2020 is the 75th anniversary year of the United Nations, and it has already shaped up to be a year of unprecedented international shocks and potential for transformation. This briefing looks at what global polling reveals about trust in international cooperation amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The protests that have roiled the United States over the past weeks are rooted in an issue at the heart of the divisions in American society: racism. But they also take place in a climate of increasing inequality and polarization. This briefing by Sarah Cliffe draws on comparative global analysis to ask whether the US now risks large-scale civil conflict.
The COVID-19 pandemic poses a dire risk to the tens of thousands of people imprisoned in Syria’s archipelago of prisons and detention facilities. This briefing provides an overview of detention conditions in Syria and outlines a two-step approach to averting a looming catastrophe—one that threatens not only those detained, but the Syrian population at large.
Over the last week, people have taken to the streets across the United States—including in CIC’s home, New York City—to demonstrate against police brutality and systemic racism faced by Black communities in America. Many others have gathered around the world to voice their support. We express our solidarity with those who have gathered peacefully to demand justice.
Tens of thousands of people have been unlawfully detained by the Syrian government and other parties to the conflict in Syria. In most cases, their fate—and if they are alive, their whereabouts—remains unknown. A new report from CIC and the International Center for Transitional Justice examines the dark reality of detention in Syria and its impact on the families of the missing. The report details urgent steps necessary to help those families obtain information about the whereabouts of their loved ones, gain access to them, and achieve their prompt release.
