Category: Academic Analysis

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Ben L Murphy, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Liverpool

The UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), demanded that Israel allow aid into Gaza in an advisory opinion on October 22. It held that Israel is in breach of its obligations as a UN member state by having failed to do so adequately over the past two years.

The opinion was requested ten months ago by the UN general assembly after Israel’s parliament banned the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) from operating in territories occupied by the country. Unrwa has long played a pivotal role in delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

In its verdict, the ICJ unanimously reaffirmed that the use of starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited under international law. The court also ordered Israel, by ten votes to one, to agree to and facilitate humanitarian relief in Gaza provided by the UN and its entities.

This aspect of the opinion should be celebrated. The precarious ceasefire in Gaza has not been accompanied by a simultaneous influx of aid. Conditions of famine, destitution and death continue to define the day-to-day experience of those living in Gaza.

However, some observers will be sceptical about whether the ICJ’s advisory opinion will have any tangible impact. A collection of judicial and institutional pronouncements on the illegality of Israel’s conduct in Gaza over the past two years has fallen on deaf ears.

These include the ICJ’s January 2024 order for Israel to take all measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, which a recent UN human rights council commission of inquiry report concluded it is committing.

The International Criminal Court also has outstanding arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant. Issued for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, these warrants have not been enforced.

The ICJ’s recent opinion will be added to this list. Israel did not participate in the oral proceedings for the opinion, and in a post on social media immediately after the verdict, the country’s foreign ministry stated that it “categorically rejects” the court’s findings.

UN falling short

In its advisory opinion, the ICJ held that “Israel has an obligation to cooperate in good faith with the United Nations by providing every assistance in any action it takes”. Here, the court was referring to action by Unrwa to assist Palestinians in Gaza. But this statement should prompt consideration of other types of “action” the UN has failed to take over the past two years of war.

As the ICJ said in its recent verdict, self-determination for the Palestinian people should include the “right to an independent and sovereign state”. However, Palestine continues to be denied full UN membership – a key element of statehood.

In May 2024, a majority of states in the UN general assembly determined that Palestine qualified for membership in accordance with the UN charter. But, despite only nine states voting against the resolution from a total of 193, Palestine was not granted membership.

This was a result of the UN’s dysfunctional structure. The five permanent members of the UN security council (China, France, Russia, the UK and US), the organ that is tasked with maintaining international peace and security, have veto power to block a resolution from being adopted.

And as Israel’s strongest military and diplomatic backer, the US has used its veto power continuously to defend Israeli interests. As long as Israel effectively wields a proxy veto at the security council through its alliance with the US, the UN’s ability to take action in support of the Palestinian people will be restricted and this never-ending loop will continue.

Judicial and institutional pronouncements on Israel’s conduct can have a broader cumulative effect in the pursuit of the realisation of Palestinian self-determination. A timely pronouncement can also be an important rhetorical tool in the quest for concrete goals, such as the reopening of humanitarian routes in Gaza.

But it is important to be aware of the fact that the UN is not a neutral arbiter of rights and obligations. In its current form, which allows members of the security council to block resolutions based on their own national interests, it is complicit in the current humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Ben L Murphy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. ICJ tells Israel to let UN aid flow into Gaza – but UN’s own failures throughout the war loom large – https://theconversation.com/icj-tells-israel-to-let-un-aid-flow-into-gaza-but-uns-own-failures-throughout-the-war-loom-large-268222

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Veronica Zamora-Gutierrez, Lecturer in Ecology, University of Southampton

October is bats’ time in the spotlight, although they are mostly portrayed as spooky and creepy. The truth is, bats are more likely to help you than harm you.

Since I first saw a bat as an undergraduate student more than 20 years ago, I was captivated by these enigmatic and “weird” animals. The more I learn, the more I am amazed by their uniqueness and extraordinary adaptations. Here are seven fascinating facts that reveal the truth behind the many misunderstandings people still have about bats.

