In the last few days, the world has witnessed the breaking of International Law and the established norms, including practices of hostage-taking, collective punishment, and indiscriminate bombing. The mass killing of civilians that qualify as genocide and ethnic cleansing as defined by the UN Genocide Convention are egregious violations. This includes reports of civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructures, targeting hospitals, schools, and civilian residences, with actions including collective punishment, the use of incendiary weapons, and orders of forced displacement of populations. All of these violations have raised serious questions about the protection of civilian populations and the motives of Member States’ actions that constitute violations of international law.
THE ROLE OF ODA IN STRENGTHENING MEDIA INTEGRITY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The DAC defines official development assistance (ODA) as “government aid that promotes and specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries.” Understanding of this definition has changed over time, recognising, for example, the emergence of “non-DAC providers or philanthropic foundations, the diversification of financial instruments for development, or the increasing overlap of development cooperation policy objectives with those of other sectors such as migration and security.”