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International Companies and Post-Conflict Reconstruction
The role of international companies in post-conflict reconstruction is an essential complement to the work of international aid agencies. However, if policy-makers are to secure the maximum benefits from private investment, they need to understand how different companies and sectors view opportunity and risk, and find ways to assess their overall impact in post-conflict settings.
In development circles, the debate about the role of business in conflict-affected regions has tended to focus on petroleum and mining. This paper begins with a review of the extractive industries, but then broadens the discussion to discuss three other sectors: mobile phones, construction and commercial banks. It cites examples from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Timor- Leste.
Putting a Human Face to the Problem of Small Arms Proliferation
This report examines the potential impact that gender issues have on small arms and light weapons (SALW) proliferation generally and specifically in relation to the 2001 UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA). It provides a general background to the interrelationship between the PoA and gender and provides recommendations to the UN on how the PoA can be better implemented by taking into account gender considerations.
The potential impact that gender issues have on small arms and light weapons (SALW) proliferation generally and specifically in relation to the 2001 UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA).
Ammunition Stocks: Promoting Safe and Secure Storage and Disposal
The 2001 United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA) and other associated Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) international commitments and measures are widely understood to encompass not only the weapons but also their ammunition. Unfortunately, progress in implementing the PoA in relation to ammunition remains particularly patchy and inadequate. This is partly because it has too often been considered as a residual category.
The challenge of dealing with Ammunition is one of the key issues in the contemporary international SALW debate. Not only is ammunition vital for firing a weapon it is significantly more volatile, and therefore dangerous, leading to special care being necessary in stockpile management. This report examines the mechanisms of ammunition destruction and disposal open to governments as well as discussing why it is an important SALW issue.
International Alert Strategic Perspective 2005-9
This is an armed and warring world. There have been over 125 armed conflicts of varying scale since the end of the Cold War at the end of 1989, with a combined death toll in that period of at least 7 million people, of whom 75 percent are generally estimated to be civilians. Forty armed conflicts were active during the course of 2004. The vast majority of these armed conflicts are not between states but within them, albeit usually with external involvement.
This five-year strategic perspective is based on International Alert's strategic review conducted in 2004. Approved at our Board meeting in April 2005, this perspective guides the work of the organisation in the coming period. Our first step has been to assess our current work in the context of this perspective and begin to plan the necessary adjustments. The perspective is, therefore, reflected in our annual plans from 2006 onwards.
Women's Bodies as a Battleground
Combatants on all sides of the conflict in Eastern DRC have been using sexual violence purposefully asa weapon of war. Acts of sexual violence continue to be committed with unprecedented cruelty, the perpetrators inflicting the most humiliating and degrading treatment on their victims that they can devise. This report is based on interviews with 492 women and 50 soldiers in Eastern DRC. It documents the violation of women's human rights during the war and examines the socio-cultural roots of this violence and the different forms it takes.
This report documents the violation of women's human rights during the war in Eastern DRC and examines the socio-cultural roots of this violence and the different forms it takes.
UN SC Resolution 1325 Women, Peace and Security
Afghanistan– General Information
A report on the first ever Afghan consultation on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The consultation was organised by International Alert's Gender and Peacebuilding Programme and the Afghan Civil Society Forum (ACSF).
Women Building Peace: Sharing Know-How
The Women Building Peace: Sharing Know-How workshop on Assessing Impact was held in London in July 2004. The meeting brought together women from conflict and transition contexts in Africa (including Uganda, Sudan, and Somalia), the Middle East (Israel), South Asia (Nepal), the Caucasus (Georgia and Abkhazia) and South America (Colombia).
This report, based on a workshop on assessing impact, seeks to broaden the scope of peace and conflict impact monitoring by highlighting issues of concern to women, and by showing how these issues may enrich the field. It distils some of the experience and thinking of women's organisations engaged in peacebuilding on how - and why - they carry out impact assessment.
Biting the Bullet. International Action on Small Arms 2005: Examining Implementation of the UN Programme of Action
This report provides a comprehensive review of progress towards implementing the important commitments contained in the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects (PoA), drawing on data gathered for over 180 countries and analysing relevant local, national, regional and international processes.
A comprehensive review of progress towards implementing the important commitments contained in the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons.
Developing an EU Strategy to Address Fragile States
The European Security Strategy highlights ‘state failure’ as one of the five key threats facing Europe - along with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), terrorism, organised crime and regional conflicts. Yet while the EU has devoted considerable focus to addressing WMD and terrorism, it has paid less attention to state failure, which underpins all of these other threats.
This report assesses how the EU’s range of policy instruments and structures can more effectively be used to address the causes and consequences of fragile states and provides practical recommendations targeted at the EU Presidencies, the European Council, Commission and Parliament.
Promoting Effective Global Action on Small Arms: Emerging Agendas for the 2006 UN Review Conference
The first Review Conference for the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects is due to take place in July 2006. This is a major international event. It provides the first formal international opportunity to review and strengthen the UN Programme of Action (PoA) since it was agreed in July 2001.
This Discussion Paper identifies and discusses emerging issues and priorities for the July 2006 Review Conference for the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects. It particularly focuses on identifying realistic and potentially negotiable objectives for the 2006 Review Conference.
Implementing International Small Arms Controls
This report examines the lessons learned from the three year Monitoring the Implementation of Small Arms Controls (MISAC) project which addressed the barriers to the implementation of international controls on small arms such as the 2001 Programme of Action and the UN Firearms Protocol as well as regional control measures such as the EU Code of Conduct, the OSCE Small Arms Document the OAS Convention and the ECOWAS Moratorium. It assesses the key barriers to implementation as well as drawing lessons learned from those countries and regions which have implemented these controls.
The lessons learned from the three year Monitoring the Implementation of Small Arms Controls (MISAC), concentrating on three regions: Eurasia, West Africa and Latin America.
International Alert Update: Issue 1
This is the first issue of International Alert's newsletter.
In this issue:
- Congolese women speak out against sexual violence
- New look, new website
- Preventing conflict in Sao Tome and Principe
- Celebrating peace with Liberia’s media
- Recognising gender and peacebuilding at the UN
- Promoting conflict-sensitivity by corporations
- New publications
- How to get involved
The first issue of International Alert's newsletter.
International Alert Annual Review 2004-5
International Alert has been working for almost 20 years to build peace in countries and territories affected or threatened by violent conflict. This work reflects our vision of a world in which, when people pursue their human rights and seek chances of betterment for themselves and their communities, the conflicts that arise are pursued with honesty, with forthrightness, and also with wisdom so that they do not erupt into violence.
An overview of International Alert's work in 2004-5.
Meeting Report: Panel Discussion. Inclusive Security, Sustainable Peace
The adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in October 2000 was the first formal and legal document from the Security Council that requires parties to a conflict and the international community to respect women’s rights and to support their participation at all stages in peace negotiations, conflict prevention and post conflict reconstruction Five years after this adoption, it is timely to question what implementation mechanisms have been created.
This panel discussion aimed to link the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 implementation five years on to the European focus on the implementation of 1325 and the related European Parliament resolution on the participation of women in peaceful conflict resolution.
Changing Fortunes
The five years of relative peace in Northern Uganda has enabled the majority of former Internally Displaced Persons to return to their home areas and begin rebuilding their lives. During and after the long war in Northern Uganda, women have emerged as critical economic actors, taking advantage of economic opportunities to secure their families’ livelihood, security and advancement.
This report explores dynamics in the peace economy in northern Uganda, with a focus on women’s economic and political status, and the extent to which government and development partner recovery interventions are sensitive to these issues.
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