Influencing UK defence policy
CR has submitted some conclusions based on our work to the UK National Security Council in the context of the Strategic Defence and Security Review. Our headline message is that peaceful and resilient societies abroad are in the UK’s national interest. Read our submission.

New cross-border project
As part of our latest Accord project on cross-border peacebuilding, CR held a residential workshop on 22 and 23 June at Homerton College, Cambridge. Some 30 people participated in plenary discussion and group work on themes and case studies likely to feature, helping us to develop the focus and content of the publication, due out this autumn. Read about our cross-border peacebuilding project.

Bringing communities together in Africa
Despite huge logistical challenges, Conciliation Resources has recently organized several meetings for communities and their leaders to discuss peacebuilding challenges in response to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict. The meetings, which took place in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Sudan, enable people in LRA-affected regions to share their experiences and prepare for the reintegration of abducted people, mainly children, back into their communities. Read more about our work in the region.

Peacebuilding gets harder
“Peacebuilding work, already dangerous to do and difficult to fund just got harder” says Andy Carl, CR’s Executive Director, in a piece for BBC News. In upholding the law, The US Supreme Court has clarified that offering “material support” to groups listed as “terrorist" includes knowingly providing conflict resolution services like expert advice in how to peacefully resolve disputes. For organizations working in the peacebuilding field, mediation support work now comes with a risk of 15 years in prison. Read the BBC article or read a related article by CR on Open Democracy (the photo shows CR staff talking with the head of the Secretariat of the negotiating team for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines, one of the many non-listed armed groups.)

Engaging future leaders
Brussels was the location of the latest meeting in our Georgian-Abkhaz Youth Dialogue Project. ‘Future leaders’ - mainly students and recent graduates - were able to exchange views on recent developments in the region, the state of the negotiations process and the perceptions of EU and NATO in their societies. Participants also had the opportunity to meet with international experts, EU and NATO representatives. Read more about our youth dialogue work.

Democratizing peacemaking at the UN
“The only way to manage people’s expectations and fears is to ensure that significant publics are part of the peace process”, this is one of the central messages shared by Irene Santiago, a CR partner and the Chair of the Mindanao Commission on Women during a lunchtime event organized by CR, The Mission of Norway and the Quaker UN Office at the United Nations on 26 May. 45 participants gathered to discuss how from peacemaking to peacebuilding, civil society has to be included at each step, in setting priorities, in reconciliation, and above all in conferring legitimacy. Read our policy briefs.

Increasing government accountability
This workshop report documents lessons shared at the first of two international workshops, bringing together CR partners from Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Uganda, Southern Sudan, Georgia-Abkhazia and Fiji. The workshop reflected on the first 18 months of progress on a five-year programme, funded by DFID, working to help conflict-affected communities to engage more effectively with politicians and policymakers on issues that impact their daily lives. Read the workshop report.

Put peacebuilding before statebuilding
Conciliation Resources was one of ten civil society organizations that took part in the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding in Dili, Timor Leste in April. We emphasized that statebuilding needs to be based on inclusive political settlements to create more efficient, accountable and responsive states that can address conflict: “You cannot build a state in a social vacuum.” Read the Civil Society Organization Paper and the Dili Declaration.

Talking borders in West Africa
Our new docudrama gives a voice to communities in the border areas of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, whose daily lives are blighted by petty corruption, routine harassment and bureaucracy. Based on over 300 interviews, it tells the stories of a woman trader, a policeman and a young ex-soldier. It was launched in Freetown at the British High Commission in March and will be used in our work to help bridge the gap between civilians and security forces. Watch it on YouTube.

Kashmir: trading for peace
It is 18 months since India and Pakistan began trading between their respective parts of Kashmir for the first time in 60 years. Conciliation Resources is working with economists, journalists and academics from both sides of the Line of Control to explore how to improve this trade. To stimulate ideas for building peace we recently brought them together with traders and business leaders for a joint analysis workshop in Sri Lanka. A publication is planned for June.

From pacification to peacebuilding
Does conflict transformation work? A new book by our programme associate Diana Francis reviews 20 years of developments in the field and argues that genuine peacebuilding must be linked to a principled rejection of militarism. She calls upon peacemakers worldwide to embrace and develop the practice of non-violent power and work with movements for global demilitarization and positive peace. Read our interview with her on OpenDemocracy.

