Opinion pieces

1 - 8 of 8 results

Aid work must never be linked with defence

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

As an aid worker with an American accent, I’m used to being the target of security threats. In South Sudan in 2016, humanitarian staff were subjected to horrific violence and harassment, with Americans often singled out. There were mock executions of Americans at checkpoints. In an attack on a residential compound, an American was badly beaten and told: “Tell your Embassy how we treated you”.

Opinion Pieces, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Conflict, DFAT, Emergencies, South Sudan

I've Visited Many Terrible Refugee Camps but Cox's Bazar Felt Like the Gates of Hell

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

In a wretched makeshift refugee camp at Cox's Bazar, near the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar, I am sitting on the ground, sweltering under a 'shelter' of black plastic talking with three small orphans, aged eight, six and four -- whose lives have been suddenly and violently reshaped. They are among more than a million people now clinging to life in drenching heat.

Opinion Pieces, Asia and the Pacific, Bangladesh, Conflict, Myanmar, Tim Costello

War in the Garden of Eden

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

While the battle for West Mosul rages from house to house, tens of thousands of people displaced by the fighting are filling camps around the city. Most arrive with just the clothes on their backs. Some are barefoot. Many have suffered years of unimaginable misery. Yet they are the lucky ones. They have survived.

Opinion Pieces, Conflict, Iraq, Refugee Crisis, Tim Costello

Childhood is the forgotten casualty of relentless war

Friday, August 1, 2014

On Thursday July 10 I was watching our local news in Gaza and heard there had been a missile attack which resulted in several deaths in the El Halabi family. Seven of my family members had been killed. In that moment the day’s news instantly shocked me to the core.

Opinion Pieces, Emergencies, Middle East, Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Child Deaths, Children's Rights, Conflict, Gaza, Israel, Mohammed El Halabi, Palestine

The lessons still to be learnt from Rwanda

Monday, April 7, 2014

The killing was on a terribly efficient scale, much of it accomplished not with bullets but machetes. It was 100 days of frenzied violence and merciless killing that left more than 800,000 Rwandans dead, the world struggling to comprehend, and the international community disastrously slow to act.

Opinion Pieces, Emergencies, Africa, Conflict, Rwanda, Rwandan Genocide, South Sudan, Syria, Tim Costello

All we should be saying, is give peace a chance

Monday, September 2, 2013

Today Australia steps into one of the most significant roles on the global stage. We do so at a time of grave international turmoil. As president of the United Nations Security Council, Australia is now responsible for leading the discussion on the Syrian conflict as support for a US-led military intervention grows. The gravity of this situation cannot be underestimated and our government's task is not to be envied.

Opinion Pieces, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Emergencies, Middle East, Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Child Slavery, Child Soldiers, Conflict, Refugee Crisis, Security Council, Syria, Uganda, UNHCR, United Nations

Amid refugee strife, kindness shines through

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Last week I sat in a tent in Lebanon with a Syrian refugee couple who had escaped with their five children. Tameer and Delal fled with only the clothes they were wearing after three of their neighbours - including a cousin - were killed outside their Damascus home by an aerial bombing campaign. Once they reached the Lebanese border, the family walked for more than a day before finding help through World Vision in the Bekaa Valley.

Opinion Pieces, Emergencies, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Middle East, Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Conflict, Refugee Crisis, Syria, Tim Costello

New approach needed in Gaza crisis

Friday, January 30, 2009

Investigating potential war crimes is essential, there is no doubt. But this will not do a thing for the children who are waiting for food and help to arrive, children who have seen things they should never have seen.

Opinion Pieces, Emergencies, Middle East, Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Child Deaths, Conflict, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Tim Costello