Grace Davies is new media editor at the BBC World Service Trust. She was managing editor of openDemocracy and studied English and American Studies at the University of Nottingham, and McGill University, Canada before joining openDemocracy in 2005. In her spare time she DJs hospital radio.

Recent articles

On Tuesday this week, London's Trafalgar square was transformed into a temporary "refugee camp" by the UNHCR in an awareness raising initiative to highlight the ongoing situation in Darfur, which saw similar scenes in 20 countries across the world. Zrinka blogged earlier this week about her own unexpected reaction to the exhibition. The hope is that the day-long camp had an impact on those who know nothing about Darfur, the UNHCR or refugees in general, the "absent majority" as Jenny put it in an earlier post.

In a very timely piece published on openDemocracy today, Charlie Beckett offers some useful insights on "networked journalism" that I think are worth bringing in to this debate. Beckett, of the Polis journalism and society centre at LSE has a book out Supermedia: Saving Journalism So It Can Save The World and argues that new tools of communication and forms of journalism can have a huge impact on the public sphere and democracy itself.

Asylum is a subject that is rarely out of the headlines in Britain. Immigration, a constant topic of debate in Westminster. But increasingly, a space for informed, open debate of the relevant issues has been squeezed out by widening divisions leading to a "toxic stand-off".

At openDemocracy we believe that debate changes minds, changes policy and ultimately leads to change in practice. With this as our goal, we will be running an editorial project, MigrantVoice on refuge to bring unheard voices, new ideas and testimony of the lived experiences of refugees in Britain to the attention of our readership and into the public debate during Refugee Week (16-22 June 2008).

A Human Rights Watch report released yesterday delivered a stark reminder of the ongoing crisis of sexual violence in Darfur, and of the need to step-up pressure on the Sudanese government and international forces to address the problem effectively.

A new report aiming to protect women and girls in eastern DRC argues that policies to prevent sexual violence be closely linked to established and ongoing conflict resolution and peacemaking initiatives already underway.