcrowding in tiny cells infected with typhus and antibiotic resistant tuberculosis, starvation, sleep deprivation, and total lack of medical care.   Brutal interrogations and torture of POWs , including beatings, electrocution, hard labor, and psychological terror, are used to extract confessions and break prisoners’ will. POWs are  forced to memorize the Russian anthem and propaganda  and are denied any contact with the International Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations .    These coordinated, state-backed measures reveal a deliberate, organized effort to dismantle Ukraine’s cultural, national, and ethnic identity. Russia’s organized filtration and detention systems that target Ukrainians are strong evidence of Russia’s genocidal intent to destroy the Ukrainian nation. They are proof of the genocidal nature of Russia's aggression.    5.    Polarization : At this stage, moderates are targeted, arrested, and assassinated. Hate propaganda emphasizes the “us versus them” ideology that drives genocide. “If you are not with us, you are against us.” There is no middle ground. Moderates who attempt to negotiate peace are denounced as traitors.   The rhetoric  used in Russia by the government and media against Ukrainians treats dissenters like Navalny as traitors. They are arrested and murdered. Terror is used to create such fear of arrest that dissenters are afraid to speak out. Independent news sources are silenced. Journalists censor themselves so that everything they write or broadcast adheres to the line of Putin’s ruling party. The Russian population is convinced that the only acceptable way to think or talk is to conform to Putin’s party line. Categorizing ideas and practices as   “non-Russian”  and calling Ukrainians   “Nazis”   are intentional ways of  othering  them.   The Russian state uses social media to spread disinformation and anti-Ukraine propaganda. TikTok has removed over 12,000  fake accounts originating from Russia. Disinformation campaigns on Meta platforms  target European support for Ukraine.    Russian propaganda falsely accuses Ukraine of discrimination against Russia and claims that Ukraine is responsible for the war by refusing to “surrender.”  Despite Putin’s expressed intent to wholly absorb Ukraine, US President Trump has perpetuated this Russian disinformation by portraying Ukraine as the aggressor.     6.    Preparation : During the preparation stage, plans are made for the genocide. Death lists are compiled. Trial massacres are conducted, both as training for the genocidists and to test whether there will be any international response. If there is no international denunciation or sanctions, genocidists know they can get away with their crimes. If there are no credible threats of armed international intervention, genocidists learn that they have a green light to invade and commit genocide with impunity.   In the months prior to the Russian invasion, Western intelligence agencies warned that the Russian attack was imminent . By March 31, 2022, Putin was physically prepared for invasion  through the deployment of over 100,000 Russian troops along the border with Ukraine and within Crimea. The Kremlin also deployed naval forces in the Sea of Azov  and the Black Sea. They assembled supply lines , including medical units to support the invasion. These preparations demonstrated a well-thought-out plan to invade Ukraine and sustain the war of conquest of all of Ukraine.   For over two decades  under Putin’s dictatorship, dissenting voices within Russia were systematically silenced . Russia’s media companies were forced to submit to state control .   Today, Putin rules Russia virtually unchallenged. In April 2023, Russian lawmakers passed a bill requiring life sentences  for those convicted of treason. The Russian government has threatened to imprison  all protestors and anyone who shares information that contradicts the official Russian narrative on the war.    For centuries, Russia has viewed Ukraine as critical to its empire . For years, Putin has been   vocal  and transparent about his desire to retake Ukraine and absorb it into a Russian dominated state.   Putin  illegally annexed Crimea in 2014  and suffered only weak financial sanctions. Putin outlined his plans to reestablish Russian rule in Ukraine in his 2021 essay "On the Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,"  in which he openly questioned the legitimacy of Ukraine’s borders and reiterated the idea of Ukrainians and Russians as “one people.”     Russian   rhetoric ,   ideology , and  military coordination  with foreign allies (North Korea, Iran, China, and others) have made Russia’s intent clear: to   wholly absorb  or completely destroy Ukraine, with the intent to destroy any independent Ukrainian national identity.    7.    Persecution  – In this stage, the victim group’s most basic human rights are systematically violated through extrajudicial killings, torture, forced displacement, and expropriation.   Russia has committed extensive war crimes in Ukraine, including mass executions and the relentless bombardment of civilian dwellings, power plants, and dams. Russia has used incendiary weapons prohibited by international law. It has targeted and killed both soldiers and civilians in areas it captures.   Rape and sexual assault by Russian troops is widespread in areas Russia invades and in occupied territories . War crimes are inflicted upon Ukrainian civilians of all   genders and ages  with the deliberate aim of destroying existing and future generations. These crimes include   forced pregnancies  resulting from rape by Russian soldiers and   genital mutilation  to hinder and prevent procreation, direct violations of Article 2(d) of the Genocide Convention.   In addition to   torture and rape , Russia has abducted tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, forcibly placing them in Russian   “re-education camps”  with the intention of erasing their Ukrainian identities. These kidnappings and other war crimes  violate the Geneva Conventions as interpreted in  the UN Security Council’s six grave violations against children in times of war.     The systematic   forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia  is an act of genocide directly prohibited by Article 2(e) of the Genocide Convention.   Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova , Russian commissioner for children's rights, who are responsible for this kidnapping have been charged by the International Criminal Court for these abductions and deportations. Children are separated from their families at   filtration camps  and  placed in “re-education” camps   or   Russian forced adoption processes  - an effort to erase their Ukrainian identity. Russia has   fast-tracked these processes  through targeted legislation and propaganda .    Russia’s persecution extends to the   eradication  of all cultures that are considered non-Russian, including the culture of Crimean Tatars. The persecution  of this ethnic minority dates back to the eighteenth century, and was at its apex when Stalin deported all Tatars to Siberia. Russia has intensified  its oppression of Tatars since its 2014 invasion of Crimea. Since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has intensified its widespread arrests, imprisonment, and torture of Crimean Tatars.   Recent discussions  between Putin and President Trump about ending the war have included proposals by Putin and Trump for Ukraine to   cede territory  to Russia, specifically Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea. Trump tries to justify this appeasement by claiming that he wants to stop the heavy losses of Russian forces that have resulted from Russia’s  illegal invasion  of Ukraine. The parallel is the appeasement by Neville Chamberlain of Hitler at Munich, where the Nazi dictator won territory without military action by making a false promise of peace. The result was the Nazi invasion of Europe and the Holocaust.   8.    Extermination : At this stage, the killing legally defined as genocide begins. Those who commit genocide often justify their mass murder by asserting that they are “purifying” their society by “exterminating” those who are less than human and are a threat to them.   Russian forces are engaged in acts of genocide by intentionally   murdering  Ukrainian civilians in areas they conquer. Russia’s relentless missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, its destruction of dams and power plants, its kidnapping of Ukrainian children, its mass murders and rapes prove that Russia’s policy is to deliberately inflict on Ukrainians conditions of life calculated to bring about Ukraine’s physical destruction.   