Northern Uganda Accord update
The war between the Ugandan government and Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is one of Africa’s longest. The Juba peace talks between 2006-08 offered unparalleled hope of ending it but rebel leader Joseph Kony refused to sign the negotiated deal. Military operations have since driven the LRA into nearby countries and the violence continues. Our Accord update explores the peace process, what went wrong, and lessons for future peacemaking.

Peacemaking for parliamentarians
Conciliation Resources held two workshops on Negotiating peacemaking strategies: engaging armed groups and civil society for parliamentarians from the Commonwealth and conflict-affected countries in February in London and Belfast. This was at the International Parliamentary Conference on Peacebuilding and Tackling State Fragility. Read our policy briefs on public participation and engaging armed groups.

Somalia: whose peace is it anyway?
Nearly two decades of attempts by the international community have failed to build peace in Somalia. Yet Somalia is not an entirely lawless and ungoverned land. Our latest Accord publication and policy brief on Somali peace processes shows how Somalis themselves have managed to secure stability in many communities through their own traditions of conflict resolution. Read more...

CR joins International Contact Group
Conciliation Resources accepted an invitation to join the newly formed International Contact Group for the peace talks between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). In an unprecedented move, the group includes governments and international non-governmental organizations. The Malaysian-led peace process resumed in December 2009 and has continued into 2010. Our staff Kristian Herbolzheimer and Cynthia Petrigh are involved.

New partners in West Africa
We have started working with the Liberia Democratic Institute and Actions for Genuine Democratic Change (AGENDA), two well-known NGOs working on governance issues. They are carrying out research and local surveys in Liberia’s Grand Cape Mount and Lofa counties to help improve government accountability in border communities and open up the decentralization process to ordinary people.

Northern Ireland study visit
We recently took six young Georgians and Abkhaz involved in our youth dialogue initiative to Belfast. Meetings with community leaders, youth groups and politicians from both sides gave them insights into peacemaking there, and ideas for reconciling their own conflict. “In Northern Ireland compromise has become an accepted part of political culture,” said one. “Unfortunately at the moment we are too far from this, but we need to get there in both societies. Otherwise we won’t move forward.” Read an overview of the trip.

Securing a voice for the displaced
Over 200,000 ethnic Georgians remain displaced from their homes since the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s. Our new report Out of the margins documents the challenges and successes of working with a network of Georgian NGOs and activists to help internally displaced people defend their rights and become more politically active. It was launched in Tbilisi on 27 October, 2009 and is available in English, Russian and Georgian.

LRA peacebuilding taskforce
In October 2009 we brought together civil society leaders from Uganda, Sudan, Congo and the Central African Republic for a meeting in Juba on the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict. The group met with Southern Sudan’s vice president Riek Machar and is calling on the international community and regional governments to renew their commitment to ending the conflict through peace talks and to protect local people from the LRA's vicious attacks. Read their communiqué.

Engaging with armed groups
International policy is unclear on how or whether to talk to non-state armed groups. But it is seldom feasible to end conflict without talking to them. Our latest Accord policy brief argues that engagement can end violent conflicts and save lives. It gives useful guidance on the characteristics of armed groups and on how to engage with them at different stages of a peace process.

Cross-border trade and peacebuilding
A trade boom across Southern Sudan and Uganda’s border is helping recovery after decades of war. Yet its potential to build peace between affected communities remains unexploited. Our study examines the experiences of traders, businesses, trading associations and government officials. It calls for urgent changes in trade policy and practice, including making sure border communities are included in policy design and consultations so they can also reap the benefits.

Workshop on Somali peace processes
As part of our latest Accord project we held a workshop in Nairobi in July 2009 to explore international and Somali approaches to conflict resolution. This included Somali peacemakers, civil society and women’s groups, academics, and regional and international officials. Panel discussions covered internationally led peace processes and grassroots reconciliation, how to adminster Mogadishu, legal frameworks and keeping the peace.

Reflecting on peace in the Philippines
In July 2009 our partners Sulong CARHRIHL held a workshop to reflect on the failed peace process between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) after a court last year ruled the draft agreement unconstitutional. Civil society activists, academics and church members frankly discussed their differing views, approaches and frustrations with the process. They agreed to support the government's renewed peace talks with the MILF and the communist National Democratic Front.

