Blogs
This page features blog posts and updates from Peace SOS.
Topics include peacebuilding efforts, humanitarian concerns, and reflections on current events.
Where are the national and international crisis committees on climate change and nature conservation? (Continued)
In my previous opinion piece, I discussed how the heatwave in Europe at the end of June is estimated to have claimed 20,000 lives, according to a report in Dutch national newspaper De Volkskrant on 7 July. The article was written by Maarten Keulemans. He quotes…
Where are the national and international crisis committees on climate change and nature conservation?
According to the Dutch meteorological institute KNMI, the Netherlands experienced a heatwave from 18 June to 29 June of this year. From 24 June, a code orange heat warning was in place for part of the country, and on 26 and 27 June, a code red warning was issued. This…
Report from Gaza: “Bombings and death everywhere”
It’s been a while since I last wrote about Peace SOS Gaza, but that organization’s distributions of water and vegetables continue to take place. You can find the videos under ‘shorts’ on the Peace SOS YouTube channel. Unfortunately, the bombings continue too. This is…
The war in Sudan is not a civil war. It is a business model.
Once again, people are being killed in Sudan, and once again the Darfur region is at the centre of the violence. The war in Sudan is usually described as a civil war between two rival generals. That description is not incorrect, but it is incomplete. It obscures the…
Anyone who uses violence to maintain peace does not understand what peace is
I have worked in Syria. In the Horn of Africa. In Myanmar. In places where people left everything behind: their homes, their families, sometimes even their names, because staying was more dangerous than leaving. Many of those people asked me the same question: ‘Is the…
Seize the opportunity for peace in Ukraine
According to a report by the NOS, the Dutch Broadcasting Foundation, broadcast on 11 May, on Russia’s Victory Day the previous Saturday, Putin stated that he believes the conflict with Ukraine is drawing to a close and that he considers Schröder the right person to…
Sudan: A sustainable solution begins with ending external support for the warring parties
To many, the war in Sudan feels like a sudden escalation, but those familiar with recent history saw the signs emerging long before. What is unfolding today is the result of years of power struggles, political fragmentation, and international interests. A fragile…
The Netherlands and the EU must help secure the release of Ukrainian peace activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Update: 23 March 2026. Quaker and conscientious objector Yurii Sheliazhenko has been released from military custody in Ukraine after being forcibly detained last Thursday. Yurii was beaten, pepper-sprayed, dragged by his feet and hair and humiliated during his…
Summary of the report of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine
In the current report, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine presents its latest findings on crimes and violations committed during the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Commission has continued its investigations…
Stop the war in Iran and the Middle East
Peace SOS is deeply shocked by the American and Israeli air strikes on Iran on 28 February. War means death, injury and people fleeing their homes. The attacks are also a violation of international law, as the peace organization PAX has pointed out. Neither the United…
Peace for a world where every child can play
Peace is not an idea — it is a right. A child’s right to laugh without fear, to play without learning the sound of bombs, to run after a ball, not toward a shelter. We believe the world becomes more human when it is safe enough for all children to simply play. Peace…
A Story from a Rohingya living in the Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar Bangladesh
I am a Rohingya and I live in the world’s largest Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. Cox’s Bazar is the district of Bangladesh where 32 Rohingya refugee camps are located and is known as the world’s largest Rohingya refugee camp. Cox’s…