March 2 – East Asia/International Organizations / North America:
NORTH KOREA / UNITED NATIONS / UNITED STATES
The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves new tough sanctions on North Korea in response to its recent nuclear test and a launch of a long-range rocket, which has violated existing UN sanctions. Additional sanctions include more export bans, inspections of cargo going in and out of North Korea, and blacklisting new North Korean individuals and organizations. (March 10): North Korea fires two short-range ballistic missiles in a show of force. It also claims that it has miniaturized nuclear warheads. (March 17): United States President Barack Obama issues an executive order that extends US sanctions on North Korea. These sanctions freeze North Korean government assets in the U.S. and ban any US exports and investment in North Korea.

March 3 – Latin America: HONDURAS
Berta Cáceres, a Honduran environmental activist and indigenous leader of the Lenca people, is assassinated near her home by armed men. For years, she received threats against her life. She was co-founder and coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). In 2015, she received the Goldman Environmental Prize, one of the most prestigious awards for grassroots environmentalism. One of her successful campaigns was forcing the world’s largest dam builder, Chinese state-owned Sinohydro, to cancel building the Agua Zarca Dam on the sacred Gualcarque River. The project was approved by Honduras without consulting the indigenous Lenca people, which violated international treaties governing the rights of indigenous peoples. If built, the dam would have cut off the supply of water, food and medicine for the Lenca people.

March 7 – Europe: EUROPEAN UNION / TURKEY
The European Union (EU) and Turkey reach an agreement on how to handle mass migration of refugees to Europe. About 134,900 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe so far this year. More than 400 have died making the journey. The vast majority of the migrants arrive through Turkey, which already hosts 2.6 million migrants. Under the deal migrants who arrive in Greece, but their asylum applications are rejected will be sent back to Turkey. In return, for every migrant returned to Turkey, one Syrian refugee already in Turkey will be resettled in the EU. The two sides also agree to reopen Turkey’s accession negotiations as soon as possible, and to work with Turkey to improve humanitarian conditions inside Syria.

March 13 – Africa / International Organizations:
MOROCCO / UNITED NATIONS
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s reference to Western Sahara as “occupied” by Morocco sparks demonstrations of over a million people in Morocco’s capital, Rabat. The Moroccan government threatens to withdraw its soldiers from the United Nations peacekeeping forces. Secretary Ban Ki-moon made this statement while visiting Sahrawis, the main ethnic group from Western Sahara, who live in refugee camps in Algeria. Western Sahara is a territory in northwest Africa claimed by both the Moroccan government and pro-independence rebel forces, the Polisario Front, who created the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) with a government-in-exile in Tindouf, Algeria. Currently both sides maintain ceasefire. Morocco controls two thirds of Western Sahara’s territory with the remainder controlled by the SADR.

March 13 – Latin America: BRAZIL
An estimated 3.5 million people take part in anti-government protests across Brazil, demanding the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff and the end of corruption. Brazil is experiencing its worst recession in decades. The economy shrunk by over 3 percent in 2015, inflation reached almost 9 percent, a 12-year high, and unemployment has increased to almost 9 percent. On top of this, problems caused by the zika virus and massive corruption scandals that involve top politicians have eroded the president’s approval ratings that fell to a low 11 percent.  In December 2015, the parliament agreed to launch impeachment proceedings against President Rousseff.

March 14 – Middle East / Europe / Russia: SYRIA / RUSSIA
Russian President Vladimir Putin announces that Russia has accomplished its objectives in Syria and begins withdrawing its forces from the region. Russia conducted air strikes in Syria for about six months, helping the government of President Bashar al-Assad regain some the country’s territory from Islamic State (IS) and anti-government rebels.

March 20 – North America / Latin America: UNITED STATES / CUBA
United States President Barack Obama pays a historic three-day visit to Cuba, the first visit by a sitting American president since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. The main issues between the two countries are the US trade embargo and Cuba’s poor record of human rights. The embargo imposed on Cuba 54 years ago costs the US economy an estimated $1.2 billion a year, but there is strong opposition in the U.S. Congress to remove it. The visit, however, symbolizes a significant turnaround in the US-Cuban relations.

