Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

On February 28, 2026, Trump illegally went to war with Israel against Iran, seemingly without having thought through the likely consequences of his actions. The reckless and violent attack cut short negotiations with Iran and ever since, the administration has struggled to articulate consistent goals or strategic aims. 

This latest war caps one year of bombings, invasions, sabre-rattling, and threats against U.S. allies from the self-styled “peace president.” Tragically, over a thousand lives have already been lost and the conflict appears to be growing. Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal military strikes have only inflicted more harm on the people of Iran, who have already endured a brutally violent crackdown in which thousands of protesters and bystanders have been killed, with many more still feared dead.

Trump’s stated desire to control resources – especially oil and gas – is behind most of this foreign policy violence. As the Iran attack has illustrated, fossil fuel dependence and waging war in a region responsible for more fossil fuel production than any other region in the world is inherently expensive and dangerous. Yet another war shows us why it is well past time to dump fossil fuels.

Fossils are global

The Strait of Hormuz, a strategic water passage through which 20% of the world’s oil must transit, has been almost completely blocked by conflict in the area. The Strait is particularly important for oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) shipments, and the stoppage of traffic has led to spikes in oil and gas prices globally. As of this writing, crude oil spiked to over $100 per barrel, and LNG benchmark prices have surged in Europe and Asia.

Apparent Iranian airstrikes on two state-owned LNG facilities in Qatar were another example of how war can directly and immediately change energy markets, access, and security globally. After the military strikes, natural gas prices jumped and state-owned QatarEnergy said it would halt LNG production as a result. Two days later, QatarEnergy declared force majeure, releasing it from its contracted business deals with energy buyers. 

Qatar’s disruption to normal LNG trade flows both spiked prices and created immediate uncertainty for buyers about where to source LNG, especially for European countries. This will generate enormous windfall profits for some well-positioned oil and gas companies. One report suggests that traders and exporters of U.S. LNG will likely take in $870 million in additional weekly profits – rising to $20 billion per month if Qatari LNG supply isn’t resumed by the summer.

On March 8th, the Israeli Defense Force struck at least five energy sites, including fuel storage facilities used for the military, near Tehran. The strikes led to fires at fuel depots burning for hours, unbreathable toxic air, and black rain in an area home to 10 million civilians. In response, Iran has threatened retaliatory strikes on energy facilities in neighboring countries. A spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards told The Guardian “If you can tolerate oil at more than $200 per barrel, continue this game.”

A very similar global dynamic played out in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the energy market disruptions that followed. Research from Greenpeace USA, Oil Change International, and Global Witness found that U.S. oil and gas companies were positioned to earn tens of billions in windfall profits after the invasion, and that U.S. and European companies had contributed nearly $100 billion to Putin’s war chest since the 2014 invasion of Crimea.

A fossil-fueled world is never affordable

When oil and gas prices surge, everyday people feel the impact. Consumers face higher costs for heating, electricity, and gasoline, and inflation grows.

Our economy is tethered to volatile global energy markets when fossil fuels dominate.

Crude oil is a globally-traded commodity, which means that a supply crunch in one part of the world will usually raise gasoline and energy prices here in the U.S. The fact that the U.S. is the world’s largest oil and gas producer offers little to no protection to U.S. consumers. We may “drill, baby, drill” here at home, but the oil belongs to the oil companies, who will happily export it at a higher price. With the rise of global LNG markets, the same dynamic is increasingly true for gas as well.

On March 6th, six days after the U.S. and Israel began military strikes in Iran, gas prices at the pump were up an average $0.34 from the week before. By March 9th, they had risen to $3.48 per gallon and airfares may also rise as a result of the warfare. Even the price of many consumer goods can increase with fossil fuel price volatility: any product that is made from fossil fuels (think plastics or petrochemicals) and goods that are shipped or transported using fossil fueled vehicles are vulnerable. 