1. Fear of bats is not universal, it’s cultural

In western cultures, bats tend to be associated with witches, vampires, night and fear. Literature, films and Halloween imagery lean on these themes. In contrast, in many parts of the world bats are viewed positively. In Mesoamerica, bats were woven into sacred stories. The Maya revered Camazotz, the bat god of the underworld, associated with night, death and sacrifice. In the Popol Vuh (the sacred book of the K’iche’ Maya), Camazotz dwells in the House of Bats in Xibalba (the Maya underworld). Even today, the Popol Vuh remains alive in Maya culture.

In 1946, at Monte Albán, an important archaeological site in southern Mexico, archaeologists discovered the so-called mask of the bat God, a jade artefact dated to around 100BC-AD200. Researchers interpret it as evidence that bats were revered in cultures inhabiting these regions, symbolising fertility, death and the sacred world of caves and night.

Caves in Mesoamerica were often seen as portals to the underworld, and bats emerging from these dark spaces became associated with ancestors and divine forces. Rather than mere harbingers of fear, they embodied the powerful link between life, death and renewal. Today, caves and sinkholes are still regarded as sacred spaces, where rituals that blend ancient traditions with Catholic influences are performed.

2. Bats don’t attack humans

From Dracula to Morbius, bats in movies are often cast as villains or responsible for terrible disease outbreaks. The story of Dracula depicts bats as bloodsucking creatures from hell. But in reality, only three out of the 1,500 or so bat species feed on blood and they do not live in the UK or Europe. They prefer warmer climates and are found in the tropical areas of the Americas.

Even vampire bats target mostly livestock or other animals, not humans. Far more common are bats that feed on insects, fruit, nectar or even fish. These varied diets make bats essential to ecosystems.

3. Bats don’t deserve the rap they get for disease

Yes, bats can carry viruses and pathogens (as many animals do). But disease spillover to humans usually happens when bats are stressed by habitat loss, disturbance, or forced into closer contact with us or other animals. If blame is to be cast, it lies with us humans.

As for the COVID pandemic, it’s possible a person rather than an animal brought the virus to the live animal market in Wuhan.

4. Bats aren’t blind

Have you ever heard someone say that bats are blind? Maybe this idea comes from the fact that bats fly in unusual ways and are completely nocturnal in some regions. But bats have good vision supplemented by a sixth sense: echolocation. It helps them “see” the details of their environment.

Bat sonar navigation is fine-tuned to help them avoid obstacles such as trees and vegetation, and it helps them find food such as insects flying in the air or resting on plants. This system is comparable to some of our most advanced technology, such as the sonar submarines use to navigate in the darkness of the ocean.

5. Bats are givers, not takers

In the UK, bats eat insects – and a lot of them. This natural pest suppression helps reduce crop damage, control mosquito populations and relieve pressure on farmers to use chemical insecticides. But in tropical regions, bats do even more. They offer pollination, seed dispersal and vegetation regeneration services that are critical to ecosystems and agriculture.

In 2021 my colleagues and I conducted a study in Mexico showing that bats improve both yield and fruit quality of an important cactus fruit crop in Mexico. This was the first direct evidence of the economic value of bat pollination services, estimated at US$2,500 (£1,8060) per crop hectare.

We can taste their benefits here in the UK too. Do you drink tequila or mezcal? Well, bats are the main pollinators of that group of plants, called agaves.

6. Bats aren’t pests

You may have got the wrong idea from those depictions of bats as hellish creatures but these animals are closely entwined with their environment. Bats use weather cues to time key life cycles (hibernation, migration, reproduction). And these activities need to coincide with the availability of food. For example, insectivorous bats rely on insects emerging at predictable times. But as climate change makes spring warmer and shifts rainfall patterns, insects may appear earlier or in altered numbers.

These risks are especially relevant for insect eaters in temperate zones like the UK, where seasonality is strongly marked. A European study from 2025 of temperate bats warns that weather changes could push bat activity out of sync with prey availability.

We don’t yet know how severe the consequences will be. But if bats can’t feed on insects anymore, pest outbreaks and crop losses could rise.