March 22 – Europe: BELGIUM
Three coordinated terrorist suicide bombings take place in Belgium’s capital, Brussels killing 32 people and injuring more than 300, with 62 critically. Two nail bombs are detonated at the Brussels Airport and one at Maalbeek metro station, located near the European Commission headquarters in the center of Brussels. The attacks are linked to November’s terrorist attacks in Paris. Islamic State (IS) claims responsibility for the attacks as retaliation for Belgium’s participation in the coalition against IS. Belgium closes the airport and raises the terror threat level to its highest level. Police in Belgium, but also in France and Germany conduct raids, arresting a number of suspected jihadists. In an effort to prevent any future similar airport bombings, Belgium introduces new stringent security checks for the international airport.

March 24 – International Organizations / Europe:
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA / BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
After eight years of trial, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY) convicts Radovan Karadžić for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and sentences him to 40 years in prison. Karadžić is the former President of Republika Srpska (RS) within Bosnia-Herzegovina and Supreme Commander of its armed forces during the Bosnian war from 1992 until 1995. He is found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica in 1995, where more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks were massacred, and of persecution, extermination, deportation, ethnic cleansing, and murder of Bosnian Muslims and Croats in areas claimed by Serb forces. His crimes against humanity relate to the siege and shelling of the city of Sarajevo that lasted several years and left nearly 12,000 people dead.

March 25 – Middle East / North America: SYRIA / UNITED STATES
The United States special forces kill a number of senior leaders of the militant organization Islamic State (IS) in Syria. They include the second-in-command Abdul Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, who served as a finance minister, and Tarkhan Batirashvili, a Georgian known as Omar Shishani who served as minister of war. Others include Abu Sara, whose job was to pay fighters in northern Iraq, and several IS associates who were directly involved in external plotting and training.

March 26 – Middle East: SYRIA
Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes retake the ancient city of Palmyra that was seized by Islamic State (IS) in May last year. Palmyra is the UNESCO World Heritage site with ancient structures, many of them destroyed by IS, which sees them as idolatrous. The destruction is considered a war crime. But Palmyra is also a strategic place on the road between the capital, Damascus and the contested eastern city of Deir al-Zour. Its recapture is seen as a significant victory for the President Bashar al-Assad government.

March 27 – South Asia: PAKISTAN
A suicide bomber attacks a crowded park in the Pakistani city of Lahore, killing 72 people and injuring more than 340. The bomber targets Christians who celebrate the Easter holiday; however, the majority of victims are Muslim. At least 29 of those killed are children. The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, takes responsibility for the attack. Christians, who make up less than 2 percent of Pakistan’s population, are frequently targeted by extremist groups. Pakistan’s government condemns the attack and announces three days of mourning. United Nations Secretary-General General Ban Ki-moon also condemns the attack and calls for Pakistan to make a bigger effort to protect religious minorities. (March 29): Pakistan’s security forces conduct sweeping counter-terror raids in Punjab in response to the bombing. They arrest more than 200 suspects and confiscate weapons and ammunition.

March 30 – East Asia: MYANMAR
Myanmar swears in its first civilian president and cabinet in 50 years. Htin Kyaw from the National League for democracy (NLD) takes over from General Thein Sein as president. Most of the members of the new cabinet are also members of the NLD that won a landslide victory in the November elections. Because the NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from becoming the country’s president, she will hold a key position in charge of foreign affairs, the president’s office, education, and energy and electric power. The military will still hold three important ministries: defense, home affairs, and border affairs.

March 31 – Africa: LIBYA
Libya’s new unity government that was formed in Tunisia with the help of the United Nations arrives in the capital, Tripoli, to try to take over the authority over the country. This new government is led by the unity Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj who is not part of any groups involved in power struggle. However, hardliners in parliaments in Tobruk and Tripoli refuse to recognize the new government’s authority.