Reliable estimates of deaths of Ukrainian troops stand at over 100,000  since the beginning of the war. The UN estimates that at least 153,000  Ukrainians have been killed by Russia, including both soldiers and civilians. 60,000  Ukrainians remain missing.   Russia also is also violating   Article 13  of the Third Geneva Convention by executing   prisoners of war  (POWs).   Russia controls nearly 20 percent  of Ukraine’s territory. According to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees  ( UNHCR), 10.6 million  Ukrainians have been displaced, with over 6.9 million  spread across Europe. Ten percent  of Ukrainian homes have been destroyed, and a quarter  of the population is impoverished.    9.    Denial : Denial runs from the beginning of the genocidal process and lasts long after the killing is over. Unless trials prove that genocide occurred and punish those who committed it, denial may last for over a hundred years, as it has in Turkey about the Armenian Genocide.   Perpetrators refuse to acknowledge their crimes. They destroy evidence, downplay victim numbers, and shift blame, even claiming that victims provoked the genocide. Killings are framed as spontaneous outbreaks rather than deliberate state policy, while eyewitnesses and critics are discredited.   Denial with impunity is the best predictor of future genocide. Countries that do not face their past crimes are over three times as likely to repeat them.   Russia continues to deny its past genocides against Ukraine. Russia   refuses  to acknowledge the Holodomor genocide of 1932 -1933, when over four million Ukrainians starved in Stalin’s man-made famine.   In March 2022, Russia   passed  censorship laws that criminalize calling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “war.” Criticizing the war is a crime punishable by up to fifteen years in prison. As the world reeled in shock from the Bucha massacre in March 2022, Russian officials dismissed  the killings as a staged provocation by Ukrainian forces, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calling it a "fake attack."  Putin even awarded medals to the Russian troops who committed the Bucha atrocities.   Ahead of Ukraine’s full-scale invasion, Russia’s Supreme Cou rt banned   Memorial, a human rights group documenting Soviet political crimes .  Russia denies all of its current crimes in Ukraine. Putin denies  the mass rapes committed by Russian troops. Russia disguises  its forced transfer of Ukrainian children as “rescue missions” and vacations to “summer camps”.    Conclusion  Three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces continue to expand control over Ukrainian territory. They systematically commit widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes, and acts of genocide. In Russian occupied territories, the Ukrainian language, culture, and education are banned. All over Ukraine, Russian missiles and drones indiscriminately target civilian apartment buildings, schools, and hospitals. Russia destroys Ukrainian power plants to freeze Ukrainians in winter. Russian troops rape, torture, and execute civilians. Russia has forcibly transferred tens of thousands of Ukrainian children to   Russia . The evidence is undeniable . Every stage of the Ten Stages of Genocide is present in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Russia has committed every act of genocide in the Genocide Convention. Since 2022, Putin’s rhetoric and policies have made it clear that this war is not just about territorial control but is aimed at the eradication of Ukrainian identity  and destruction of the Ukrainian nation. Putin’s goal is Russian supremacy . He seeks to rip Ukrainian culture out of the multicolored tapestry of humanity. This is genocide . The destruction of a culture impoverishes the whole human race. The US and all other nations must give Ukraine all the long range missiles and missile defences to defeat Putin’s aggression. We must reaffirm our commitment to justice and hold Putin and Russia accountable for their crimes . The time to stop this genocide is now. [1]   Dr. Stanton believes he should have simply used the word “Processes” rather than “Stages,” which wrongly implies a linear order. But his model is now so widely used that dropping “stages” would only confuse people. Copyright 2025 Emily Mullin and Genocide Watch This article is under Creative Commons copyright. It may be freely republished with full credit to its author, in its entirety and without alteration by non-profit entities. Profit making republishers must obtain a license.

Trade Minister Stasa Kosarac sent High Representative Christian Schmidt an SS helmet along with a letter calling him the 'embodiment of evil', escalating the Serb entity’s confrontation with Bosnia's international overseer. Azem Kurtic, November 20, 2025 The SS helmet sent to the Office of the High Representative. Photo: Stasa Kosarac/Instagram The Bosnian Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Stasa Kosarac, sparked a scandal on Thursday by sending an insulting letter and a Nazi-era paramilitary SS unit helmet to Bosnia’s international peace overseer, the High Representative, Christian Schmidt, a German politician. Kosarac, a member of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, wrote on his Instagram account that he had “sent the occupier Schmidt the Nazi helmet, together with an accompanying ‘Letter to the Occupier’, in which I stated that it was not a gift but an heirloom of Schmidt’s ancestors, whose values this occupier upholds.” The helmet had the markings of the SS unit from Nazi Germany. Kosarac did not explain how he obtained it. Dodik and his associates have disputed Schmidt’s mandate in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the grounds that it was not approved by the United Nations Security Council and that he is therefore operating in the country illegally. Kosarac said Schmidt’s “unconstitutional manipulations” had devastated democracy in Bosnia and had orchestrated a politically motivated trial of Dodik “in an attempt to weaken [the Bosnian Serb entity] Republika Srpska and nullify the free will of the Serb people in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. A second-instance verdict in August sentenced Dodik to one year in prison with a six-year ban on holding the office of the Republika Srpska President for not complying with the decisions of the High Representative. Soon after, his presidential mandate was revoked. Dodik and his coalition partners contested the verdict, calling for a boycott of early presidential elections. But in the end, Dodik accepted the verdict and opted to exchange his jail time for a monetary fine. In the letter, Kosarac described Schmidt as “the embodiment of political evil and ill intent towards Republika Srpska” and suggested that he “faces a Nuremberg trial,” referring to the post–Second World War trials of former Nazi officials and collaborators. He also claimed Schmidt would “soon leave the country” and alleged that he came to Bosnia as an “illegal entrant.” Neither the Office of the High Representative nor Kosarac replied to requests to comment by the time of publication. Copyright BIRN 2025

The Iranian regime has been utilizing the death penalty to stifle all forms of social and political dissent. There has been a steady increase in the number of executions following the 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” protests and the 2025 12-Day War with Israel. These tumultuous three years have created an environment in which the state is justifying its brutal actions against civilians by portraying ethnic minorities and outspoken individuals as security threats. Iran's national flag flies in the capital, Tehran [File: Vahid Salemi/AP] The strategy is not a novelty. Ethnic minorities have suffered at the hands of the state since it began its crackdown on drug trafficking. Charges related to drug crimes and the subsequent death sentences handed out to members of marginalized communities follow a similar pattern and serve a similar purpose to the offenses of espionage and “enmity against God.” The data associated with the death penalty in Iran uncovers that minorities are being disproportionately targeted, especially during episodes of domestic and international unrest. This pattern amounts to an intentional and systemic strategy created by the state to intimidate and silence certain sections of society.  Full report available under:

IOM chief calls for ceasefire to allow aid groups to reach Sudanese civilians trapped in war-torn Darfur region. By Jillian Kestler-D'Amours An injured Sudanese woman who fled violence in el-Fasher receives treatment at a makeshift clinic in Tawila, North Darfur, November 3, 2025 [Mohamed Jamal/Reuters] The head of the United Nations’ migration agency has called for a ceasefire and a humanitarian corridor to help tens of thousands of civilians trapped in el-Fasher , the city in Sudan’s Darfur region that fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last month. Amy Pope, director-general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that “the primary concern is getting access” to residents who have been largely cut off from humanitarian aid and services in el-Fasher. “When humanitarian actors are themselves at risk – when they’re killed, when they’re shot, when they’re detained – we can’t get the people what they need to survive,” Pope said. “The primary issue is ensuring that there is a ceasefire, a humanitarian corridor, so that aid groups can bring in that aid to the civilians who are very much caught in the middle.” Human rights groups have accused the RSF, which has been battling the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of Sudan since April 2023, of committing widescale massacres in its capture of el-Fasher on October 26. While thousands of residents remain stuck in el-Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, nearly 90,000 others have fled since the RSF’s takeover, according to the latest IOM figures. IOM says humanitarian operations in Sudan's North Darfur are 'on the brink of collapse' On Wednesday, Pope said displaced families have described dangerous journeys out of el-Fasher. “They spoke about seeing dead bodies as they walked. They spoke about having to create makeshift trenches to avoid being shot at or being harmed by the drones. They spoke of unspeakable, unbearable, sexual trauma [and] sexual abuse,” she said. “The stories are really harrowing, and they’re happening now even as we speak.” Her comments come a day after the IOM warned that humanitarian aid efforts in Sudan were “on the brink of collapse” due to continued insecurity and a lack of funding. “Warehouses are nearly empty, aid convoys face significant insecurity, and access restrictions continue to prevent the delivery of sufficient aid,” the agency said in a statement , noting that violence is also spreading to other parts of the country. Nearly 39,000 people have fled intense fighting in North Kordofan state, east of el-Fasher, between October 26 and November 9, the IOM said. Meanwhile, Anna Mutavati, the regional director for East and Southern Africa at UN Women, told reporters this week that women and girls who fled el-Fasher now face serious threats of sexual violence in displacement camps around the city. Sudan medics accuse RSF of burning, burying bodies to conceal ‘genocide’ “What the women tell us is that … every step that they’ve taken – to fetch water, to collect firewood, or to stand in a food line – is carrying a high risk of sexual violence,” Mutavati said during a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday. “There is mounting evidence that rape is being deliberately and systematically used as a weapon of war,” she added. “Women’s bodies … have just become a crime scene in Sudan.” © 2025 Al Jazeera Media Network

© UNFPA | A temporary clinic in Tawila for people fleeing conflict in Darfur. "There is mounting evidence that rape is being deliberately and systematically used as a weapon of war," says UN Women. 11 November 2025 | Peace and Security In war-torn Sudan, rape is likely being used as a weapon of war, and simply being a woman there is “a strong predictor” of hunger, violence, and death, the UN’s gender equality agency warned on Tuesday. “Women speaking to us from El Fasher, the heart of Sudan's latest catastrophe, tell us that they've endured starvation…displacement, rape, and bombardment,” Anna Mutavati, UN Women Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, told reporters in Geneva. “Pregnant women have given birth in the streets as the last remaining maternity hospitals were looted and destroyed.” The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia captured North Darfur state capital El Fasher after more than 500 days of siege in late October, amid reports of widespread atrocities, including summary executions and sexual violence. Fighting erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary RSF when a transition to civilian rule broke down, stemming from the overthrow of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir four years earlier. The ensuing heavy fighting has devastated communities, displaced millions, and exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis. In 2008, the UN Security Council recognised that rape in conflict and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, and a component of genocide. Find out how one war criminal was brought to justice in the DR Congo here , including for using rape as a weapon of conflict. Ms. Mutavati said that the situation is worsening dramatically as fighting spreads around the city, prompting mass displacement. Thousands of women and girls have fled to other localities in North Darfur, including Tawila, which is some 70 kilometres away, Korma and Malit, where a humanitarian presence is “very scarce”. On Monday, the UN aid coordination office OCHA said that nearly 89,000 people have fled from the area, some seeking refuge near the Sudan-Chad border. “What the women tell us is that on their horrific journey…every step that they've taken to fetch water, to collect firewood, or to stand in a food line has carried a high risk of sexual violence,” the UN Women representative said. “There is mounting evidence that rape is being deliberately and systematically used as a weapon of war.” Nowhere is safe Warning that women's bodies “have just become a crime scene in Sudan,” Ms. Mutavati insisted that there are “no safe spaces” left where women can find protection or access basic psychosocial care. “Basic dignity has also collapsed,” the UN Women official insisted, explaining that in North Darfur a single packet of sanitary towels costs around $27, while humanitarian cash assistance amounts to slightly below $150 per month for a family of six, on average. Ms. Mutavati spoke of “impossible decisions” having to be made by families “forced to choose between food and medicine and dignity.” “The essential needs of women and girls fall to the very bottom of that list,” she said. Ms. Mutavati also said that in Sudan, like in other crises, “women and girls eat the least, and they eat last.” “Most women and girls may not be eating at all in Sudan… Women often skip meals so that their children can eat, while adolescent girls frequently get the smallest share, undermining their long-term nutrition and health,” she said. “In besieged, remote areas like Darfur or Kordofan, women and girls are often the ones that are scavenging for survival,” Ms. Mutavati added, citing reports of women “foraging for wild leaves and berries to boil into soup” while facing additional risks of violence. Starvation takes hold In early November, the latest UN-backed IPC food security analysis confirmed famine conditions in El Fasher and in the capital of South Kordofan state, Kadugli. Ms. Mutavati also said that health workers report rising cases of severe acute malnutrition in infants, often linked to their starving mothers’ reduced ability to breastfeed. “There's a ripple effect of the hunger that women are experiencing,” she warned. Calling for an end to the violence, for broader humanitarian access and for increased support to women-led soup kitchens and other aid providers, Ms. Mutavati stressed that women and girls in Sudan “are the measure of our shared humanity”. “Every day that the world delays to act on Sudan, another woman gives birth under fire or buries her child in hunger, or disappears without justice,” she concluded. Relief chief presses for aid access The UN’s top humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher, arrived in Sudan on Monday to press for an end to atrocities and to push for unhindered access for aid workers.  The situation in North Darfur remains volatile following the fall of El Fasher. Although major clashes have eased, civilians still face sporadic attacks, looting, and gender-based violence. In South Kordofan, a drone strike reportedly hit the town of Um Barmbeeta, destroying a school and injuring several displaced people, while insecurity continues to block access to areas where thousands remain cut off from aid. More than 12,000 people have fled violence in Darfur and Kordofan to seek safety in White Nile State since late October, straining already scarce resources. The UN has again called for the protection of civilians and for aid workers to be granted safe and sustained access across frontlines. Copyright © 2025 UN News Service. All rights reserved.