7. Bats are lovers, not loners

Many bats are highly social and cooperative. Female vampire bats, for instance, are known to share blood meals with roost-mates that failed to feed that night, even when those bats are not related to them. They also spend large amounts of time social grooming, which not only helps with hygiene but also strengthens bonds between bats.

In other cave-roosting species, mothers form large nurseries and help care for each other’s young. They share grooming and protection duties and help with the thermoregulation of newborns.

Recent research on the spectral bat (Vampyrum spectrum), a carnivorous bat and one of the largest in the Americas (with a wingspan of about one metre), shows that these carnivores live in close family groups like parents and pups. Using cameras inside tree roosts, scientists observed adults bringing prey to their young, grooming, greeting each other, and even leaving and returning together, a level of cooperation rarely seen in carnivorous mammals.

These social bonds challenge the Hollywood image of bats as eerie loners of the night. Instead, bats live in rich communities built on cooperation and social bonding.

Veronica Zamora-Gutierrez receives funding from The Royal Society, British Cactus and Succulent Society.

– ref. Seven things Halloween and Hollywood get wrong about bats – https://theconversation.com/seven-things-halloween-and-hollywood-get-wrong-about-bats-267341

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Richard Whitman, Member of the Conflict Analysis Research Centre, University of Kent; Royal United Services Institute

Following another week of diplomatic flip-flopping in the United States, Ukraine’s European allies did not disappoint when it came to the fulsomeness of their diplomatic rhetoric. Yet concrete action to strengthen the capabilities Ukraine needs to win the war remained at a snail’s pace.

After a less than successful meeting in the White House on October 17 between the American and Ukrainian presidents, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine and its European allies once again scrambled to respond to US equivocation with public affirmations of support for Kyiv.

A meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday October 20, a summit of EU leaders on Thursday October 23, and a gathering of the coalition of the willing on Friday October 24, provided plenty of opportunities for such statements. For good measure, the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, paid a visit to Washington on October 21 and 22 before joining the leaders of the coalition of the willing on Friday.

The core message from all these meetings was that where the Trump administration sends ambiguous signals, Ukraine’s more steadfast European supporters are still keen to demonstrate their mettle.

When they met on Monday in Brussels, EU foreign ministers had a packed agenda. On Ukraine, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, Kaja Kallas, reiterated the bloc’s support for what she described as “Trump’s efforts to end the war” and condemned Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

The following day, Tuesday October 21, brought diplomatic whiplash, when it transpired that there had been another apparent shift in the White House. The Budapest summit between Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was postponed until further notice. The supposed host, Hungary’s Kremlin-friendly prime minister, Viktor Orban, and Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, maintained that preparations for the meeting were continuing. But Trump was unequivocal. He would not waste time on a meeting if a peace deal was not a realistic prospect.

In an unusual moment of clarity, the US president then appeared to realise that he needed to demonstrate actual consequences for Russia obstructing a peace agreement. On October 22 the US announced sanctions on two of Russia’s largest oil companies – Rosneft and Lukoil – the first sanctions package imposed on Russia in Trump’s second term.

There is a grace period until November 21 to allow for the necessary winding down of transactions with, and divestment from, the two companies. Nonetheless, the mere announcement of the sanctions has already led to major Indian and Chinese clients beginning to pull out from their deals with Russia’s energy giants. Additional sanctions against the Russian banking sector and companies involved in oil infrastructure are apparently also being contemplated in the White House.

After much deliberation to overcome internal divisions, the EU followed suit. On October 23, it announced its 19th package of sanctions against Russia. This also targeted an oil trader and two refineries in China and banks in Central Asia.

In addition, the EU confirmed that a decision had been taken on the rules of the transition to a complete ban on any Russian gas imports. This will take full effect at the end of 2027.

All these efforts are critical to increasing pressure on Russia and are long overdue. But their immediate effect is uncertain. Russia has responded with the usual performative defiance. It has tested a new nuclear-powered missile and carried out a readiness drill for the country’s nuclear forces, overseen directly by Putin.