Trading for peace
Trade across the Sudan-Uganda border is helping recovery after decades of war. Yet its potential to build peace between local communities remains unexploited. In June 2009 over 45 government officials, academics, lawyers and civil society activists took part in our Kampala conference to explore the links between growing trade and conflict. They discussed ways to ensure peaceful development, and agreed on the need to improve government coordination and stamp out corrupt customs practices.

Community peacebuilding goes national
Congratulations to our longtime Sierra Leonean partner on becoming a non-governmental organization. Now known as the Peace and Reconciliation Movement-Sierra Leone, this network’s volunteer peace monitors have resolved community conflicts for over 12 years. A recent success saw them bring together more than 100 local people including politicians and traditional chiefs to settle a difficult dispute over the management of the Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary in the south.

Influencing UK conflict policy
Our policy work focuses on improving international support for peace processes. In 2009 we have influenced the Department of International Development's (DFID) approach to conflict-affected and fragile states, evident in its new White Paper and emerging policy papers for putting its plans into practice. Read our White Paper recommendations, a DFID-commissioned report on the importance of peace processes as a potential turning point in statebuilding, and recommendations to the UK National Security Strategy review.

Supporting mediators
In June 2009 we co-hosted the second meeting of the Mediation Support Network with Essex University’s Initiative on Conflict Prevention through Quiet Diplomacy. This new international network intends to improve the effectiveness of support to mediators involved in peace processes and acts as a meeting point for practitioners. Discussions at this event focused on improving the quality of mediation materials. The group will meet again in early 2010.

Georgians and Abkhaz talk peace
Our work to bridge conflict divides brought together 16 young Georgians and Abkhaz for a week-long dialogue meeting in London in May 2009. We also co-hosted a conference in Istanbul in June on the role of civil society in the Georgian-Abkhaz peace process. Activists from both sides openly discussed why the conflict over South Ossetia erupted last year and its impact on peacebuilding efforts. All agreed wider debate on resolving the conflict was urgently needed within their societies.

Political crisis in Fiji
Following Fiji’s court of appeal ruling in April 2009 that the military government appointed after the December 2006 coup was unlawful, President Iloilo in consultation with Fiji's army chief annulled the Constitution and declared a state of emergency. Conciliation Resources supports our Fijian partners’ calls for him to reconsider this decision, and for the UN and Commonwealth Secretariat mediation team to move swiftly to help Fiji's political parties and civil society negotiate a new settlement.

UK peacebuilding funding cuts
On 25 March the UK announced large funding cuts to conflict resolution, prevention and peacebuilding work. Reasons given were a weak pound and planned increases in UN and EU peacekeeping contributions. The UK and its Conflict Prevention Pool support many NGOs and civil society peacebuilding initiatives worldwide. This decision will adversely affect such work including that already planned for 2009 by CR and partners in West Africa, Sudan, Uganda, DR Congo and the Caucasus.

Cross-border peacebuilding conference
In March 2009 we brought together over 70 civil society leaders from areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army conflict in Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss ways to end the violence and protect their communities. They are calling on the Ugandan government and LRA to return to peace talks and for the international community to support the process. Read their recommendations in English or French.

Cross-border security meeting in Liberia
In March 2009 we held a consultation with senior government officials and security sector decision makers from the four Mano River Union countries of Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire. Discussions focused on how to improve security for communities living in border areas. This will inform a new public information campaign to increase awareness of these issues among civilians, security forces and local officials.

New Accord project on Somalia
For nearly two decades Somalia has defied all attempts by the international community to rebuild a functional state. Many Somalis continue to suffer chronic violent conflict and humanitarian catastrophe. Our new Accord project will explore the peacebuilding challenges and inform the development of more effective and complementary strategies. more…

The Karabakh trap
The conflict between Armenians and Azeris over Nagorny Karabakh continues to pose serious dangers to the South Caucasus’s future but is still low on the international agenda. A new paper by Conciliation Resources programme associate Thomas de Waal analyses the current situation and argues for more long-term strategic thinking on how to move forward one of the world’s most closed and confidential peace processes.

Operation Lightning Thunder
Conciliation Resources is deeply concerned about the death and displacement of civilians in the eastern Congo (DRC). As part of the inter-agency Northern Uganda Advocacy Partnership for Peace we urge the international community to do all it can to keep open the path for a negotiated solution. We are calling for an end to military action, given that the forces of DR Congo, South Sudan, Uganda and the UN Peacekeeping Mission appear unable to protect local people from reprisal attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army. more…