BY J.J. MESSNER AND HANNAH BLYTH* The mission of The Human Rights & Business Roundtable is to promote the rule of law and open societies. Launched in 1996, the Roundtable was the first forum designed for multinational businesses and mainstream human rights organizations to discuss issues of common concern in an atmosphere of mutual respect, […]
Category Archives: J.J. Messner
Voluntary Principles in Ghana Update: October-December 2015
- 31 January 2016
BY J.J. MESSNER AND HANNAH BLYTH In December 2015, FFP and WANEP-Ghana delivered local training workshops in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, and Takoradi, Western Region. Both trainings focused on sensitizing the VPs initiative and guidelines, as well as introducing ways to mitigate conflict through available grievance mechanisms, and promoting peacebuilding and conflict early warning in […]
Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights in Ghana
- 26 November 2015
BY J.J. MESSNER AND HANNAH BLYTH With the government of Ghana announcing in 2014 that it would sign onto the VPs initiative as the first African nation to do so, it is now in the stages developing a VPs National Action Plan. Working with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for Democracy, Rights and Labor, […]
Sparkling Finnish: Sustainable Scandinavia
- 17 June 2015
BY HANNAH BLYTH AND J.J. MESSNER Every year, the most stable end of the Fragile States Index appears to tell a familiar story. Since the Fund for Peace began assessing all major countries in 2006, Scandinavia has held a near-monopoly on the least fragile end of the Index.
Springtime for Castro and Cuba; Winter for Ukraine and Libya
- 17 June 2015
BY J.J. MESSNER AND HANNAH BLYTH South Sudan has topped the Fragile States Index for the second year in succession, as the country continues to be wracked by internal conflict, fractious politics, and poverty. South Sudan is joined at the most fragile end of the Index by countries that have long struggled, such as Somalia, […]
Fragile States Index 2015: The Book
- 17 June 2015
BY J. J. MESSNER, NATE HAKEN, PATRICIA TAFT, HANNAH BLYTH, KENDALL LAWRENCE, SEBASTIAN PAVLOU, FELIPE UMAÑA The Fragile States Index, produced by The Fund for Peace, is a critical tool in highlighting not only the normal pressures that all states experience, but also in identifying when those pressures are pushing a state towards the brink […]
How Renewable Energy Can Learn from the Carbon-Based Energy Sector
- 10 June 2015
BY HANNAH BLYTH and J.J. MESSNER On Monday, the leaders of the G7 made clear that our future will strongly be based on clean energy. In their meeting in the Bavarian Alps, the world’s largest industrialized economies pledged to dramatically reduce or altogether eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the century, a commitment […]
The Military is Not the Answer to South Africa’s Xenophobic Violence
- 22 April 2015
BY J.J. MESSNER AND ANIA SKINNER A rapid rise in anti-immigrant violence has emerged in South Africa, with at least seven people killed and many more local immigrants’ properties and businesses destroyed. In response to this wave of xenophobic crime, the South African government announced the deployment of troops to areas that have been most […]
Security, Rights & Development Roundtable Annual Report 2014
- 10 January 2015
BY J.J. MESSNER The mission of The Security, Rights & Development Roundtable is to promote the rule of law and open societies. Launched in 1996, the Roundtable was the first forum designed for multinational businesses and mainstream human rights organizations to discuss issues of common concern in an atmosphere of mutual respect, trust, and confidentiality. […]
“The Eyes of the World Are Watching.” They Sure Are, Governor.
- 20 August 2014
BY J.J. MESSNER It is easy to view the unfolding events in Ferguson, Missouri as an inherently domestic issue. Much of the domestic analysis so far has characterized this violence as reminiscent of decades past – or lands far away. In the words of Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri, “The eyes of the world are […]