More help needed

With Russia’s air and ground wars against Ukraine continuing unabated, the other major challenge for Kyiv’s allies is providing assistance.

Here, progress has stalled. The US continues to withhold permission for Ukraine to use long-range missiles against targets deep inside of Russia. The mooted supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine by the US has been scotched. Meeting with coalition leaders on Friday, Zelensky kept pressing for deep-strike weapons, stressing that when the US threatened to supply Tomahawks to Ukraine, Putin was willing to negotiate.

Even more pressing is the issue of how to cover Ukraine’s financial needs. Kyiv’s most recent estimate of the country’s unmet external financing needs for 2026-27 stands at US$60 billion (£45 billion).

At the European Council meeting on October 23, leaders reiterated their commitment to “continue to provide, in coordination with like-minded partners and allies, comprehensive political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people”. However, crucially, no agreement was reached on how the necessary funds would be mobilised.

There is strong support for using frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine, including from the coalition of the willing and the US. A proposal to provide Ukraine with a loan secured by these frozen Russian assets has been around for some time.

It has not been finalised due to two major obstacles. The first was Ukraine’s refusal to accept EU conditions that while some of the money could be used to buy weapons, none of the funds should be spent on procuring them from the US. The second, more critical, issue was a demand from Belgium – where most of the frozen Russian assets are held at the Euroclear securities depository – for robust guarantees that the burden for any Russian litigation and retaliation be collectively shared by EU members.

Despite all the signalling from the EU’s leadership in the run-up to last week’s gathering in Brussels that these two major obstacles to approving the loan were being overcome, the meeting ended with EU leaders postponing a decision to their next meeting in December.

At the end of a week of concentrated attention on Russia’s war against Ukraine, the outcome was therefore a repetition of recent behaviour. The Trump administration flip-flopped and the coalition of the willing produced little more than a statement of intent to continue their support for Ukraine. The track record of Kyiv’s European partners to slow-walk the necessary goods for Ukraine’s defence continues. There’s mounting evidence suggesting that they will not stretch themselves to go beyond securing Ukraine’s immediate survival.

Unsurprisingly, a credible pathway to ending the war with a just and stable peace is still lacking.

Richard Whitman has received funding from the Economic and Research Council of the UK as a Senior Fellow of the UK in a Changing Europe initiative. He is a past recipient of grant funding from the British Academy of the UK, EU Erasmus+ and Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), and an Academic Fellow of the European Policy Centre in Brussels. He is a past Associate Fellow and Head of the Europe Programme of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).

Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.

– ref. Ukraine: another week of diplomatic wrangling leaves Kyiv short of defensive options – https://theconversation.com/ukraine-another-week-of-diplomatic-wrangling-leaves-kyiv-short-of-defensive-options-268023

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rebecca Hamer, Research associate, Sheffield Hallam University

Two stories of abuse have repeatedly captured the nation’s attention. The first relates to Prince Andrew’s friendship with financier Jeffrey Epstein, even after Epstein was convicted for sex offences. The second is the group-based child sexual abuse in Rotherham, Rochdale and other cities.

Prince Andrew has come under mounting pressure over the posthumous publication of a memoir by Virginia Giuffre a victim of Epstein’s who also accused Andrew of abuse. In 2022, Andrew settled a civil sexual assault case brought by Giuffre, for an undisclosed sum.

At the same time, the victims of grooming gangs have accused the government of failing them by mishandling an inquiry into the crimes committed against them.

I work with survivors of childhood sexual abuse, including in Rotherham, and the services that support them. While it would be disingenuous to claim that all survivors’ experiences are the same, there are important similarities in these stories, as well as their abusers.

Read more:
How to make sure the new grooming gangs inquiry is the last

Their backgrounds may differ – wealthy financier or Pakistani taxi driver from Yorkshire – but sexual abusers of children, especially where group grooming is involved, share some traits.

In her memoir, Giuffre accused Andrew of being “entitled – as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright”.

