UN Climate Summit 2015
The 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place from November 30 to December 11, 2015 in Paris, France.[1] More than 150 nations submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) outlining plans for decreased carbon emissions and increased energy efficiency.[2] The goal of this conference was to […]
Why Donald Trump Needs to Have a Conversation with Amal Clooney
International lawyer Amal Clooney has taken on the case of imprisoned investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, signaling hope for media freedom in Azerbaijan and striking fear in the hearts of repressive regimes everywhere. Khadija Ismayilova, 37, is an investigative journalist from the former-Soviet state of Azerbaijan. She dug into the regime of President Ilham Aliyev, whose […]
Partial Impartiality: A Review of Alleged Bias in the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was created by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in response to the horrific violence of the Balkan Wars in the early 1990s.[1] In 1993, as the conflict was still in its relatively early stages, the Tribunal was established in The Hague, a small Dutch city […]
Tech and Entrepreneurship: New Avenues for Female Leadership in Saudi Arabia
As falling oil prices continue to plague the Saudi Arabian economy, efforts to develop a system that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship are being put to the test. As a result, women are taking household roles that are less traditional, starting businesses, and working in industries from which they were banned not long ago. Gender inequality […]
Two-State Stagnation
Over the past two decades, the idea of a “two-state solution” has been proposed by countless intellectuals and political thinkers as the end-game to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the idea of such a solution has been used to perpetuate a constant state of uncertainty in Israel-Palestine, thereby allowing Israel to continue the expansion of settlements […]
Traitor: A Study in Pakistan’s Cognitive Dissonance
Renowned filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy added another Oscar to her CV on February 28th for her documentary A Girl in the River, which highlights the issue of rampant honor killings in Pakistan. Many Pakistanis, including myself, see this as an important step towards breaking down the taboos surrounding violence against women. According to multiple sources, including […]
Revisiting Egypt’s Arab Spring, Five Years Later
Localized entrepreneurship and innovation is transforming the Middle East and empowering individual changemakers to create solutions to problems in areas such as education, healthcare, and web-based communication through technology. A regional youth bulge is pushing for change, and the newfound individual autonomy provided by communications technology is changing conversations in the region surrounding women’s rights, […]
A Year On: What Did the Umbrella Revolution Achieve?
On the morning of June 5th, 1989, a man in a white shirt stood in front of a military armored tank in one of the most iconic photographs of that year. The same year that the Poles, the Czechs, the Hungarians, the Germans, and the Romanians overthrew their communist oppressors, the people of China attempted […]
Syrian Refugee Crisis: Where is the Humanity?
In the past week, I’ve watched in horror and bitter disappointment as governors from the two states I call home, New Jersey and Massachusetts, proclaimed that they will not accept Syrian refugees. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey became a leading voice for the opposition to the federal government’s plan for Syrian refugee resettlement, even […]
Menstruation and Education: How Periods Affect Girls’ Education in the Developing World
Menstruation is one of the single most commonly shared experiences among women of all races, religions, and ethnicities. Most women menstruate for an average of 40 years. Throughout those 40 years, each woman will use more than 11,000 sanitary pads and tampons, spending approximately $5,600 on those hygiene products.[1] For a woman in a developed […]