By Anbarasan Ethirajan MSF say women are being turned away from hospitals in one Afghan city if not wearing a burka The Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have ordered female patients, caretakers and staff to wear a burka – a full Islamic veil - to enter public health facilities in the western city of Herat, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says. MSF said the restrictions came into effect from 5 November. "These restrictions further impede women's lives and limit women's access to health care," Sarah Chateau, the agency's programme manager in Afghanistan, told the BBC. She said even those "in need of urgent medical care" had been affected. A spokesman for the Taliban government has denied MSF's account. Reports say restrictions have been partially relaxed since the alarm was raised. MSF, which supports paediatric services at Herat Regional Hospital, said it had observed a 28% drop in admissions of patients whose conditions were urgent during the first few days of the new enforcement. Ms Chateau said Taliban members had been denying entry to women without the burka by standing at the entrance of the health facilities. A burka is a one-piece veil that covers the face and body, often leaving just a mesh screen to see through. A Taliban spokesperson for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Ministry, which enforces strict religious doctrines, dismissed reports that women were being forced to wear the burka. "This is totally false. The position of the vice and virtue ministry is generally on the wearing of hijab," Saif-ul-Islam Khyber said. Hijab means covering up generally but also describes the headscarves worn by Muslim women. The Taliban official also rejected reports that women were banned from medical centres for not wearing the burka. At the same time, the Taliban official said: "Hijab is interpreted differently in different parts of the country, most of which are in conflict with Sharia [law]." Activists have also alleged that Taliban guards have been enforcing the wearing of burkas for women to enter key facilities for the past week. One female activist from Herat province told the BBC that the dress code was applicable for those who want to enter hospitals, schools and government offices. There has also been criticism on social media over the Taliban's reported decision to impose the burka in Herat. An Afghan activist posted a video on X showing some women setting fire to the garments in protest at the Taliban's rule. The BBC has not independently verified the video. The Taliban enforced the burka during their first stint in power in the 1990s. Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban government has imposed numerous restrictions, particularly for women, in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. In 2022, the Taliban issued a decree ordering women to wear an all-covering Islamic face veil in public. Taliban officials then described the face veil edict as "advice" . "Even though the veil edit was announced earlier, this is the first time we are seeing the enforcement of the burka in Herat. In the past few days more and more women are coming to the hospital with burkas," Ms Chateau said. Since returning to power, the Taliban have barred women from most workplaces and universities and girls from secondary schools. The UN has repeatedly urged the Taliban to end what it describes as "gender apartheid". Last week, the UN said it had suspended operations at a key border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran because of restrictions on Afghan women staff working at the border. Islam Qala, in Herat province, has been the main crossing point for hundreds of thousands of Afghans forced to leave Iran in the past year. Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.  Read about our approach to external linking.

Sudan Is in Free Fall The New York Times Nov. 6, 2025 Refugees from paramilitary genocide in El Fasher, in a camp in Tawila, Sudan.Credit ...Muhnnad Adam/Associated Press Opinion/Guest Essay By Eric A. Friedman, Suad Abdel aziz and John Prendergast A Sudanese journalist, Muammar Ibrahim, stayed behind to document atrocities while thousands fled a genocidal blood bath in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur in Sudan. He was abducted  and remains detained. Mohammed Elmakki, an engineering professor beloved for his service to his community, sent his family to safety and stayed behind in El Fasher to tend to his elderly grandfather. When he tried to escape the Rapid Support Forces militants, his brother told us, they caught him in a nearby town and executed him. These are two stories among the hundreds of accounts of people risking, and often losing, their lives to help others survive amid the rapidly spiraling violence in Sudan. Two and a half years since fighting erupted between the Sudanese military (also called the Sudanese Armed Forces) and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, as many as 400,000 are believed to be dead  by some accounts — bombed, murdered, starved. And now what appears to be the most catastrophic phase of this war is occurring in El Fasher, which has “descended into an even darker hell,” in the words  of the U.N. humanitarian affairs coordinator Tom Fletcher. The militia’s campaign of annihilation has closed in on hundreds of thousands of people trapped in the region, risking the further expansion of one of the greatest mass killings of this century. When the militia seized El Fasher from the Sudanese Armed Forces last week, it immediately began committing mass executions: massacring hundreds of people  at the last functioning hospital, burning people  alive, forcing men to dig pits in which they were buried alive, going house to house  and shooting  those they found, executing people with disabilities unable to flee. The accounts of terror come from eyewitness survivors, aid groups, satellite imagery and the fighters themselves, who are filming their own atrocities and posting the videos. Much of the work of documenting the carnage has been done by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, which analyzes open-source satellite imagery and other data to provide real-time assessments. In a little more than a week, evidence suggests, the militia has killed  and sexually assaulted civilians in numbers that defy comprehension. Its fighters continue to target African indigenous groups , as they have since the war began. Human Rights Watch, citing a U.N. panel, reported  that in 2023, the militia targeted Masalit civilians in the West Darfur city of El Geneina and killed 10,000 to 15,000 people there in all. This slaughter could potentially be stopped if those with leverage would apply pressure on the United Arab Emirates, the primary backer of the Rapid Support Forces’ war machine. Those include American leaders like President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and behemoth companies like the N.B.A. and Disney, both of which have business partnerships with the Emirates. While so many in Sudan give everything to save even a single person, these global heavyweights have yet to take steps that could save hundreds of thousands of people. Any serious effort to end the bloodshed in Sudan must start with the United Arab Emirates . Multiple sources — human rights organizations , news organizations , a militia intelligence officer and U.S. lawmakers  — have established that it is a key supplier of arms to the paramilitary forces; investigations  have traced   repeated weapons shipments and drone transfers to Emirati networks. (The United Arab Emirates has called accusations that it is arming the militants “utterly false.” [Genocide Watch comment: The UAE is lying.] The Emirates does more than arm the militia. When the fighting broke out in April 2023, the Emirates reportedly established logistical networks  through Chad , Libya , the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Uganda  to funnel weapons and fuel, and likely also fighters, to the militia. More than a distant sponsor, the Emirates is the operational hub  of a regional war economy that is vital to the Rapid Support Forces’ survival. The Emirates’ goals in supporting the militia, according to experts on the region, appear to be to secure Sudan’s gold  supplies and its Red Sea coastline , and to undercut democratic influence in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. The Trump administration has not taken significant steps to rein in the Emirates — it has not, for instance, appointed a special envoy for Sudan. And the peace talks it has led with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Emirates have done nothing  to improve conditions on the ground, given the carnage taking place. Yet the U.S. government has significant leverage, especially on security; it sells the Emirates billions of dollars’   worth of weapons  and has designated it a major defense partner . The administration should withhold any arms sales until the Emirates stops supporting the militants. Bills have been introduced in both the House  and Senate  that would do just that, and Congress should pass them. The United States should also greatly increase financial pressure on the Rapid Support Forces by targeting its gold-smuggling and arms-procurement networks, while rigorously enforcing existing sanctions. It’s true that Mr. Trump’s financial connections  to the Emirates — most notably an investment firm backed by its sovereign wealth fund, which invested $2 billion in a crypto currency partly owned by the Trump family — could deter