Trump has said the war with Iran could last for weeks, but an end to the conflict is not immediately apparent and the situation remains hard to predict. Trump has yet to articulate a serious and consistent rationale for the military actions. On gas prices for people in the U.S., Trump says “if they rise, they rise”, discarding his previous campaign promises on lowering gas prices. That instability threatens to keep energy markets in chaos. 

Many in the U.S. already disapprove of the war, and now U.S. companies are raking in millions, even billions in profits, while individuals and families pay the price. The profits from high energy prices strongly favor the rich, who own the largest stakes in energy companies.

The immediate price surges, energy security risks, inflation, and corporate exploitation of wartime illustrate just how insecure and unaffordable fossil fuels are. Phasing out fossil fuels is essential for long-term, consistent affordability and security of energy. Unlike globally traded oil and gas, renewables are not subject to the same geopolitical risks of fossil fuels. Notably, the affordability of renewable energy would likely be insulated from global geopolitics in ways that are nearly impossible with oil and gas.

War is paid for in human lives and shattered futures – and it poisons land and water, destroys ecosystems, and accelerates climate breakdown. There is no climate justice without peace, and no lasting peace without human rights.

The cycle of violence and profit must end. We call for peace, accountability, and for leaders to transition to a just world where security does not depend on fossil fuels and force.

Source: Chatham House –

Nigeria and Ghana foreign ministers discuss security, AES countries, Boko Haram and US operations
News release
jon.wallace
11 March 2026

During an event at Chatham House, HE Yusuf Tuggar and HE Samuel Ablakwa also discussed ECOWAS, West Africa-France relations, and allegations of attacks on Christian communities in the region.

Ghanaian Minister for Foreign Affairs Samuel Ablakwa and Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar discussed West African security and peacebuilding in a packed event held at Chatham House on 9 March. 

The foreign ministers took questions from the audience on West African security issues, from the withdrawal of AES countries from the ECOWAS security bloc and US airstrikes in Nigeria on Christmas day, to West African relations with France and how to combat groups like Boko Haram.

During the event, Minister Tuggar emphasized the importance of local security solutions in West Africa, saying:

‘I think what has worked in our region successfully, what we’ve been able to achieve in Sierra Leone, what we’ve been able to achieve in Liberia… bringing about peace and peacebuilding successfully… I think we have done so when we have come up with our own solutions. This is why ECOMOG was so successful. It was led by forces from the region, with the support of the United Nations, with the support of other major powers… That should be the formula.’

Addressing the role of the United States in Nigerian and regional security, he said the US should play ‘an indirect role. A supportive role as opposed to…taking a more direct approach that would see perhaps boots on the ground.’

Asked by an audience member about the nature of violence in Nigeria and the region, and the role of religion, Minister Tuggar said:

‘I’m not saying that the violence is not religious altogether. Some of it is motivated by religion. But it does not necessarily mean that there is a Christian genocide going on in Nigeria. That is false. It is incorrect…And it is not confined to Nigeria. It’s a regional problem. So that is why with framing we have to be careful.’

Minister Ablakwa, describing Ghanaians killed by terrorists in Burkina Faso, said:

‘These terrorists they didn’t ask them which religion they subscribed to. So, the point we are making is that we should be more nuanced…It is not just a simple, you know, religious matter.’ He also pointed out other drivers of violence including youth unemployment, climate change and state collapse.

Asked if the regional security bloc ECOWAS had been weakened by the withdrawal of three Sahelian ‘AES’ states (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) Minister Ablakwa said:

‘ECOWAS is still strong’ and spoke of Ghana’s plans to increase defence spending, build the country’s first electronic warfare centre, and improve its ISR capability. 

Addressing AES countries’ poor relations with France, and Ghana’s viewpoint, Minister Ablakwa said:

‘We have to admit that there is a genuine concern in francophone Africa that their relations with France will have to be reset and that there is a need for a new approach.’

