General

A draft policy concept on the prevention of radicalism among youth in Tajikistan was presented this week at a Forum organised by International Alert in partnership with the Committee on Youth Affairs, Sport and Tourism of the Government of Tajikistan. Over 60 government officials, political party leaders, civil society representatives, students, religious scholars and other key experts joined in constructive discussions on policy steps to increase youth’s resilience to radical ideas.

Every year we make resolutions in order to encourage ourselves to do more of the things we want to do, and less of the things that we know we shouldn’t. Even in these days of economic uncertainty, the significance of a modest amount here can make a huge amount there – where people are suffering from violent conflict.

This year, let International Alert help you to make those changes. Linking your goal to helping others can help you stick to it and, more importantly, achieve it.

Get fitter

The Third Armenian-Azerbaijani Public Peace Forum took place in Vienna between 24th and 27th March. During the 4 days of the Forum the Armenian and Azerbaijani participants worked together to develop concrete ideas and proposals for confidence building measures that could contribute to the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Third Armenian-Azerbaijani Public Peace Forum aimed at contributing to the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict took place in Vienna between 24th-27th March. The Forum, organised by International Alert, marked a mile stone in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process as it brought together for the first time all the international mediators involved in the peacebuilding process as well as a large delegation of civil society representatives from all sides of the conflict divide.

The Advocates for a Peace Covenant (APC), a group of Filipino peace practitioners convened by International Alert’s former Board Member and Senator Bobby Tanada and Alert’s Senior Policy Adviser Ed Garcia, recently initiated a consultation on a Peace Covenant based on the respect for human rights and the pursuit of social justice in the Philippines.

International Alert has partnered with a leading digital and internet-based radio station, Passion for the Planet, in order to broaden the public’s understanding of peacebuilding.

Over the course of the next 12 months the station, which broadcasts to an audience primarily interested in environmental and health issues, will be featuring a series of interview clips that highlight both the need and the response of peacebuilders in conflict-affected countries across the world.

Mid August to Mid September 2009

As part of our partnership with radio station Passion for the Planet you can listen to the following interviews this month:

Could overseas aid be doing more harm than good?

We might have accepted climate change as a given, but what do the rest of the world really think?

Mid September to mid October 2009

As part of our partnership with radio station Passion for the Planet this month you can listen to the following interviews:

Why is it that some large western corporations have a negative effect on peace and yet others can be at the very heart of peacebuilding?
Are children the hidden victims of a conflict – their plight forgotten while the adults fight and then their needs ignored once peace returns?

International Alert Sri Lanka recently visited New Delhi in an attempt to further expand Alert’s regional work in the South Asia.

As part of our programme in the Philippines, Alert recently took part in the Philippines’ Month of Peace with many activities.

Day of Peace and World March for Peace and Non-Violence

International Alert recently organised a public round table on Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Creating Conditions for Building Peace – the Role of Russia, together with the Russian Centre for Strategic Studies of Religion and Politics of Contemporary World and the Russian Media Centre Izvestya, and with the participation of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

International Alert recently met representatives of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) panel negotiating with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Led by its chair, Foreign Affairs Under-secretary Rafael Sguis, the panel and the former UK Ambassador to the Philippines, Peter Beckingham, visited Alert offices in London before embarking on a tour to Belfast, upon the invitation of the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to learn from the Northern Ireland’s peacebuilding experience.

Last month, International Alert conducted a week long communication training course for local peacebuilding organisations active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The training took place against a backdrop of renewed fighting and multiple atrocities having been reported on all sides.

Local organisations taking part in the training were long term partners of the Life and Peace Institute, which is one of our partners in Bukavu, South Kivu province.

This article by Alert's Director of Programmes Phil Vernon is a reply to Oliver Richmond’s ‘Liberal Peace Transitions' for Open Democracy.

International Alert supports a series of small post-conflict initiatives in Burundi. And some of the values that motivate these are also dear to the liberal hearts of the international community.

As part of our partnership with radio station Passion for the Planet this month you can listen to the following interviews:

Can reconciliation after conflict really work? Hear about a boy from Liberia who became friends with his father's killer and a ground-breaking peace and cultural festival that took place in the country.

Plus, when it comes to negotiating peace, why a woman's touch often succeeds where men fail, and why some local chiefs are deferring to the women of the tribe?