Centrum pro lidská práva a demokracii

In October, Turkey launched “Operation Peace Spring” in the northeastern part of Syria, which was controlled by Kurdish-led forces. The operation began after President Trump withdrew US forces from northern Syria. The Kurdish-led forces have been a strong US ally against the so-called Islamic State radical group in the past. The Turkish president, Recep Erdoğan, has been strongly criticised for these actions by his Western allies.

Who are the Kurds?

There are between 25 and 35 million Kurds, who are an ethnic group inhabiting parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Even though there are many members of this minority, they have never been able to create a nation-state.

Polská vládnoucí strana Právo a spravedlnost obhájila v říjnových parlamentních volbách vítězství z minulých voleb. K vítězství jí pomohl nejvyšší obdržený počet hlasů v historii demokratického Polska. Podle politiků se jednalo o nejdůležitější volby za poslední tři dekády.

Sociálně konzervativní strana vedená předsedou Jarosławem Kaczyńskim získala ve volbách do polského Sejmu, který je dolní komorou parlamentu, více hlasů než kterákoliv jiná polská politická strana od pádu komunismu. Vládnoucí strana obdržela celkově 43,6 % hlasů, což znamená, že si oproti minulým parlamentním volbám polepšila o 6 %, představujících 2,3 milionů hlasů.

The British people voted for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) in the 2016 referendum. The UK should have left the EU by the end of October 2019. How did the individual negotiations go and what were their results?   

The referendum about Brexit 

As a member state, it is possible to leave the EU on the basis of a democratic decision, which is approved by the public, as it is governed by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This is exactly what happened in the case of the UK. The referendum took place in June 2016. The official turnout was 72.2 % of possible voters. 51.9 % people voted to  withdraw, and conversely, 48.1 % people voted to remain in the EU. David Cameron resigned from his post as Prime Minister after the results went public. He was succeeded in his post by Theresa May.

Two years ago, in 2017, the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar engendered international attention. The crisis was all over the news and social media, and for a moment, the entire world seemed to be coming together to attempt to resolve the crisis and alleviate the human rights violations. Today, although the crisis is no longer anywhere near as prevalent in the media, the Rohingya are still facing extreme persecution from those in charge.

The Contemporary Problem

Today, approximately 600,000 Rohingya are still living in reprehensible conditions in Myanmar according to the United Nations’ (UN)  new report released to the public in September 2019. Additionally, although genocide has not been officially named, numerous UN officials from their recent fact-finding mission and report on Myanmar have stated that the Rohingya still living in Myanmar face the “threat of genocide.”