him from applying the necessary pressure. But his Nobel Peace Prize aspirations may motivate him to use his personal connections to help end the violence. In its efforts to bolster its global standing, the Emirates has made itself vulnerable to other pressures, too. It has built itself into a global sports and entertainment hub, creating a positive image that has masked  its repression at home — and now its complicity in genocide abroad. The Emirates depends on those companies, organizations, teams and entertainers to help present the version of itself that it wants the world to see. Likely no organization holds more potential sway than the National Basketball Association. The league’s partnership with the Emirates includes preseason games in Abu Dhabi and an in-season basketball tournament, the Emirates N.B.A. Cup, which began last Friday. The league should make clear this will be the last Emirates N.B.A. Cup unless the country stops supporting the militants. The N.B.A.’s global prestige gives it immense influence; taking a stand could send a signal far beyond the basketball court, lighting the way for others to follow suit . Disney , one of the world’s most influential entertainment companies, is planning a theme park in Abu Dhabi, and could also use its voice to effect change. (Various state-backed entities in the Emirates advertise with The New York Times and on the sports site it owns, The Athletic.) Hanging in the balance is the survival of the many civilians now in hiding, and the hundreds of thousands more who have been displaced in surrounding towns, including 650,000 in Tawila , southwest of El Fasher. The future of Sudan itself is also at stake. If the Rapid Support Forces consolidates power, the world will have allowed a genocidal militia to seize and hold land with impunity. A collapse of Sudan would destabilize the entire Horn of Africa, drive refugees across the Sahel and into Europe, and embolden other paramilitaries. Elie Wiesel said , “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” For institutions tied to the Emirates, choosing to act would have an economic cost. Yet the cost of silence, of continuing business as usual, is infinitely greater. It will be measured in lives. It will be measured in more Mohammeds, more Muammars. Standing resolutely with the Sudanese people is the only path forward. More on Sudan Opinion | Nicholas Kristof The World Has Again Failed to Prevent Atrocities in Darfur Oct. 30, 2025   Eric A. Friedman, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, is the global health justice scholar at the O’Neill Institute  at Georgetown Law. Suad Abdel aziz is a Sudanese American human rights lawyer and founder of the advocacy organization Decolonize Sudan . John Prendergast is a founder of the Sentry,  which investigates war crimes and profiteers. Copyright 2025 The New York Times Company

By enr with AFP, ANSA, BTA, CTK, dpa, HINA, PAP, TASR | 04.Nov 2025 While social acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people has increased across the EU in the last five years, the rights of sexual minorities are under pressure in the EU. The latest move by Slovakia to restrict the rights of same-sex couples stands at odds with the bloc’s strategy to promote the communities’ rights and safety. Participants in the 6th cross-border Pride parade wait for the event to begin. The parade started in the Polish part of the twin cities of Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice, which are located on the German-Polish border. This was the sixth consecutive year that the parade had taken place. Around 400 people took part this year. Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa The EU’s legal landscape for LGBTIQ+ people remains uneven and the communities’ rights are increasingly under threat in some countries across the bloc. Differences in civil union and marriage laws between member states, combined with new legal restrictions in some countries, are testing the EU’s framework for equality. In the latest blow to LGBTIQ+ rights within the EU, an amendment to the constitution of the Slovak Republic which says the country “recognises only two sexes, male and female” entered into force on Saturday (November 1). The amendment also stipulates that only married couples will be allowed to adopt children, which effectively excludes same-sex couples, as they are not allowed to marry in the country. Surrogate motherhood is expressly prohibited.  Slovakia’s constitution already defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, following an amendment from 2014 when Nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico was also in power. The sweeping new change now sees national law take precedence over European Union law. It states that Slovakia’s “sovereignty” regarding “cultural and ethical questions” should override EU law. Fico, who returned to power in 2023, has often been at odds with the 27-nation bloc. Critics have warned that the constitutional amendment could bring Slovakia into conflict with the provisions of the EU treaties. The Venice Commission, an advisory body on constitutional matters to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, a non-EU human rights organisation, had also reportedly expressed criticism in the run-up to the vote. Slovakia’s Public Defender of Rights, Róbert Dobrovodský , said the amendment is “not the path to a fairer and more humane country” and that “the possible withdrawal of the priority of fundamental rights and freedoms arising from international treaties and EU law over Slovak laws does not contribute to the legal certainty of the country’s inhabitants – especially those who belong to minorities”. LGBTIQ+ is an umbrella term encompassing a diverse range of sexual orientations and gender identities beyond heterosexuality and cisgender identity. It stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer/Questioning, and others represented by the +. Within the EU, Hungary is also often criticised for its regressing on LGBTIQ+ rights. Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been rolling back the communities’ rights in the name of “child protection for years, and this year his governing coalition adopted legal changes aimed at barring Pride marches. Uneven civil union and marriage rights in the EU The legalisation of same-sex marriage is an ever-divisive issue across the EU. While some countries legalised it years ago, others still face strict rules and political deadlock. On October 1, 1989, for the first time in the world, several gay couples in Denmark tied the knot in civil unions, giving their relationships a legal standing, but falling short of full marriage. It was the Netherlands that first allowed same-sex marriages in April 2001. Since then, another 21 European states, including 15 EU member states, have followed suit: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the principality of Liechtenstein. Some European states have authorised same-sex civil union but without having legalised gay marriage, including Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, the Czech Republic and the principality of Monaco. Marriage usually provides full legal recognition of a couple, including rights relating to adoption, inheritance and social benefits. By contrast, civil unions only offer some of these protections and vary significantly from one country to another. In Poland, plans to legalise civil unions have faced scrutiny for years, not only during the former government of the Law and Justice party (PiS) and the previous President Andrzej Duda , but also under resistance from current President Karol Nawrocki . When in power from 2015 to 2023, the PiS government strongly opposed any ideas leading to legalising civil unions in Poland, despite the fact that nearly a million couples live in non-marriage relationships, including heterosexual and same-sex couples, according to 2023 data from Poland’s Statistical Office (GUS). Promoting a Catholic viewpoint, PiS was against offering more rights to sexual minorities. Current Prime Minister Donald Tusk ’s centrist party has pledged to legalise civil unions in Poland, a traditionally Catholic society that currently recognises full marriage only between a man and a woman. Several attempts to formalise civil unions in Poland, including for LGBTIQ+ couples, have failed over the past 20 years. The government presented a draft law in October to legalise civil unions, including those between same-sex couples, in what it termed a “step forward” for LGBTIQ+ rights. Under the draft “next of kin act”, unmarried couples would gain rights on matters such as property inheritance, housing and medical information – though it would not allow those in same-sex unions to adopt children. In the neighboring Czech Republic, same-sex couples can enter into a domestic partnership, but not marriage. Registered partnerships have been possible in the country since July 2006. People in the LGBTIQ+ community however still do not have the same rights as the majority of the society in the Czech Republic, participants of the Prague Pride parade told news agency CTK. Bulgarian law also does not recognise same-sex marriages, even if they were legally performed abroad. While discrimination based on sexual orientation is not permitted in the country, the lack of legal recognition creates serious issues in cases involving parental rights and inheritance. If one legally recognised parent dies, the surviving partner and the child may be left without legal ties or representation, leading to complex questions about guardianship, inheritance, and the child’s welfare.  