It’s just over a year since the crisis in the Central African Republic erupted. I vividly remember the horrifying news reports – machete-wielding, gun-toting menand the thousands fleeing their homes as the war quickly escalated. Little...

Update, 30 Sep: It's our last day to influence the Governor, and we know his team are feeling the pressure - they're deleting your messages from his Facebook page so that the wider Nigerian community can't see details of Moses' case...

US-led strikes against ISIS positions inside Syria and the arming of armed opposition groups are now a real possibility . However, little is being said about what this may mean for civilians in Syria or the prospect of long-term...

I recently wrote about the importance of ensuring greater grassroots buy-in for increased humanitarian access into Syria. This is vitally important now that there is a UN Security Council resolution mandating the UN to enter Syria...

This week world leaders converge upon Newport for the NATO summit. There’s a crowded agenda and Afghanistan is no longer at the front of people’s minds, but this is a key moment for the country. NATO states will debate the training and...

“A step change in access is still required that will make a meaningful difference in the lives of those who suffer in the Syrian Arab Republic.” UN Secretary General, 21 August 2014 The UN now having the ability to enter Syria without...

While we can only hope that the latest fitful emergency peace talks in Cairo make progress, the fact remains that the violence in Gaza and southern Israel has been utterly terrible and has filled most onlookers with despair bordering...

"The crisis changed each and every one of us. The challenges changed us, but mostly it was death. Death left its mark in every one of us: we all changed because of the increasing violence, the loss of people close to us, the injustice...

In August 2012, Claudia was woken at 3:00 in the morning when soldiers burst into her home in Veracruz City, Mexico. They tied her hands and blindfolded her. They took her to the local naval base where they tortured her: they subjected...

It was a pleasure to take part in a conference on June 21 called Syria - Correcting the Narrative, Building Solidarity , held at SOAS in London. The conference was expertly organised by the Center for Middle East Studies, Josef Korbel...

If Rafael Braga Vieira watches the game in his hometown tonight, it’ll be from his prison cell. When the Olympics come to the city in a couple of years, he might be allowed to watch the events in his cell too. And the World Cup after...

The road ahead is still long and riddled with obstacles and mines. The end is still blocked, and what lies beyond it remains unknown – what lies beyond the siege, the revolution, and the war. It is a dream binding us all, as though we...

Join our live Q&A and ask our experts your questions Electric shocks to the genitals. Cigarette burns. Being punched and beaten. Deprived of food and water. Your family threatened with the same if you don’t confess. Despite a global...

Amnesty International UK’s national conference opened on April 12 with a speech delivered by Syrian human rights activist, Reem al Assil . What she had to say was melancholic yet ultimately inspiring. Reem has been a friend of Amnesty...

This evening, I'll be standing in Traflgar Square along with thousands of others to mark an anniversary we all hoped wouldn't exist. On Saturday, it will be three years since the start of peaceful protests in Syria. Protests which were...

The situation in Syria is the greatest humanitarian crisis of our times. 15 March marks three years since the start of the Syrian uprising. Now more than ever, we need to stand together to ensure that this is the last anniversary...

A few days before International Women’s Day 2014, Lily Allen announced she hates the word feminism . A few months ago David Cameron declined to identify himself as a feminist . Why? Is feminism a dirty word? Does the concept of equal...

Letters to the editor The Times letters@thetimes.co.uk Tuesday 4 February 2014 Sir, Growing numbers of reports of the use of “barrel bombs” by Syrian government forces in attacks on Aleppo and elsewhere are absolutely reprehensible and...

Relax, gays guys! Some of President’s Putin’s best friends are gay! He thinks Elton John is outstanding! ‘I’m not prejudiced in any way’, says the man who gave his Presidential assent to laws that have severely restricted the LGBTI...

In the small town of Boali, 100km north of the capital Bangui, the Muslim neighbourhoods are eerily silent, completely empty of their inhabitants. Every single home has been thoroughly looted. Even the front doors have been removed and...