A perennial policy challenge facing the Philippines is job generation. Despite the recent trend of economic expansion, the economy has fallen short of creating more and better jobs. For its part, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has crafted its strategic plans to include job generation in line with the economic security pillar. Back in 2002, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople had high ...

In October 2016, Burundi, South Africa, and Gambia withdrew from the International Criminal Court (ICC), a decision believed to be rooted in the Court’s alleged bias against Africans. The ICC, thus far, has indicted 36 people – all of whom are Africans. Moreover, nine out of the ten investigations it is currently working on involve Africans. This has caused lingering doubt on the integrity of the ...

The word kafala has two distinct meanings in classical Arabic: to guarantee and to take care of. The kafala system is a timehonored tradition of hospitality, which lays down obligations in the treatment and protection of foreign guests. The customary grant of protection of guests originated from the Bedouins. It is a noble principle, but contemporary practice has been marred by criticisms over the ...

On 28 June 2016, Kazakhstan won a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) after outvoting ASEAN-backed Thailand to represent the Asia-Pacific in the UN body. Kazakhstan will serve for a two-year term starting this year, alongside non-permanent members Japan, Egypt, Ukraine, Uruguay, Senegal, Sweden, Bolivia, and Ethiopia – the latter three being newly elected non-permanent ...

As early as the 1990s, the increasing risk and vulnerability of cyberspace was highlighted when a group of hackers known as L0pht issued a warning that computers’ software and hardware and the connection that link computers together were not safe to use and were vulnerable to hacks. The group also stated that these problems would persist if governments and tech corporations do nothing to minimize ...

In the joint communiqué of the 50th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on 5 August 2017 in Manila, Philippines, the Foreign Ministers announced the acceptance of Turkey as a new Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN. This comes after several years of Turkey’s bid to formalize relations with ASEAN. For ASEAN, this marks another milestone in the regional bloc’s growing external relations. ASEAN’s journey in the ...