In Croatia, same-sex couples can enter into a civil partnership that gives them almost all the rights of heterosexual couples, including the right to adopt children. The Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. However, same-sex marriages were constitutionally prohibited after a 2013 referendum in which citizens voted to define marriage in the constitution as a union between a man and a woman. EU seeks to boost LGBTIQ+ rights and safety The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights warned in a report in September that the LGBTIQ+ community was being “instrumentalised” in “a climate of increasing or persisting intolerance and bigotry, as well as intense online hatred campaigns through social platforms and in the public sphere”. In May last year, nine EU member states including Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia did not sign a declaration promoting European policies in favour of LGBTIQ+ communities presented by the Belgian Presidency.  It was prepared on the occasion of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.  Last month, the European Commission said that while social acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people has increased across the EU in the last five years, LGBTIQ+ people continue to experience disproportionate and unacceptable levels of hate, violence and discrimination. It then adopted its LGBTIQ+ equality strategy for 2026-2030 , which aims to fight against hatred and promote freedom and diversity in the EU and beyond. In order to protect members of the LGBTIQ+ community from discrimination, the EU is also considering putting forward a proposal combatting hate speech online. In a press release, the Commission also said it wanted to clamp down on “conversion therapy” – which is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual and/or romantic orientation, gender identity or expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms – targeting LGBTIQ+ people. More than a million people signed a petition in May calling on the EU to prohibit “conversion” practices. Nevertheless, the bloc’s equality chief told news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Brussels will stop short of introducing a ban on such practices. “We can’t (ban) because that would be stepping on member states’ competence,” said the EU commissioner in charge of equality issues, Hadja Lahbib . Lahbib made her stance clear. “Obviously, all 27 must ban them,” she said. This article is an ENR Key Story. The content is based on information published by ENR participating agencies. © DPA

By Michał Jagielski Women, teachers and students demonstrate inside a private school to demand their rights and equal education for women and girls, during a gathering for National Teachers Day, in Kabul, Afghanistan, October 5, 2021. © 2021 AP Photo/Ahmad Halabisaz The nationwide internet shutdown in Afghanistan on Sept. 29, 2025 was another instance of the Taliban’s unrelenting campaign against the Afghan people, especially women. Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Afghan women have faced a steady erosion of their rights and freedoms. In March 2022 , Emir Hibatullah Akhundzada reversed the decision to allow girls into secondary schools. In November , he reintroduced public punishments, banned women from public spaces, and shut down businesses run by or created for women . In December 2022 , women were officially prohibited from attending universities and banned from working in NGOs . Only girls under the age of 12 are allowed to attend classes . Afghanistan is the only country in the world where women are barred from attaining an education. Furthermore, the Taliban shut down the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in September 2021 . On July 8, 2025, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Taliban leaders based on crimes against humanity and persecution of women. The United Nations has described the situation in Afghanistan as a “ gender apartheid . ”   The internet shutdown began on Sept. 16, 2025, in the Balkh Province . The government cited “combating immorality” as the reason for cutting access to fiber internet. Soon, several other provinces were affected, followed by a nationwide shutdown on Sept. 29. Using mobile data is not a sustainable replacement for fiber internet: five GB of internet costs 400 afghanis, around 20% of the average monthly income. The government claimed that the outage was a result of technical issues, not a direct command. However, simultaneously, the Taliban have been working towards restricting access to 3G and 4G mobile services .  The restoration of internet access began on Oct. 1, but even a temporary shutdown sets a dangerous precedent for the future. Limiting access to the web damages the operational capabilities of crucial institutions such as schools, banks, and hospitals. Without access to the internet, women become imprisoned in their homes, both physically and digitally. Many women have been forced to work remotely due to the barbaric laws introduced by the Taliban. In the face of the education ban, thousands of Afghan women enrolled in online university and language courses , trying to combat the Taliban’s systematic attempts to erase their independence. Their community relations are further restricted as free communication becomes impossible.   Deteriorating life conditions, dwindling economy, and lack of upward social mobility put Afghan women in a perilous position. Under severe restrictions to education, employment, and, potentially, the internet, Afghan women are excluded from public life and forced to live in the confines of their own homes.  Genocide Watch considers the oppressive Taliban policies towards women to constitute Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 5: Organization and Stage 8: Persecution .  Genocide Watch recommends:   The recognition of the Taliban government by the international community should be conditioned on the immediate restoration of women’s access to education, employment, and digital communication.  The United Nations should recognize the Taliban’s systemic targeting of women as gender persecution and gender apartheid under international law.  Tech firms to explore safe, humanitarian pathways for satellite-based connectivity, ensuring women’s access to the internet.

By Josep Freixes - November 10, 2025 Gustavo Petro presided over the public ceremony in which the state apologized to the victims for the extermination of the left in the 1980s and 1990s. Credit: A.P. / Colombia One. In the city of Santa Marta, during the Fourth Summit between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union, the Colombian state on Sunday made public an act of acknowledgment and apology to the victims of the extensive process of political extermination against the Patriotic Union (UP), a Colombian left-wing party during the 1980s and 1990s. President Gustavo Petro assumed the State’s shared responsibility by declaring: “I ask the Patriotic Union for forgiveness because this state was jointly responsible for the political genocide.” The ceremony included speeches by survivors, relatives of victims, historic members of the UP, and artistic performances; it was the Colombian State’s formal expression that this chapter of systematic political violence can no longer be ignored. Colombia issues historic apology for state-led extermination of the left, 35 years later The UP was founded in 1985 as a left-wing political party that emerged from the attempt to integrate former combatants of the armed conflict and to offer a democratic alternative for political opposition in Colombia. However, this broad leftist coalition soon became the target of brutal, systematic, and selective violence in which party members, leaders, sympathizers, and grassroots supporters were assassinated, disappeared, harassed, and displaced. According to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace ( JEP ), the restorative justice tribunal created in 2016 following the peace agreement with the now-defunct FARC, at least 5,733 people were killed or disappeared in attacks directed against UP members. Other estimates, included in civil society reports and by the Reiniciar Corporation, raise the number to more than 6,000 victims. The extermination of the UP did not target individuals alone: Among its victims were several congressmen, deputies, council members, and mayors (five members of Congress, 11 deputies, 109 council members, eight mayors, and eight former mayors, according to one report). This selective violence left a deep scar on Colombian democracy. “As head of state, without the state being here but rather us — the military and police leadership and the civilian government — on behalf of that state I ask the Patriotic Union for forgiveness because this state was jointly responsible for the political genocide,” Gustavo Petro said from the podium in Santa Marta. The president concluded his speech with a reference to current tensions between the country and the United States: “I do not accept threats. We will rise up by the millions because the prophecy is true: If the golden eagle attacks the condor, the American jaguar awakens,” he concluded. State responsibility and the involvement of private actors The violence against the Patriotic Union was characterized by its structural nature: the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR Court), in its ruling on the “Case of Members and Militants of the Patriotic Union vs. Colombia,” confirmed that the Colombian state engaged in active participation, tolerance, or acquiescence in relation to the violence against UP. Specifically, the ruling establishes that, although many of the killings were perpetrated by paramilitary or outlaw groups, there was an alliance among these players, sectors of the security forces, and traditional political elites to neutralize the UP’s political progress. Reports indicate that the state did not adequately respond to warnings about the risks faced by UP members, nor did it implement effective protection measures, which allowed the violence to claim thousands of lives. In short, this was a systematic political extermination, not a series of isolated incidents — a key characteristic when referring to the genocide of a political party. A 2022 ruling by the IACHR Court in this case declared Colombia internationally responsible for violating political and civil rights, as well as the right to the existence of UP as a direct consequence of the extermination campaign. The court ordered a series of measures for reparation, truth, and guarantees of nonrepetition, aimed at recognizing the magnitude of the harm and addressing the persistence of impunity. In this regard, yesterday’s public act of apology in Santa Marta responds to the intent of this international ruling to repair the harm caused, acknowledging the Colombian state’s responsibility for those tragic events.