He also pointed to the responsibility of the international community in delivering security:

‘Terrorism taking root is a threat to the entire global community…the challenges we face today are direct consequences of certain actions by the international community, from Afghanistan to Syria to Libya…. not having a post Gaddafi plan, how we deal with the regime change agenda in Libya. We’ve had to bear the brunt. 

‘What is going on now in the Middle East is going to further aggravate the situation. As you chase out the terrorists and dismantle those cells which you don’t want close to you, they will have to relocate… Should we allow Africa to be their safe haven?’

The panel event formed part of the Chatham House Africa Programme’s ongoing work on African peace and security. The Programme will shortly launch a new project focused on regional conflict systems in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and Central Africa.

Watch the event in full here.

 

Source: Amnesty International –

In response to reports of cooperation between Thai and Vietnamese authorities that led to the arrest and detention of anti-corruption activist Le Chi Thanh, currently held at Bangkok’s Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre in Thailand, Amnesty International’s Co-Regional Director Montse Ferrer said:

“The detention of Le Chi Thanh is the latest troubling instance of transnational repression by Thai and Vietnamese authorities. The arbitrary revocation of Le Chi Thanh’s passport is alarming, indicating an attempt by Vietnamese authorities to coerce an activist living in exile into returning and then facing persecution.

“The Thai authorities must immediately release Le Chi Thanh and refrain from returning him to Viet Nam, where he could face serious human rights violations. We also call on the international community to publicly condemn the Vietnamese government for its ongoing cross-border efforts to silence peaceful dissent.

“No one should be returned to a country where they are at real risk of serious human rights violations. Any such return will breach the principle of non-refoulement as laid out in international human rights.”

Source: Amnesty International –

On 29 January 2024, five-year-old Hind Rajab was brutally killed, along with her four cousins, uncle and aunt, by the Israeli military as they attempted to flee a neighbourhood in Gaza City. The two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics who went to Hind’s rescue were also killed by the Israeli military.    

Hind’s mother, Wesam Hamada, was talking to her on the phone as the little girl, with Israeli soldiers nearby, hid out of sight and pleaded to be rescued. The recording of Hind’s emergency call with the Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers was used as the basis of the Oscar-nominated film, “Hind Rajab’s Voice”.

At an international conference organized by The European Palestinian Network in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wesam Hamada tells Amnesty International about her daughter’s last words, why she feels compelled to keep Hind’s memory alive and her wishes for Gaza’s children.

What were some of Hind’s last words to you, and do you hold the world responsible for her terrible death?

I’m scared… come and get me.

She said a sentence that tore my heart apart: ‘Mum, they’re lying. Stay with me!’ At that moment, I realized the betrayal. An ambulance was sent to her. It didn’t make it. It was bombed. That means one thing: it wasn’t allowed to save a life.

I don’t blame the world’s population, but I hold the silence responsible. The silence that makes the crime possible and makes it easy to repeat it.

Hind’s story is unimaginably heart-breaking and devastating. Where do you find the strength to keep going?

I get my strength from Hind. She was so strong when she was trapped in the car for hours. She kept talking on the phone even though she was injured, freezing and hungry. She kept talking to stay alive. She tried to calm me down even though she knew she was surrounded by Israeli soldiers, there was gunfire, and she was in a very dangerous situation. She is much stronger than me.

What would you like the world to know about your daughter, Hind?

Hind was a very strong and smart girl. She wanted to be a doctor so she could heal children. Not only in Gaza, but all over the world. If Hind were alive today and she saw all the terrible things that are happening to the children of Gaza, she wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Even though a ceasefire was announced late last year, the suffering in Gaza continues. What are Palestinians in Gaza experiencing right now?

The first proof that the genocide continues every day is the many people who are being killed. My family and friends tell me that they can’t get what they need. There is no access to water, there is no electricity, food or medicine. The health system has collapsed and there is no access to education for children.