Entitlement, underpinned by misogyny, and the othering and denigration of particular girls and women, is evident in many cases of child sexual abuse. Abusers may have close relationships with some women, but have a set of criteria – conscious or subconscious – that render the girls they abuse as “other”, and deserving of being exploited or used.

Another common thread is commodification of women and girls. Epstein trafficked underage girls via private jet to his island where he “entertained” other high-profile men. He leveraged his wealth and power to exploit girls to impress his peers.

Grooming victims in Rotherham and other cities in the UK were also trafficked, often by networks of taxi drivers. They were taken to dilapidated flats above takeaways, where they were also forced or coerced into sex with associates of men who had manipulated their way into being trusted by vulnerable girls.

Regardless of the sums involved or the nature of the currency (fiscal, kudos, business arrangements), abusers often view the women and girls they abuse as a means to improve their own personal lot.

That may be money changing hands, or a sense of brotherhood and respect from other powerful men. Investigations into Epstein have revealed fawning letters to him, allegedly written by high-profile politicians including Donald Trump and Peter Mandelson.

The legacy of trauma

All survivors of child sexual exploitation have suffered highly traumatic experiences in their formative years. This impacts their sense of who they are, what they are worth and can do, and their perception of other people.

It also affects their psychological health. PTSD is frequently misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other chronic mental health conditions. They may become further stigmatised and othered, feeling blamed for their abuse, as the symptoms of their trauma are treated as individual dysfunction.

Trauma shows itself in physical symptoms too – chronic fatigue and chronic pain, or affecting the heart, brain and nervous system. Many now-adult survivors I have spoken to have described the physical and psychological injuries that their experiences of abuse inflicted upon them. They have felt unable to leave the house, or injured themselves to try and overcome the physical flashbacks of their abuse.

When Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year, her family said: “In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”

Read more:
Virginia Giuffre’s treatment in the media highlights the great consequences of accusing high profile men of abuse

The trauma of being dismissed

The UK government’s inquiry into grooming gangs now faces months of delays, after candidates to lead the inquiry pulled out, and multiple women resigned from the inquiry’s victims liaison panel.

It’s not surprising to see survivors questioning the validity of an inquiry overseen by professionals with backgrounds in the police and social work – organisations that they feel have abandoned them.

Survivors of childhood sexual abuse regularly describe feeling “gaslit”, diminished and silenced by people with more power than them. In a way, it is a replication of the trauma they experienced at the hands of predatory abusers in their childhood.

Abuse survivors also have different notions of justice, or what they want from speaking out. But whether it’s through an inquiry, the courts, campaigning or a memoir, survivors want to be heard and believed when they share their story.

Giuffre and the UK grooming gangs survivors have this in common, too. They have all been doubted, intimidated and abused for their bravery of speaking out.

Police are looking into claims that Prince Andrew asked his bodyguard to uncover information on Giuffre, although there is no suggestion that individual took any such action. But the Met reportedly did not investigate allegations against Andrew that were released as part of the Epstein files.

Many survivors in Rotherham had frequent contact with police, who viewed them as disruptive and problematic. Survivors were dismissed as “child prostitutes”, a grossly inaccurate term that blames the victim of child sexual exploitation. Grown men were referred to as their “boyfriends”, rather than identified as criminals and abusers.

Often, survivors feel let down by organisations whose duty it is to protect. Their hesitance to be represented by these same services again is understandable.

But there is a possibility for positive change. I have heard many stories of the enormous benefits of trauma-focused work, including physical and cognitive techniques to ground the mind and body in the present and to soothe the nervous system. Survivors value being supported by professionals who understand their experiences and the impact through a trauma-informed lens.

Survivors who have been able to access support like this describe being able to stand proud in their community, to speak up for themselves, set boundaries and recognise themselves as important, capable and worthy of respect.

Rebecca Hamer receives funding from Innovate UK for a pilot developing an equine based trauma-stabilisation pathway for women with substance use problems.

– ref. From grooming gangs to Virginia Giuffre, this is the common thread in abuse – https://theconversation.com/from-grooming-gangs-to-virginia-giuffre-this-is-the-common-thread-in-abuse-268153