UK

A group of emerging political leaders from Sri Lanka’s Parliament and civil society have been spending the week here in the UK as part of a programme aimed at fostering reconciliation in that country’s progress toward peaceful development following the end of the three decade civil war there in 2009.

In our 25th anniversary year, International Alert invited a group of influential and highly respected peace advocates to become Patrons. We are greatly honoured to have the support and endorsement of two Nobel laureates Archbishop Dr Desmond Tutu and Wole Soyinka, and of Brian Eno and Mark Stephens CBE.

This summer, two amazing fundraisers (Will Gibbs and Thomas Samuel) took on the challenge of sailing around Britain, and raised some much needed money for International Alert. We managed to catch up with Will to find out how it went…

1. How does it feel now that you have completed your sail around Britain?

The usual August calm was shattered by the disturbances across England two weeks ago. Whilst the debris is now cleared from the streets, the boarded-up shop windows and fire-blackened facades remain, reminding us of the harder process of rebuilding both physically and socially that needs to follow.  

This month, rioting and looting gripped England. At a time of uncertainty, it seemed salient (and perhaps inevitable) to ask, if the UK were a fragile state, how would we approach the events of last week, their aftermath and the future?

Building stability overseas

We catch up with David Roper of 4 Poofs & a Piano about his reasons to support Alert and run for Peace. We asked him some quick fire questions…

1. What made you want to run the marathon for Alert?

I was looking for someone to run for and saw your advert

With residents reporting the lowest level of community cohesion in Lambeth, Stockwell Partnership and Alert aim to build the capacity of community groups to collectively address some of the major tensions and divisions in the area. We focus on building the capacity of associations representing marginalised groups – including the newly-created Women’s Association of Tigray (a predominantly Christian group), the Muslim Women’s Group, the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Families group, and Stockwell Women’s Achievement Network (SWAN).

10 years ago the groundbreaking UN Resolution 1325 was passed.

This extraordinary Resolution recognises the devastating impact of conflict on women and states that women must be involved in building peace.

Whilst 1325 is extraordinary in principle, a decade later, a lack of implementation means its impact is not being felt by women.

In January 2011 International Alert teamed up with the Royal Commonwealth Society to take eight British youth of Sri Lankan heritage, and from both Tamil and Sinhalese backgrounds, to Sri Lanka as part of our Sri Lankan programme and our work with Sri Lankan diaspora who live in the UK.

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns to London from 24th March – 1st April with a programme packed full of documentaries and dramas set to inspire, inform and trigger debate. This year, in association with the Festival, we are proud to present the opening night film – the UK premiere of Denis Villeneuve’s Academy Award-nominated Incendies.