Cristal Downing

The WPS Agenda Needs Strong Wills to Counter Rough Headwinds - PassBlue The WPS Agenda Needs Strong Wills to Counter Rough Headwinds - PassBlue

@UnitedNations WPS month is underway. Here are some thoughts on the challenges the WPS agenda is facing (spoiler: gender equality is under attack) and how countries can and must use this month to defend women’s rights. passblue.com/2025/10/05/t...

Our highlights at #UNGA2025 so far.

🇺🇸 Trump’s fiery speech
🇵🇸 Gaza: UK, France and others recognise Palestine; Israel responds.
🇸🇾 Syria: President Al Sharaa addresses the General Assembly
🇺🇦 Ukraine: Trump & Zelenskyy’s most positive meeting yet.

@mayaungar.bsky.social explains more. ⬇️

Life on the Edge: Everyday Realities in a Conflict-torn World | International Crisis Group A photo exhibition held at the European External Action Service (EEAS) marks Crisis Group’s 30th anniversary, and showcases photographs taken by its staff while conducting field research in conflict-a...

Some beautiful and haunting photos here of people and communities affected by conflict, taken during Crisis Group fieldwork around the world over the last few years. www.crisisgroup.org/global/life-...

Shutting down the Internet amounts to shutting off a window to the world. Internet access was key in efforts to continue education for at least some Afghan women & girls. It was also central to livelihoods like selling handicrafts and clothes online. thediplomat.com/2025/09/inte...

BBC investigates Afghan maternal deaths after US aid cuts The BBC hears devastating accounts of Afghan mothers and babies dying after US-backed clinics shut.

US aid cuts have reduced global access to sexual & reproductive health. Take Afghanistan, where women are dying in labour after clinics close. As medical supplies are destroyed & aid cuts continue, efforts to reduce women's access to care are increasing. www.bbc.com/news/article...

As we highlighted in the below UN-focused piece, UN agencies and NGOs offered to buy these contraceptives to serve life-saving purposes. But no, not on this admin’s watch. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...

Ten Challenges for the UN in 2025-2026 | International Crisis Group As the annual high-level meeting of the General Assembly at the UN approaches, the organisation faces severe political and financial challenges. But it can still use sanctions, peace operations and ai...

Amid global pushback against gender equality, some topics are more unequal than others. Sexual & reproductive health is one. Here’s our take on what that means for @UN work for women & girls in war, among other challenges the org will face in 2025-26. www.crisisgroup.org/global/sb13-...

Women, peace and security In 2025, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Security Council’s Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). This groundbreaking resolution not only spoke of women...

Great timing from Denmark - new National Action Plan. Glad to see that not everyone has completely lost the plot on WPS. um.dk/en/foreign-p...

Comfort Ero’s 2025 Top Picks on Gender and Conflict | Crisis Group For International Women’s Day, Crisis Group’s President and CEO, Comfort Ero, shares a list of her top ten publications on how conflict and gender intersect including the impacts of violence on people...

For #IWD2025 @comfortero.crisisgroup.org shared this list of Crisis Group & external publications that explore some of the ways that gender & conflict interact, from India to Haiti, and from seats in parliament to artificial intelligence. www.crisisgroup.org/global/comfo...

Crisis Group's Research on Gender and Conflict | Crisis Group Over three decades, Crisis Group has built up a wide body of work on gender and conflict – evolving from a 2003 piece on women and reconstruction in Afghanistan to the range of publications covering m...

Wondering what @crisisgroup.org's work on gender & conflict looks like? Wonder no more. We've visualised it in this (might I say very impressive) map, complete with interactive timeline and links to publications. www.crisisgroup.org/global/crisi...

In @justsecurity.org ahead of #IWD2025 I highlight how the Mexico City policy (also known as the global gag rule) impacts women & girls in conflict even beyond the damage done by recent aid cuts. Past experience shows that this restriction reduces access to essential health care.

Non-US donors should mitigate the effects of the Mexico City policy, even if they have few resources to give. They should target small health organisations for funding, and coalesce around public information campaigns to push back against efforts to roll back women's rights.

The demand for such care in conflict is high, as sexual violence is used as a tactic of war, and health services hard to access. Maternal mortality is the leading cause of death in refugee camps, and girls in communities w/ armed groups seek IUDs as they know they will be raped.

Amid Aid Cuts, A Renewed U.S. Policy Increases Health Risks for Women and Girls in Conflict Areas | Crisis Group While the Trump administration is gutting U.S. foreign aid across the board, programs aimed at women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health will be among those hardest hit. Crisis Group expert Cris...

US aid cuts are having drastic effects in war. Funding for gender equality has been singled out as misaligned with the US administration's values. Within this, sexual & reproductive health is particularly at risk. With it, so are women & girls in conflict. www.crisisgroup.org/global-unite...

"We are in the middle of a very violent decade."

@comfortero.bsky.social in @economist.com.

www.economist.com/the-world-ah...

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