General News

On 11th October, International Alert released a new report – Ending the deadlock: Towards a new vision of peace in eastern DRC – which proposes a comprehensive approach to building lasting peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

International Alert has called for a radically different approach to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in our written submission to the UK’s International Development Committee (IDC).

On 28th September, one of our partner organisations Voices for Reconciliation (VFR) took part in a workshop with young people from Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan diaspora community in the UK.

This article is written by Dominic Perera. Dominic is currently working with International Alert in the Sri Lanka team, based in London. Dominic also facilitates dialogue amongst second-generation Sri Lankan communities in the UK, working to strengthen inter-community relations and actively promote positive diaspora engagement with Sri Lanka.

Here Chris Underwood, Senior Policy Advisor at International Alert, recounts his recent trip to the UN General Assembly in New York.

At the start of an important conference on the future of Burundi, an elected delegation of Burundian women’s rights activists put forth concrete policy recommendations on development, gender equality, economic empowerment and peacebuilding priorities for their country.

On 1st October 2012, Georgians went to the polls to elect a new parliament, the results of which surprised even the most experienced of commentators on Georgian issues.

Zones affected by or prone to conflict pose major challenges to companies. If they make the wrong decisions, they risk disruption to their operations, expropriation of assets, currency restrictions, damage to their reputation and potential legal liabilities.

‘Now I see it differently’, said one of the participants on our four-day course on conflict analysis and conflict sensitivity in Birmingham, UK last month.

The event, designed to train and prepare civilians for crisis management missions worldwide, brought together members of EU, UN and OSCE missions in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kosovo and elsewhere.

International Alert co-hosted a roundtable discussion on free, prior and informed consent (FPIC)[1] with the Centre for Economic and Social Development-Myanmar Development Resource Institute in Yangon, Myanmar on 6th October 2012.

This is part of their ‘Ensuring responsible and conflict-sensitive investments and businesses through multistakeholder collaboration in Southeast Asia’ project, which is also supported by the ASEAN Programme Fund.

To be effective as peacebuilders, we need to respond to the power dynamics and norms that influence peace and violent conflict at the household, community, national and international levels.

The people of Rwanda have come a long way since the 1994 genocide that took nearly a million lives. Yet the stories captured in our Fractured Lives photo exhibition show that survivors, ex-combatants and ex-prisoners are still struggling to rebuild their lives.

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International Alert recently held a discussion in Karachi with members of the local business community on how business can contribute to building peace in Pakistan.

This week, fifty organisations from around the world released a document calling for the post-2015 framework which will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to include a commitment to conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

 Watch our video on the power of words and dialogue in building peace. You can also share our video with your friends and family. Spread the word. Help us build peace today.