Issue

Conflict and Peace Building

Nearly 30 years after the Rwandan genocide, thousands of maimed amputees remind us of the war that took 500,000 lives in 100 days. War leaves marks that cannot be erased—not only in Rwanda, but on every continent.

Reporting from Conflict and Peacebuilding examines the roots of conflict, whether it be religious hatred, sectarian rivalry, a security vacuum, the struggle for natural resources, or the desperation that results from poverty.

Pulitzer Center journalists also cover war’s aftermath: the transitional governments that result in chaos, diplomacy that goes awry, peace talks that never end, and the people who suffer the consequences, young and old. We see the children who go hungry, lose their homes, leave school, become combatants, or join the jihad.

Often the end to conflict leaves turmoil in its wake while the road to peace seems circuitous: In South Sudan, rebel-commanders-turned politicians plunge the country into civil war. In the U.S., troops return home from one war only to be re-deployed to another. But everywhere, in every conflict, there are also voices crying out for peace, determined to heal the divide.

 

Conflict and Peace Building

Introducing 'Back From the Brink'

After USMC veteran Bill Kirner's father dies, things go from bad to worse. In this trailer for Back From the Brink, Bill's wife worries about having guns in the house, fearing Bill may take his own life.

Lives Frozen by Conflict

Ukraine's war has displaced more than 1.5 million with over 10,000 civilian casualties. In 2014, when the violence broke out, many young people left, while the elderly stayed behind just barely surviving. 

Back From the Brink

Since leaving the service, Dustin Jones, USMC veteran and filmmaker, has lost more friends to suicide than he did in combat. Jones, a Columbia Journalism School Reporting Fellow, follows Marine veteran Bill Kirner as he struggles with PTSD and suicide.

Ukraine's War: Lives Frozen By Conflict

Paula Bronstein's focus is Ukraine's vulnerable, fragile elderly population trapped by an endless war that sees their lives frozen by conflict, impoverished, living in dilapidated homes.

Abandoned

This project explores the history of the Syrian Democratic Forces and the consequences of the American withdrawl from Syria.

Mission to Ukraine

Wisconsin Army National Guard members overseeing the training of Ukrainian armed forces are reluctant characters in the impeachment case against President Donald Trump.

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