Stories on peace and security

David Miliband is President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an NGO devoted to providing lifesaving aid in serious crises. In this interview with akzente, the former British Foreign Secretary talks about humanitarian hotspots, the global refugee situation and why internally displaced people tend to be overlooked.

Suzan Aref has dedicated her life to protecting and supporting women in Iraq. We turn the spotlight on her life and work.

The German Federal Foreign Office has introduced a new feminist foreign policy. Brazilian Renata Giannini from the Unidas Women’s Network is an expert on the topic; in akzente, she gives insights into her work and explains what this means and how it could or should influence German-Latin American relations. 

Pakistani households have been living next to Afghan refugee families in the north of Pakistan for decades, without either side mixing with the other. By providing safe spaces to meet, for women in particular, GIZ is bringing both sets of neighbours together.

All over the world, women face disadvantages. Feminist development policy aims to address the causes of this inequality.

When Russia launched its war of aggression on Ukraine, GIZ was able to provide rapid and effective assistance because of our presence throughout the country. Since then, we have been combining rapid assistance with reconstruction and advice on reforms. By Daniel Busche, GIZ Country Director in Ukraine

Since fleeing to Germany, the Ukrainian psychiatrist and psychotherapist Valentyna Mazhbits has been working at the Berlin Charité for the Solomiya Hospital Partnership project to support psychiatric hospitals in her homeland (Solomiya means ‘peace’ in Ukrainian).

An interview with Sabah Al Hallak, a Syrian women’s and human rights activist, about her own experience and her involvement in the Action Network on Forced Displacement.

How GIZ works with transitional development assistance and why it is becoming increasingly important as a bridge between emergency assistance and traditional development cooperation.

Ethiopia, a large landlocked country in the Horn of Africa, is a key partner country in German development cooperation. The GIZ country office in the capital, Addis Ababa, is headed by Peter Palesch. akzente spent a day with the experienced country director, who manages to keep calm even when the going gets tough.

What role do people with diverse gender identities or sexual orientations play in Colombia’s peace process? Mery Rodríguez, a social scientist and expert on memory work in the ProPaz II programme, discusses the topic in an interview with akzente.

Subject to persecution, displacement or murder, people with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations have arguably suffered more than almost any other group during the armed conflict in Colombia. GIZ is helping them to deal with their violent past and to become involved in the peace process. Four voices describe their difficult journey.