Conflict, climate change and the need for safe spaces: the interlocking problems that urgently need joined up solutions

At the time of writing, and with Bakhmut and Khartoum on fire, it was made public by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) that Europe saw its steepest year-on-year increase in military expenditure for at least 30 years and that global military expenditure had reached a new high (SIPRI 2023). There are of course numerous possible explanations for this with the ongoing war in Ukraine being the first and foremost. On a brighter note, Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to resume ties after seven years of tension, agreeing to reopen their respective embassies within the next two months (Nereim 2023). This is a much-needed glimmer of hope that will hopefully further the cause of peace in Yemen where Saudi Arabia and Iran support opposing sides.

But the fact that rising military expenditures are explainable does not of course make them acceptable. An end to the Ukraine war seems a distant possibility. In spite of all the military expenditure, a military ‘solution’ appears out of sight and proposals for negotiations are not taken seriously. Formerly neutral countries Finland and Sweden have joined NATO or want to join, respectively. The minimal 2% national defence budget NATO demands of its members is rarely discussed anymore, whereas before few countries reached it (House of Commons Library 2022). All these recently manufactured weapons pollute and destroy the earth and its inhabitants literally and psychologically. And when the war is over, the new weapon technology will still be there, and many of the old weapons will remain.

Trying to reach an end to the war in Ukraine with military means, which could happen, would set a dangerous precedent in relation to future resolutions. If proposals to resolve the situation peacefully are not taken seriously, militarism will only result in even more militarism, resulting in a growing number of refugees and IDPs and an increased lack of safe spaces: real safe spaces – territorial, physical and psychosocial.

The rise in military expenditure, which is happening at the same time as global calls to combat climate change become ever more urgent, is an example of the interlocking problems addressed in this issue, which starts with a letter from the IPPNW-Europe meeting in Hamburg in January this year. Remarkable is that one of the most worrying issues discussed at the time – a mere three months ago – was the Russian occupation of the nuclear power-plant at Zaporižžja, an item that since then has almost vanished from mainstream news. A positive idea to come out of the meeting – which was discussed in some detail – was the possibility of creating a Nuclear-Free Nordic country zone within NATO.

Military production and military activity are among the greatest contributors to climate change, and climate change is one of the most important factors in future civil unrest, if not war itself. In one of the commentaries in this issue Dilshad Jaff clearly makes the case that humanitarian agencies and world powers should focus on the consequences of both violence and climate change, writing about Iraq, a country that is ‘classified as the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to suffer decreased water and food availability and extreme temperatures‘.

Two articles in this issue focus on mental health: Pegah Seidi et al. assess the mental health situation of IDPs in the Garmian region of Iraqi Kurdistan and explore its associations with displacement and years of living in a camp. Francisco Javier Bonilla-Escobar et al. assess the mid-term outcomes of two community-based mental health interventions, realized in two cities of the Colombian Pacific region.

While the pandemic may be considered over there are still many lessons to be learnt, and in their article Orwa Al-Abullah and Agneta Kallström examine why there is low adherence to COVID-19 prevention measures in Northwest Syria; they find it is mainly due to external factors after years of war, related to socioeconomic status, scarcity of resources, and poor living conditions, with implications for a more holistic response that takes these factors into account.

Closing the articles section, Fadi Ghieh et al. review data on the microbiology of osteomyelitis in war-related injuries in the Middle East and North Africa with recommendations for improved treatment but also a plea for more research to solve this severe but often neglected problem.

In a second commentary in this issue Alexander Hasenstab & Tom Smith review the evidence and make the case for more pre-deployment security training for humanitarian workers.

The subjects of the six book reviews are as widespread as ever: nuclear weapons, military emissions, psychiatry and war, remembrance of war, the Red Cross and humanitarian aid, but here too the connections between different problems and the influence they have on each other are evident. The authors also bring out the human side of their subjects. In her Diagnosing dissent, hysterics, deserters, and conscientious objectors in Germany during World War One, Rebecca Ayato Bennette points out that although military psychiatrists are often harsh in their words, this doesn’t mean that they are as harsh in practice. Books on the Red Cross are covered in two reviews: Cedric Cotter’s review of The Red Cross Movement – Myths, practices and turning points highlights the value of a collection that shows ‘the Movement’s history cannot be constructed around an exclusively Geneva-centred narrative’; Corinne Chaponnière’s biography of Henry Dunant makes it clear that while the ‘Man of the Red Cross’ had many faults, it was exactly because he was not the ‘nice’ person humanitarians can often be expected to be that he was able to set up the biggest humanitarian organization to date, and in a record-breaking time, never to be matched again.

We are grateful to all the authors represented in this issue, and their search for solutions to conflicting and interrelated problems, which will not be solved without research and collaboration.