An American student visits the Middle East’s biggest refugee camp for Syrians in Jordan and discovers a restless and generous people. Zaatari Refugee Camp (Photo by Samantha Schmidt) This story, written and illustrated by Samantha Schmidt, was a runner-up in the...
This story, written and illustrated by John Cottrell from the Greek island of Lesvos, was a runner-up in the university category in News-Decoder’s inaugural reporting contest. Cottrell visited Lesvos in November 2015. By John Cottrell Travelling across the...
Our thoughts are with the victims of today’s attacks in Brussels and with their families and friends. Below is an article, updated with today’s events, that we published last November after terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. Although much...
By Urvashi Bundel This weeks marks the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of Syria’s civil war. Since March 2011, so much has been swept away including respect for basic human rights. Now the world needs to work on restoring respect for those rights around the...
The United States and Russia have brokered a truce in Syria in hopes of resuming United Nations-backed peace talks on March 9. Today News-Decoder correspondent Rashad Mammadov looks at what Russia hopes to gain in the five-year-old conflict. By Rashad Mammadov Once...
There have been many failures in Syria, and youth need to find solutions to future conflicts, two women helping refugees tell a News-Decoder panel. Two Middle Eastern women helping Syrian refugees decried the failure of international institutions and governments to...
Mainstream media depicts conflict as a violent struggle between good and bad. A Danish professor suggests a different way of thinking about conflict. Syrian refugee children in Lebanon (Wikimedia Commons/Trócaire/Eoghan Rice) Do you find it difficult to understand...
Fighting rages in Syria despite international efforts to impose a ceasefire and advance a peace plan. How remote are the prospects for peace in Syria? A hospital destroyed in northern Syria, 15 February 2016 (EPA/Sam Taylor/Médecins Sans Frontières handout) Fighting...
By Rashad Mammadov Once again, diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict have stalled. Only two days after opening in Geneva, talks between the government, rebel forces and both sides’ international backers were suspended last week until...
Are Arab nations doing enough to help Middle Eastern refugees, especially from Syria? Should Europe be doing more? Syrian refugee Bissan Alabdullah, almost 3, near the Syrian border in Jordan, 20 January 2016(AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen, File) Are Arab nations doing...