English

Until now the financial sector has had limited involvement in international debates on business and conflict. This background paper seeks to stimulate greater consideration of conflict risk and a more constructive path for project finance backed investments in conflict-prone regions.

Paper

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 took place in July 2006. This Report identifies and examines key priorities for the 2006 Review Conference for the PoA. It particularly focuses on identifying realistic and potentially negotiable objectives for the Conference.

Full report

This Review of the Education For All (EFA) programme in Nepal was commissioned by the Finnish Embassy on behalf of the group of supporting donors and undertaken by a team of consultants contracted by International Alert. The intention is to examine the EFA programme in relation to conflict and the current political crisis. Over a period of a month the team reviewed the relevant literature, visited the Mid-West and East, and engaged in consultation with stakeholders in Nepal.

Full report

This is the second issue of International Alert's newsletter.

In this issue:

• Local Business, Local Peace
• Spotlight on Guinea
• Encouraging DFID to take a peacebuilding approach
• The impact of corruption in the South Caucasus
• Supporting peace through our resource centres

Update

A legitimate, representative and capacitated civil society is essential for effective statebuilding and a condition for sustainable peace in Nepal. Donor support to civil society in the Nepali conflict context can be conceptualised in a number of ways. Strategies can broadly focus at the national, district and community levels, or on urban and rural constituencies. Similarly, a temporal distinction can be made between short-, medium- and long-term strategies.

Full report

Based on a series of visits to working diamond mines, interviews with diggers, mine owners, traders, exporters, government officials and NGOs, the report describes the current state of the diamond industry in West Africa, providing both an overview of the sub-region and detailed analysis of each country.

Full report

This conference was convened within the framework of the Diamonds for Development initiative (D4D), which focuses on the sustainable use of revenue from mineral resources for the purposes of development. It was organised by the Government of Liberia in partnership with UNDP Liberia and International Alert with the objective of identifying ways to ensure that the alluvial diamond sector contributes to sustainable peace and development in the Mano River Basin sub-region.

Full report

This report by Biting the Bullet (International Alert, Saferworld and University of Bradford) aims to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review and analysis of progress towards implementation of the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons In All Its Aspects (PoA) and of the consequent issues and priorities for the 2006 Review Conference.

Full report

The end of the Cold War era brought with it great violence and turmoil. Since 1990 there have been over 125 armed wars, millions of civilian deaths, as well as devastation and ruin for some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities. The majority of these conflicts happen within states, not between them, creating new challenges and aggravating persistant problems.

20th Anniversary brochure

This briefing paper proposes better lending practice in conflict-prone states – defined as ‘conflict-sensitive’ project finance – is in the interests of all stakeholders. Such an approach would enable financial institutions to:

    Understand the conflict context in which a project is developed
    Recognise the two-way process that characterises the interaction between investments and conflict and assess the impact between the project activities and the conflict context

Briefing paper

Contractors operating in unstable states face a range of conflict risks. Oil, gas and mining projects, which frequently have significant contractor involvement, can inadvertently trigger or sustain violence, or become the focus of resentment themselves. Produced in partnership with Engineers Against Poverty, this guidance note is addressed both to engineering contractors and their clients.

Guidance note

‘War kills development as well as people’.1 It destroys livelihoods as well as lives, and it undermines economic as well as political progress. Violence deprives people of opportunity as well as the physical infrastructure and social structures on which they rely. Above all, perhaps, it robs them of hope and belief in the future. In other words, the impacts of conflict are as damaging to the economic potential of a nation as they are to its social and political prospects.

Report

Produced as part of the EU-funded Conflict Prevention Partnership, this paper analyses the context in which the European Union uses its external relations instruments to address security issues, promote legitimate and effective governance, and support economic recovery and regional integration, in the DRC. Consultations in the region and in the EU, as well as meetings held in Kinshasa in September 2006 with local officials, civil society and international diplomats have been used to develop recommendations and suggest possible avenues under each theme.

Full report

Today, more than ever, the business sector is recognized as an influential actor in the sustainable development of the areas where they operate. Additionally, they increasingly reflect on and take action around the impacts that generate conflict situations in the development of their business activities and vice versa, on the effects that their operations may have in the prevention, mitigation or exacerbation of conflicts. Colombian businesses are interested and engaged in these dynamics.

Toolkit

International Alert is an independent peacebuilding organisation working in over 20 countries and territories around the world. Our dual approach involves working directly with people affected by violent conflict as well as at government, EU and UN levels to shape both policy and practice in building sustainable peace. Our regional work is based in the African Great Lakes, West Africa, the Caucasus, the Andean region of South America, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Philippines.

Annual report 2005