Showing 1 - 4 of 4
Time to act on conflict's impact
News, Helen Clark & Supachai Panitchpakdi, Published on 16/11/2022
» It is now nearly nine months since Russia invaded Ukraine. A war that should never have happened, and which Moscow hoped would be over in a matter of days, threatens to drag on endlessly. Estimates of military and civilian deaths vary wildly but are in the tens of thousands on each side. Over thirteen million Ukrainians have been displaced, about half of them across Europe and the other half internally. There has been inestimable damage to infrastructure and property. The approaching winter threatens to multiply misery many times over. As if the human suffering already experienced is not enough, the nightmarish spectre of the use of nuclear weapons lurks in the background.
Renewables key to 'independence'
News, Helen Clark & Dan Smith & Margot Wallstrom, Published on 13/04/2022
» Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shaken many long-held Western assumptions about the foundations of peace in Europe. Among other things, it has renewed policymakers' focus on energy dependence as a key strategic issue.
Reeling in a deal to save the seas
Oped, Helen Clark, Arancha González, Susana Malcorra & James Michel, Published on 02/12/2021
» The ocean covers more than 70% of our planet's surface, produces half of the oxygen we breathe, feeds billions of people, and provides hundreds of millions of jobs. It also plays a major role in mitigating climate change: over 80% of the global carbon cycle passes through the ocean. But this precious natural resource is not invincible. Despite all the benefits it affords us, the ocean today faces unprecedented man-made crises that threaten its health and its ability to sustain life on Earth.
Time to let non-violent drug offenders out of jail
Oped, Fernando Henrique Cardoso & Ruth Dreifuss & Helen Clark, Published on 18/04/2020
» Outdated criminal and correctional laws are threatening the lives of over 1.6 million people incarcerated for non-violent offences. Countries are failing to meet their basic needs and rights. They are also depriving societies of a vital workforce. By releasing people incarcerated for non-violent offences in order to control the Covid-19 pandemic in prisons, authorities in very different parts of the world are implicitly admitting that the drug sentences were unnecessarily harsh and disproportionate, and that many incarcerated people could have lived through better alternatives than prison to pay their duty to society -- if any.