Shiler Sido was born in Afrin, in the olive-covered hills of northern Syria, where 95 percent of her neighbors were Kurdish, and a fragile experiment in pluralism briefly took root. Then came 2018, Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch, and what she describes not as counter-terrorism but as demographic engineering: 18 million olive trees felled, 10,000 homes…
Israel has betrayed the very values that made the Jewish people the world’s conscience for millennia—values forged in our own persecution, meant to bind us forever to the defense of the persecuted. Instead, from the occupation of 1967 to the genocide now consuming Gaza and Israel’s inhumane crimes against the Palestinian people in the West…
Authors: Dr. Wioletta Rebecka, Alain Bayongwa, Aline, Anita Bizimana Espérance, Aziza Aimerance, Bulonza, Bahati Balingene, Charline Kihuo, Diane Kahindo Feza, Esther Faida Feza Josephine, Furaha Joyeuse, MunYerekana Kahiro Collette, Nabintu Angela Nabintu Mulume Josline, Naomi Sharon, Noella Sekola Esther, Nshobole Muderhwa Pascaline, Plamedi Mapendo Marie, Sanganire Anne Marie, Sarah Chance / Bénédicte, Sintia Chance Solange,…
By Caroline Ewing and Anne Speckhard Caroline Ewing, Research Fellow, International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism Anne Speckhard, Director, International Center for the Study of Violence Extremism Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Caroling Ewing Email: CarolineAnnaEwing@Gmail.Com Phone: (301) 655-6508 Introduction The rapid evolution of online extremist ecosystems has vastly shifted…
The Institute for Humanitarian Conflict Resolution embraces a philosophy of peace and reconciliation to ensure that men, women, and especially children in many violent conflict-ridden countries have hope for a better and more promising future
For Sam Ben-Meir, PhD, the questions at the heart of his work began with a powerful experience when he was just five years old—an encounter that shaped the way he came to see animals and the natural world and ultimately influenced the cause to which he would devote much of his life. In the next episode of On the Issues, Alon Ben-Meir speaks with the philosopher, writer, and author of Ethical Interanimality: Toward a Relational Philosophy of Nature about that personal journey and the ideas it inspired. Their conversation explores our relationship with animals, our responsibility toward the natural world, and why addressing today’s environmental challenges may require us to fundamentally rethink humanity’s place in nature. soundcloud.com/alon-ben-meir/on-the-issues-episode-160-sam-ben-meir
The Witness Who Stayed
In a deeply personal account, Syrian Kurdish peacebuilding specialist Shiler Sido recounts her repeated displacement from Afrin and the devastating impact of war on Kurdish communities in northern Syria. She describes fleeing with her young daughter after Turkey’s 2018 Operation Olive Branch, living for a year in a displacement camp, and documenting the experiences of communities she says have faced forced displacement, demographic change, and political erasure. Sido also challenges the international community’s failure to translate documentation of abuses into meaningful accountability, arguing that geopolitical interests have repeatedly outweighed the protection of vulnerable communities. Drawing on her own humanitarian work and the organization she founded, Sido makes a broader case for placing psychological healing at the center of post-conflict reconstruction. Her central message is clear: lasting peace cannot be built in communities where trauma remains unaddressed.
ihcr.institute/writing/the-witness-who-stayed/
We are proud to introduce the inaugural issue of the Journal for International Humanitarian Conflict Resolution, a platform dedicated to exposing injustice, amplifying courageous voices, and inspiring action. In a world where war, authoritarianism, displacement, gender-based violence, climate catastrophe, and digital oppression devastate millions, indifference is complicity. This issue brings together leading scholars, humanitarian experts, and frontline advocates whose work confronts the greatest moral challenges of our time and refuses to look away. More than a collection of essays, this Journal is a call to conscience. It gives voice to survivors, challenges impunity, names those responsible, and insists that behind every statistic is a human life deserving of dignity, justice, and hope. Read it. Reflect on it. Share it. Then act. Because awareness is the first step toward accountability, and lasting change begins only when silence ends.
ihcr.institute/book/journal-for-humanitarian-conflict-resolution-volume-1-issue-1-summer-2026/
