News and Insight

A year ago, a ground-breaking public exhibition opened in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Corridors of Conflict: Abkhazia 1989-1995 was the first of its kind – an exhibition focused on Georgian-Abkhaz relations, the years leading up to violent conflict in 1992-1993, and its consequences. How can exhibitions like this help deal with the past, with a view to transforming conflict for the future?

Women mediators are constantly finding innovative ways to bridge the peace gap in all spaces of mediation – within communities, nationally, and across borders to engage regionally and internationally. Through our work and research we know that women are there, and always have been. But 20 years on from the United Nation’s landmark resolution on women, peace and security, women for the most part remain unrecognised and invisible and are continually denied access to the peace table and decision-making spaces.

Recent survey results suggest that a significant majority (70.9%) of the Georgian public think their government could take further steps to improve relationships between Georgian and Abkhaz societies. Most of them believe direct dialogue with the de facto authorities in Abkhazia is the answer. These survey results indicate a willingness by the Georgian population to embrace change in relation to the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.

'The Corridors of Conflict: Abkhazia 1989-1995' was an exhibition that took place in Tbilisi, Georgia, October 2019. Based on unique archival material, the exhibition triggered reflection and debate. Creating archives, and documenting lived experience of the violent past, is important for transforming conflict. It allows people’s voices to be heard, and helps people learn from what happened, so that the same mistakes can be avoided in future.

Gender inequality is a root cause of conflict. Evidence shows that high levels of unequal power relations and gender-based violence are associated with increased vulnerability to war and the use of more severe forms of violence in conflict.* Understanding these dynamics allows us to uncover, target and transform the root causes that fuel violence and conflict.

Bossangoa is often known as the heartland of the Anti-balaka. The town, and surrounding areas, in Ouham prefecture, were at the centre of the conflict that engulfed the Central African Republic from 2012, and gave rise to the armed civilian groups. Now, as the country examines its conflict history and how to build a more peaceful future, it’s vital to understand how and why young people became involved in the violence.

If collaboration, adaptation and innovation are the key to better peacebuilding in these changing times, what are the challenges we face in being collaborative, adaptive and innovative and how can we overcome these?

From 5-6 October, Conciliation Resources, in partnership with Transcend Oceania and the Toda Peace Institute, hosted a learning event exploring responses to climate displacement and its relationship to conflict.

The new war between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces at several points along the Line of Contact represents a major inflection point in the more than 30 year-long Nagorny Karabakh conflict.

Conciliation Resources has launched Accord 29 ‘Pioneering peace pathways – making connections to end violent conflict.’ It explores the early stages of peace processes, and the patient engagement in formative and pre-formal peacemaking that often takes years. The publication underscores the importance of persistent promotion of dialogue, and accompaniment of conflict parties and affected communities to reach negotiated solutions. Starting peace processes is neither quick nor easy.

Peacebuilding can look like any one of hundreds of different actions, and mean different things to different people. And its often hard to comprehend the impact that peacebuilding has on the lives of people living with conflict. So, to mark the International Day of Peace, we’ve asked our peacebuilding colleagues, partners and friends from around the world to share their most memorable peacebuilding moments.

A new round of Armenian-Azerbaijani violence has once again sent tremors through the fragile status quo constraining a major new war in the South Caucasus. While the escalation ended after a few days and the status quo held, new dynamics indicate that it cannot be taken for granted. In the face of totalising trends radicalising all aspects of their relations, Baku and Yerevan should return to the negotiating table in pursuit of pragmatic agreements on issues where their red lines are not involved.