\ For its part, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace opened “Case 06: Victimization of Members of the Patriotic Union” as part of its mandate to investigate, prosecute, and redress crimes derived from the armed conflict. These proceedings place the crime against UP within Colombia’s transitional justice, although the challenges of implementation, truth, justice, and reparation remain enormous. Reparation for the victims in Colombia The setting of Santa Marta, during the CELAC-EU summit , gave special visibility to the political moment of recognition and apology. President Petro, before victims, survivors, and representatives of UP, stated that “so much blood and so much pain cannot be shed, because nations die.” The speeches by historic UP leaders such as Senators Aida Avella and Jael Quiroga gave a human face to the suffering, pointing out that “genocides are not spontaneous but systematic actions,” and that the extermination of UP was fueled by intolerance toward a left-wing alternative. The ceremony included symbolic offerings, artistic performances, and testimonies from victims who emphasized that this state acknowledgment is “a turning point in the country’s history.” The choice of Santa Marta, a coastal location, also seemed to seek a symbol of departure from the past, reconciliation, and collective memory. Comprehensive reparation, full truth, punishment for all those responsible, and guarantees of nonrepetition constitute not only a legal imperative but also a step toward building a society capable of accepting difference and creating a country where diverse sensibilities can coexist. In this sense, yesterday’s public act in Santa Marta represents an essential step toward breaking institutional silence — but it also opens the door to fundamental debates about how to build that future society from this present and a dark past, in order to avoid repeating such critical chapters in Colombia’s history. © Colombia One - developed by Gi-ant.co

The al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM wants to incite popular discontent and pressure Mali’s military government, experts say. People gather at a petrol station amid a shortage of fuel in Bamako, Mali on October 7, 2025 [Idriss Sangare/Reuters by Al Jazeera | Shola Lawal A months-long siege on the Malian capital, Bamako, by the armed al-Qaeda affiliate group, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), has brought the city to breaking point, causing desperation among residents and, according to analysts, placing increasing pressure on the military government to negotiate with the group – something it has refused to do before now. JNIM’s members have created an effective economic and fuel blockade by sealing off major highways used by tankers to transport fuel from neighbouring Senegal and the Ivory Coast to the landlocked Sahel country since September. While JNIM has long laid siege to towns in other parts of the country, this is the first time it has used the tactic on the capital city. The scale of the blockade, and the immense effect it has had on the city, is a sign of JNIM’s growing hold over Mali and a step towards the group’s stated aim of government change in Mali, Beverly Ochieng, Sahel analyst with intelligence firm Control Risks, told Al Jazeera. For weeks, most of Bamako’s residents have been unable to buy any fuel for cars or motorcycles as supplies have dried up, bringing the normally bustling capital to a standstill. Many have had to wait in long fuel queues. Last week, the United States and the United Kingdom both advised their citizens to leave Mali and evacuated non-essential diplomatic staff. Other Western nations have also advised their citizens to leave the country. Schools across Mali have closed and will remain shut until November 9 as staff struggle to commute. Power cuts have intensified. Here’s what we know about the armed group responsible and why it appears to have Mali in a chokehold: What is JNIM? JNIM is the Sahel affiliate of al-Qaeda and the most active armed group in the region, according to conflict monitor ACLED. The group was formed in 2017 as a merger between groups that were formerly active against French and Malian forces that were first deployed during an armed rebellion in northern Mali in 2012. They include Algeria-based al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) and three Malian armed groups – Ansar Dine, Al-Murabitun and Katiba Macina. JNIM’s main aim is to capture and control territory and to expel Western influences in its region of control. Some analysts suggest that JNIM may be seeking to control major capitals and, ultimately, to govern the country as a whole. It is unclear how many fighters the group has. The Washington Post has reported estimates of about 6,000, citing regional and western officials. However, Ulf Laessing, Sahel analyst at the German think tank, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), said JNIM most likely does not yet have the military capacity to capture large, urban territories that are well protected by soldiers. He also said the group would struggle to appeal to urban populations who may not hold the same grievances against the government as some rural communities. While JNIM’s primary base is Mali, KAS revealed in a report that the group has Algerian roots via its members of the Algeria-based al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). The group is led by Iyad Ag-Ghali, a Malian and ethnic Tuareg from Mali’s northern Kidal region who founded Ansar Dine in 2012. That group’s stated aim was to impose its interpretation of Islamic law across Mali. Ghali had previously led Tuareg uprisings against the Malian government, which is traditionally dominated by the majority Bambara ethnic group, in the early 1990s, demanding the creation of a sovereign country called Azawad. However, he reformed his image by acting as a negotiator between the government and the rebels. In 2008, he was posted as a Malian diplomat to Saudi Arabia under the government of Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure. When another rebellion began in 2012, however, Ghali sought a leadership role with the rebels but was rebuffed, leading him to create Ansar Dine. According to the US Department of National Intelligence (DNI), Ghali has stated that JNIM’s strategy is to expand its presence across West Africa and to put down government forces and rival armed groups, such as the Mali-based Islamic State Sahel, through guerrilla-style attacks and the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Simultaneously, it attempts to engage with local communities by providing them with material resources. Strict dress codes and bans on music are common in JNIM-controlled areas. JNIM also destroys infrastructure, such as schools, communication towers and bridges, to weaken the government off the battlefield. An overall death toll is unclear, but the group has killed thousands of people since 2017. Human rights groups accuse it of attacking civilians, especially people perceived to be assisting government forces. JNIM activity in Mali caused 207 deaths between January and April this year, according to ACLED data. How has JNIM laid siege to Bamako? JNIM began blocking oil tankers carrying fuel to Bamako in September. That came after the military government in Bamako banned small-scale fuel sales in all rural areas – except at official service stations – from July 1. Usually, in these areas, traders can buy fuel in jerry cans, which they often resell later. The move to ban this was aimed at crippling JNIM’s operations in its areas of control by limiting its supply lines and, thus, its ability to move around. At the few places where fuel is still available in Bamako, prices soared last week by more than 400 percent , from $25 to $130 per litre ($6.25-$32.50 per gallon). Prices of transportation, food and other commodities have risen due to the crisis, and power cuts have been frequent. Some car owners have simply abandoned their vehicles in front of petrol stations, with the military government threatening on Wednesday to impound them to ease traffic and reduce security risks. A convoy of 300 fuel tankers reached