Igor Lai is a lawyer with Romanian and Moldovan citizenship who joined EUPOL COPPS as a Legislative Drafting Expert at the beginning of 2020. EUPOL COPPS is by the nature of its mandate a very technical mission, but even in a mission of technical specialists, his work can appear from the outside as one of

Ethiopia’s military has been ordered to complete the “final phase” of a military offensive in the Tigray capital of Mekele, after local forces did not surrender within a 72-hour-deadline imposed by the prime minister. “The last peaceful gate which had remained open for the TPLF clique to walk through have now been firmly closed as

Amid a rise in gender-based violence, Nigeria’s traditional and religious leaders are urging men to protect the rights of women and girls. The campaign coincides with the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. At an Abuja town hall meeting sponsored by the U.N. and EU spotlight initiative, only Nigerian men,

Humanitarian organizations are ramping up efforts to assist refugees who continue streaming into Sudan to escape fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. Jense Hesemann, emergency coordinator for the U.N. refugee agency in Sudan, said thousands of new Ethiopian refugees are arriving in Sudan every day. “The emergency refugee registration teams at UNHCR and the government’s

NAIROBI – Shaken by the gunfire erupting around her town in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the woman decided to get out. She joined a long line at the local government office for the paperwork needed to travel. But when she reached the official, he told her she had wasted her time. “This is for people