@benjaminchaud_illustration   This is how democracy is hollowed out.Not overnight.Not through shouted decrees or dramatic ruptures. But through paperwork, fines, investigations — until dissent becomes too expensive, too risky, too exhausting to sustain. Across Europe and beyond, the governments we elect speak the language of rights while practising control. Neoliberal democracies borrow the tools of autocracies; autocracies borrow the vocabulary of democracy. The result is th

We entered 2026 in a world that no longer pretends to be governed by rules. The trends identified by The New Humanitarian  are not distant warning signs. They are already shaping our everyday lives. After a year marked by wars in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, by the erosion of International Humanitarian Law, and by the casual normalisation of force over law, the new year opened with something unmistakable: a global order drifting from instability into open lawlessness. Territoria

By Niamh Purcell, International Climate Justice Advisor I was so lucky to be able to attend COP30 with the Child Rights International Network, as one of their Youth Climate Advisers - a dream of mine since I was 14 finally came true!! I’ve been working with the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Climate Change and Human Rights very closely over the last year, so being able to attend COP was really the cherry on the cake - being part of this global space for climate action

Finding oneself again in a virtual room is never a neutral act for those who have spent years working in child protection within humanitarian settings. The screens light up, names appear, and for a moment the places return — the emergencies, the coordination meetings where urgency and complexity had to coexist. These are people I have worked with, studied with, built fragile protection systems alongside. Once, we met inside organisations, mandates, funding streams. Now we mee