Asia

Much has been achieved at international level in the critical field of women, peace and security in recent years. Yet women are still woefully underrepresented in the Afghan peace process. The basic rights for which they fought so hard are at stake in the country’s internal negotiations with the Taliban.

Karst landscapes are important for the climate because of their carbon dioxide binding capacity. Through their complex underwater systems they provide drinking water to people all over the world. With more than eight million sq. km of karst, Asia has the largest share worldwide. But karst areas like the Kendeng mountains in Indonesia are under threat to be destroyed by the cement industry. This article highlights the long-term value of intact karst systems.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral bank for infrastructure financing and plans to become the leading global institution for financing infrastructure projects. This article shows why the bank must intensify its efforts to inform the public in a timely manner about the environmental and social risks of its projects.

Summary of the online debate „The peace process in Afghanistan: Perceptions of the people“ of 11 November 2020 with representatives of Afghan civil society, Afghan media, the Afghan government delegation to the peace negotiations in Doha and the German Foreign Office.

In a global race to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic with a stronger and more resilient economy by putting the environment first, Indonesia is set to be left behind as lawmakers recently passed a deregulation law proposed by the government.

Nine years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, fundamental issues remain unresolved. Many domestic critics saw the Olympics as a ploy to distract from the nuclear disaster. Should a country with an ongoing nuclear disaster be hosting these games?

While the answer to when, and if, the post-COVID era will come remains uncertain, it is clear that sustainability is back in centre stage - no longer as the hip slogan of the 90s - but as a survival need.

From protecting ‘nature’ to supporting kin. The animistic turn in sustainability.

In its fight against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, India is facing its greatest social and economic challenge since independence in 1947. Persisting political and social contradictions have become more visible than ever before.

Jharkhand, India: thousand year old rock- and wall paintings, green jungles and streets, blackened by coal dust, old lifestyles and their loss. „The one-eared elephant from Hazaribagh“ is a portrait of two outstanding artists on a journey into the world of their art and existence. Today they struggle to resist the destructive forces from open cast coal mining.

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the integration of technology into our daily lives. This article series examines how digital technology affects innovation, inclusion, digital rights, and democracy in different countries.

The new Hong Kong office aims to promote understanding between Europe and Asia for development and transformative trends in Asia.

The murder of George Floyd amidst of a global pandemic has triggered a global conversation among the Black diaspora and its progressive allies. In the editorial for our #BlackLivesMatter focus, award-winning journalist Gary Younge analyses the current debates in the U.S. and in Europe.

Dara(*) is an edjai, the local term in Khmer language to designate a street waste picker. In a country lacking a formal recycling system, he is one of the many thousands roaming the streets in search for aluminum cans or plastic bottles he can find to sell to collectors, composing the backbone of the recycling ecosystem.

With low testing rates, but rising numbers of infections, Myanmar’s government is virtually flying blind trying to get on top of Covid-19 with a lockdown. The collapse of clothing exports to Europe has led to a sharp rise in unemployment, while armed conflicts continue, mostly in Rakhine State, and critical coverage of it has become a criminal offence.

The SARS pandemic in 2003 still lives vividly in the memory of Hongkongs citizens. Therefore, the Hongkongers responded quickly when the first cases of COVID-19 appeared. What did the city learned about crisis management? Which impact did the collective memory has regarding the virus spreading?

A virus riding on another virus. That is how the ‘infodemic’ is raging in online spaces around the outbreak of the novel coronavirus called COVID-19, which has been on just about everyone’s radar since late January 2020. As grave as the quest to manage the respiratory disease and cure those ill with it is not only the challenge of using facts versus fear - but how to create and keep avenues of information that withstand the unrelenting drip of skewed, confused, partially true to totally false information, to racist and prejudiced views, or a cocktail of these.

From December 4-6, 2019 the International Criminal Court organized a series of hearings on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. In April 2019, the pre-Trial Chamber II of the court unprecedentedly denied the request of the court’s prosecutor for authorising an investigation.

India’s Northeast, a land of volatile identities having an uneasy experience with migration, is held together by a fragile consensus forged in the larger interest of peace and co-existence. The seams of these fault-lines pass by people’s lived realities, always at the risk of being burst open with an act of insensitivity. The enactment of the CAA is considered by many as one such act.

Omaid Sharifi is a pioneer Afghan activist and one of the co-founders of ArtLords, an artist association which has been attracting widespread international attention in recent years.