This article was originally published by Channel 4 News on 22 January 2013.

Britain is on standby and the US is already transporting French troops into Mali. But a new paper says the west is "betting on the wrong horse" by intervening in the region.

Now well over a decade after the beginning of the so-called war on terror, yet again, another western nation is leading a military intervention against Islamist paramilitaries based in a largely ungoverned region of a state in the Global South, write Anna Alissa Hitzemann and Ben Zala for the Oxford Research Group.

Nations Should Step Up ‘Humanitarian Disarmament’

31 Groups Urge More Protection for Civilians From Armed Violence

(New York, October 24, 2012) – Governments should increase efforts to achieve strong disarmament initiatives driven by humanitarian concerns, Human Rights Watch and 30 other nongovernmental organizations said in a communiqué issued today.

Background

Rising food prices point to a potential crisis later this year as poor communities across the world find themselves unable to afford basic foodstuffs. The crisis now unfolding has some similarities to the major problems that occurred in 2008 that led to food riots in many countries. It also has echoes of the much more severe World Food Crisis in 1973/74. This time, though, there is mounting evidence that climate change is playing a role.
A Crisis in the Making

Monthly Global Security Briefing – June 2012

By Paul Rogers

Background

Oxford Research Group’s April and May briefings covered the current status of the al-Qaida movement and a loosely related development, the growth of the radical Boko Haram Islamist group in northern Nigeria. The analysis may be summarised thus:

· Al-Qaida as a structured group has declined from its period of maximum activity in the 2001-2005 period.

Summary

A series of major attacks in Nigeria in April are presumed to be the work of militants from the Boko Haram movement. There is little sign that extensive and rigorous police and army action against Boko Haram has had any effect in curbing the movement. Indeed, it may be stimulating further support, leading in turn to increased international concerns over the longer-term prospects for stability in Africa’s most populous country.

London: September 15th 2011, 9:30 am at the British Academy.

States have a clear but largely unmet responsibility for full and transparent reporting of those killed in armed violence around the world. This is the central message of a new initiative, the ‘Charter for the recognition of every casualty of armed violence’, launched Thursday at the British Academy and already endorsed by 37 humanitarian and human rights organisations from around the world.

If you use drones you must confirm and report who they killed, says legal team

GENEVA 23 JUNE 2011. International lawyers have identified an existing but previously unacknowledged requirement in law for those who use or authorise the use of drone strikes to record and announce who has been killed and injured in each attack.

A new report, 'Drone Attacks, International Law, and the Recording of Civilian Casualties of Armed Conflict', is published on 23 June 2011 by London-based think tank Oxford Research Group (ORG).

Jacob Beswick

The focus of this working paper, purposely left open to debate and amendment, in turn, is on civilian deaths caused by drones within Pakistan as reported by eight non-governmental and news organisations.

London, UK, April 18, 2011 -- Fourteen humanitarian and human rights organisations have this week called on the states implementing the “no-fly zone” in Libya to commit to recording and reporting on civilian casualties in that country.

Their call comes in an open letter (text below) sent to all members of the UN Security Council, the Arab League and the African Union.