The genocide has not stopped, and normal life has not returned to Gaza.

Every woman, every child, every person in Gaza is still a target.

© Private

Why is it important for you to attend public events to speak about Hind and what she went through?

As the mother of Hind and Iyad, I have a big responsibility. I want to keep Hind’s voice alive, because it is not only her voice but the voice of all the children of Gaza.

It brings hope to the children of Gaza when they see that people are behind them. Not just with supportive slogans, but with real change. When emergency aid reaches them in Gaza and when hospitals and schools reopen.

Your daughter’s story is told in the Oscar-nominated film, The Voice of Hind Rajab. What does it mean to you that Hind is remembered in this way?

The film represents not only Hind’s story, but the stories of thousands of children in Gaza. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza. The film documents this crime. And this documentation will be there for generations to come.

How has the strength and resilience of children in Gaza revealed themselves to you?

We were hiding in a basement with 75 other family members. The Israeli military was very close. The children were very hungry. They hadn’t eaten anything for nine hours. To keep the children quiet and make sure they would not be found by the soldiers, I promised that I would cook them a really good meal if we survived. At night, the Israeli military withdrew. But I couldn’t keep my promise because we had no more food. I apologized to the children many times. They simply replied that it was okay and that they would be fine.

What do you wish for the children of Gaza?

I am not asking for the impossible. I am asking for something very simple: that the life of a Palestinian child will be protected as if it was the life of your own child.

If the law cannot save a child, then it is a law that must be held accountable. And if the world only acts when the victim looks like its own children, then the world needs a new conscience.

Hind is no longer here, but her story is a responsibility. And a responsibility is not maintained with words, but with actions.

I ask you to imagine, just for a few seconds, the extent of the pain that mothers in Gaza bear when they lose their children. Imagine the bitterness of the pain, when you can’t save your child, or simply reach them, or know what their last moments were like. This pain lives in mothers every single day and with every breath they take.

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Reacting to the news that disruption to global fertilizer supply chains caused by Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz may lead to a global food price shock, Amanda Larsson, Global Big Ag Project Lead, Greenpeace Aotearoa said: “The crisis brought on by this illegal attack by the US and Israeli militaries reveals a systemic failure at the heart of our global food system.” 

“Almost half of global food production now depends on synthetic fertilisers produced by a small number of fossil fuel and agrochemical giants, leaving families and farmers to pay the price the moment fragile supply chains break.[1] While the human cost of the conflict continues to mount, the geopolitical shock is hitting farmers at the peak of the spring application, threatening harvests across the Northern Hemisphere and knock-on effects on food prices.”

“The solution to food sovereignty, independence, and local resilience is the same as that needed to solve the climate and biodiversity crises: ecological farming. By working with nature to fix nutrients naturally in the soil, farmers can break the cycle of chemical dependence, slash costs, protect our rivers from toxic run-off, and ensure healthy, affordable food for generations to come.”

“Governments must stop propping up this fragile corporate model and redirect financial support away from resource-heavy, industrial agriculture. Food security cannot be bought on a volatile global chemical market; it must be grown from the ground up through healthy soil and local resilience. It is time to fund the transition to self-sufficient, ecological practices that serve communities, not billionaires.”

ENDS 

Notes:

[1] Bloomberg, ‘Iran War Threatens Vital Supplies for Feeding the World Iran War Threatens Vital Supplies for Feeding the World’, 6 March 2026 – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-03-06/iran-war-s-impact-on-strait-of-hormuz-threatens-fertilizer-supplies-food-prices 

Contacts:

Contacts: Madison Carter, National Press Secretary, Greenpeace USA: [email protected], [email protected] 

Source: Amnesty International –

At the opening of its session, the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) adopted its Agreed Conclusions on strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, following weeks of intense pressure from a small, but vocal group of states seeking to derail the negotiations and the adoption of the text.  