Bamako on October 7, and another one with “dozens” of vehicles arrived on October 30, according to a government statement. Other attempts to truck in more fuel have met obstacles, however, as JNIM members ambush military-escorted convoys on highways and shoot at or kidnap soldiers and civilians. Even as supplies in Bamako dry up, there are reports of JNIM setting fire to about 200 fuel tankers in southern and western Mali. Videos circulating on Malian social media channels show rows of oil tankers burning on a highway. What is JNIM trying to achieve with this blockade? Laessing of KAS said the group is probably hoping to leverage discontent with the government in the already troubled West African nation to put pressure on the military government to negotiate a power-sharing deal of sorts. “They want to basically make people as angry as possible,” he said. “They could [be trying] to provoke protests which could bring down the current government and bring in a new one that’s more favourable towards them.” Ochieng of Control Risks noted that, in its recent statements, JNIM has explicitly called for government change. While the previous civilian government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (2013-2020) had negotiated with JNIM, the present government of Colonel Assimi Goita will likely keep up its military response, Ochieng said. Frustration at the situation is growing in Bamako, with residents calling for the government to act. Speaking to Al Jazeera, driver Omar Sidibe said the military leaders ought to find out the reasons for the shortage and act on them. “It’s up to the government to play a full role and take action [and] uncover the real reason for this shortage.” Which parts of Mali is the JNIM active in? In Mali, the group operates in rural areas of northern, central and western Mali, where there is a reduced government presence and high discontent with the authorities among local communities. In the areas it controls, JNIM presents itself as an alternative to the government, which it calls “puppets of the West”, in order to recruit fighters from several ethnic minorities which have long held grievances over their perceived marginalisation by the government, including the Tuareg, Arab, Fulani, and Songhai groups. Researchers note the group also has some members from the majority Bambara group. In central Mali, the group seized Lere town last November and captured the town of Farabougou in August this year. Both are small towns, but Farabougou is close to Wagadou Forest, a known hiding place of JNIM. JNIM’s hold on major towns is weaker because of the stronger government presence in larger areas. It therefore more commonly blockades major towns or cities by destroying roads and bridges leading to them. Currently, the western cities of Nioro and gold-rich Kayes are cut off. The group is also besieging the major cities of Timbuktu and Gao, as well as Menaka and Boni towns, located in the north and northeast. How is JNIM funded? For revenue, the group oversees artisanal gold mines, forcefully taxes community members, smuggles weapons and kidnaps foreigners for ransom, according to the US DNI. Kayes region, whose capital, Kayes, is under siege, is a major gold hub, accounting for 80 percent of Mali’s gold production, according to conflict monitoring group Critical Threats. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (Gi-Toc) also reports cattle rustling schemes, estimating that JNIM made 91,400 euros ($104,000) in livestock sales of cattle between 2017 and 2019. Cattle looted in Mali are sold cheaply in communities on the border with Ghana and the Ivory Coast, through a complex chain of intermediaries. In which other countries is JNIM active? JNIM expanded into Burkina Faso in 2017 by linking up with Burkina-Faso-based armed group Ansarul-Islam, which pledged allegiance to the Malian group. Ansarul-Islam was formed in 2016 by Ibrahim Dicko, who had close ties with Amadou Koufa, JNIM’s deputy head since 2017. In Burkina Faso, JNIM uses similar tactics of recruiting from marginalised ethnic groups. The country has rapidly become a JNIM hotspot, with the group operating – or holding territory – in 11 of 13 Burkina Faso regions outside of capital Ouagadougou. There were 512 reported casualties as a result of JNIM violence in the country between January and April this year. It is not known how many have died as a result of violence by the armed group in total. Since 2022, JNIM has laid siege to the major northern Burkinabe city of Djibo, with authorities forced to airlift in supplies. In a notable attack in May 2025, JNIM fighters overran a military base in the town, killing approximately 200 soldiers. It killed a further 60 in Solle, about 48km (30 miles) west of Djibo. In October 2025, the group temporarily took control of Sabce town, also located in the north of Burkina Faso, killing 11 police officers in the process, according to the International Crisis Group. In a September report, Human Rights Watch said JNIM and a second armed group – Islamic State Sahel, which is linked to ISIL (ISIS) – massacred civilians in Burkina Faso between May and September, including a civilian convoy trying to transport humanitarian aid into the besieged northern town of Gorom Gorom. Meanwhile, JNIM is also moving southwards, towards other West African nations with access to the sea. It launched an offensive on Kafolo town, in northern Ivory Coast, in 2020. JNIM members embedded in national parks on the border regions with Burkina Faso have been launching sporadic attacks in northern Togo and the Benin Republic since 2022. In October this year, it recorded its first attack on the Benin-Nigeria border, where one Nigerian policeman was killed. The area is not well-policed because the two countries have no established military cooperation, analyst Ochieng said. “This area is also quite a commercially viable region; there are mining and other developments taking place there … it is likely to be one that [JNIM] will try to establish a foothold,” she added. Why are countries struggling to fend off JNIM? When Mali leader General Assimi Goita led soldiers to seize power in a 2020 coup , military leaders promised to defeat the armed group, as well as a host of others that had been on the rise in the country. Military leaders subsequently seizing power from civilian governments in Burkina Faso (2022) and in Niger (2023) have made the same promises. However, Mali and its neighbours have struggled to hold JNIM at bay, with ACLED data noting the number of JNIM attacks increasing notably since 2020. In 2022, Mali’s military government  ended cooperation with 4,000-strong French forces deployed in 2013 to battle armed groups which had emerged at the time, as well as separatist Tuaregs in the north. The last group of French forces exited the country in August 2022. Mali also terminated contracts with a 10,000-man UN peacekeeping force stationed in the country in 2023. Bamako is now working with Russian fighters – initially 1,500 from the Wagner Mercenary Group, but since June, from the Kremlin-controlled Africa Corps – estimated to be about 1,000 in number. Russian officials are, to a lesser extent, also present in Burkina Faso and Niger, which have formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) with Mali. Results in Mali have been mixed. Wagner supported the Malian military in seizing swaths of land in the northern Kidal region from Tuareg rebels. But the Russians also suffered ambushes. In July 2024, a contingent of Wagner and Malian troops was ambushed by rebels in Tinzaouaten, close to the Algerian border. Between 20 and 80 Russians and 25 to 40 Malians were killed, according to varying reports. Researchers noted it was Wagner’s worst defeat since it had deployed to West Africa. In all, Wagner did not record much success in targeting armed groups like JNIM, analyst Laessing told Al Jazeera. Alongside Malian forces, the Russians have also been accused by rights groups of committing gross human rights violations against rural communities in northern Mali perceived to be supportive of armed groups. Could the Russian Africa Corps fighters end the siege on Bamako? Laessing said the fuel crisis is pressuring Mali to divert military resources and personnel to protect fuel tankers, keeping them from consolidating territory won back from armed groups and further endangering the country. He added that the crisis will be a test for Russian Africa Corp fighters, who have not proven as ready as Wagner fighters to take battle risks. A video circulating on Russian social media purports to show Africa Corps members providing air support to fuel tanker convoys. It has not been verified by Al Jazeera. “If they can come in and allow the fuel to flow into Bamako, then the Russians will be seen as heroes,” Laessing said – at least by locals. Laessing added that the governments of Mali and Burkina Faso, in the medium to long term, might eventually have to negotiate with JNIM to find a way to end the crisis. While Goita’s government has not attempted to hold talks with the group in the past, in early October, it greenlit talks led by local leaders, according to conflict monitoring group Critical Threats – although it is unclear exactly how the government gave its approval. Agreements between the group and local leaders have reportedly already been signed in several towns across Segou, Mopti and Timbuktu regions, in which the group agrees to end its siege in return for the communities agreeing to JNIM rules, taxes, and noncooperation with the military. © 2025 Al Jazeera Media Network