Last year marked many anniversaries related to women´s roles in international relations, most notably the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in 2000. However, beyond celebrating anniversaries, how do the international community, including states, international organizations and civil society continue working towards a gender perspective in international politics and greater inclusion of women in decision-making processes?

Seit sieben Monaten gehen die Menschen in Belarus auf die Straße um gegen die Führung von Alexander Lukaschenko und die gefälschte Präsidentschaftswahl zu protestieren. Das Regime antwortet mit einer massiven Repressionswelle, mehrere Menschen ums Leben gekommen, zehntausende Menschen wurden festgenommen und zum Teil zu mehrjährigen Haftstrafen verurteilt. Eine Ende der Proteste ist trotzdem nicht in Sicht.

Belarusians have taken to the streets of their cities and towns for over six months now, demanding free and fair elections after the presidential vote in August had been blatantly rigged. The longer the political crisis drags on, the more Russia’s and the EU’s perceptions of this crisis and subsequent actions matter. The elites in Russia view the protest as coordinated by the West, whereas the EU considers it as a purely domestic issue. Russia has a high interest in Belarus, in terms of security, economics, culture etc. For the EU, stability in its neighboring country is the primary goal. The Belarusian crisis has thus gained a geopolitical dimension that will play a decisive role in its future development.

New START was the last remaining bilateral arms agreement between the United States and Russia, putting a crucial cap on each side’s strategic nuclear arsenals of 1,550 deployed warheads and 700 deployed missiles and heavy bombers.

With the election of Joe Biden as the new president of the US, inaugurated in January 2021, geopolitical considerations run high in the Middle East and different stakeholders are realigning their positions. The possibility of US return to the JCPOA, which Prime Minister Netanyahu always perceived as a threat to Israeli security, is tangible. Because the Trump administration incentivized Arab states to sign the Abraham Accords with unprecedented, norm-breaking promises, it is unclear whether the Biden administration will fulfil all of them, a reality which gives rise to concerns in Israel and the normalizing states regarding the fate of the agreements.

In 2019, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his attempts to pacify the country and the Horn of Africa. Yet, in November 2020 he deployed military forces to control a conflict in the Tigray Region. Did the Nobel Peace laureate turn into a war monger? Why did he not practice the reconciliation, brotherhood and unity he preached?

„Amerika ist zurück!“, verkündete US-Präsident Joe Biden in einer Rede, in der er die außenpolitische Stoßrichtung der USA vorgeben wollte. Was aber bedeutet das für eine Welt, die in vier Jahren Trump-Präsidentschaft gelernt hat, sich ohne die Schutzmacht USA zu arrangieren?

The IIP has been closely following the protest movement in Belarus which erupted after the fraudulent presidential elections in August 2020. In continuity with our efforts to promote democracy and human rights all over the world and in the EU Neighborhood, we publish this statement below to mark six months of the fight against authoritarianism in Belarus.