The Commission adopted the Agreed Conclusions through a vote after the United States blocked adoption by consensus. An overwhelming majority of states supported the final text, with 37 out of the 45 member states of the Commission voting in favor, 6 abstaining, and only the US voting against.

Civil society and grassroots movements played a decisive role in securing this outcome. Feminist organizations and activists closely monitored negotiations, coordinated advocacy across capitals, and mobilized governments for months.

“At a time of severe backlash on human rights and multilateralism, the adoption of Agreed Conclusions that safeguard long-standing gender equality standards is a powerful signal that global commitments still matter and that attempts to turn back the clock will not go unchallenged,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“From the frontlines of communities to the halls of the UN, feminist groups and women human rights defenders continue to resist the backlash against gender justice, while mobilizing states to ensure that hard-won gains are protected and vigorously defended.”

This is the first time in the history of CSW that an outcome isn’t adopted by consensus, demonstrating both the deepening polarization around multilateral negotiations and the determination of an overwhelming majority of states to protect long-standing gender justice norms.

From the frontlines of communities to the halls of the UN, feminist groups and women human rights defenders continue to resist the backlash against gender justice, while mobilizing states to ensure that hard-won gains are protected and vigorously defended.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

Over a period of several weeks, UN member states engaged in negotiations on draft Agreed Conclusions focused on this year’s CSW priority theme: “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls”.

During the negotiations, the US and several other states, including Argentina, Russia and Saudi Arabia, sought to water down or reopen language drawn verbatim from previous CSW agreements. A broad group of states pushed back, repeatedly reminding those delegations that reopening agreed language would undermine years of established commitments. Ultimately, the Chair of CSW and the co-facilitators tabled a text that made some concessions while safeguarding core elements of previously agreed language.

Even as the Commission convened to adopt the outcome, efforts to derail the process continued. In a last-minute procedural move, the US presented amendments, arguing that the text still included “controversial” and “ideological” issues. The amendments decisively failed, with only the US voting in support of them. At the same time, other states — including Egypt and Nigeria — repeatedly called for a delay to the vote to allow more time for negotiations, despite extensive consultations and efforts by the co-facilitators to produce a balanced text while respecting integrity of agreed language.

“While the loss of consensus is disappointing, a weakened text – or no outcome at all – would have sent an especially troubling signal to women and girls who continue to face barriers to access to justice, and multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. In a climate marked by widespread impunity, Amnesty reiterates its calls on states to step up resistance to attacks on gender justice,” said Agnès Callamard.

Source: Amnesty International –

Five months on from opposition protests banned by the authorities that saw hundreds of people arrested, including pregnant women, some are still being held even though they had no involvement in the protests, while others have been convicted in unfair trials, Amnesty International said today.

In October 2025, a few days before the presidential election, hundreds of people, including protesters and passersby, were arrested during the crackdown on protests. Several of them have been convicted in unfair trials in which they were denied a lawyer. Dozens of others, including a pregnant woman, remain in pretrial detention, according to lawyers. 

“Today, five months after their arrest, people are still being held solely because they happened to be in the vicinity of the protests. The Ivorian authorities must order their release,” said Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“According to our information, several of the prisoners detained since October 2025 have not been allowed to see family members or lawyers, and are not receiving adequate medical care. We are very concerned about the situation of three women who, despite being in the advanced stages of pregnancy, are being held at the Abidjan prison complex.”

These women were caught up in raids while going about their daily business.

Lawyer Sylvain Tapi

Source: Amnesty International –

Across the world, governments and other actors are rolling back on decades of progress on gender equality, including access to abortion. But people are fighting back, determined to protect the rights so many have fought so hard to achieve.    

As the Commission on the Status of Women holds its 70th session, three courageous human rights defenders from Burkina Faso, Poland and the United States share their strategies to protect access to abortion, their hopes for the future and the reasons why they believe that, despite the many increasing challenges, humanity must always win.