In December 2022, as part of their partnership on ‘Mediating Self-determination Conflicts’, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and Conciliation Resources ran a joint analysis workshop with international and local mediators, people associated with conflict parties, civil society, and experts and practitioners working on self-determination, human rights and peacebuilding.
Conflicts arising from or resulting in self-determination claims have for decades accounted for half the conflicts in the world. This report brings together learning from the initial phase of a three-year partnership between Conciliation Resources and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) looking at how a transformative approach to peace mediation can help prevent, manage or resolve self-determination conflicts. The report examines what distinct mediation and peacebuilding challenges self-determination conflicts present; what options and approaches mediation and peace practitioners can use to help address them; and how mediation and peace support processes can better connect across different groups, levels and spaces in effectively addressing these conflicts.
Five years ago, on 21 October 2018, the Government of Ethiopia and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) signed the Asmara Peace Deal - an historic occasion marking the end of over 30 years of armed conflict in the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia (SRS). But a peace deal isn’t an endpoint. It’s a milestone in the long road to addressing the root causes of a conflict, and building a society where all people have a voice. So, what’s changed in the region and what challenges are still to overcome?
Gender and social inequality, the climate crisis and conflict are three of the biggest challenges of our time. But despite clear connections, there is a gap in evidence about how all three interact in practice. In many of the contexts where we work, our partners have increasingly highlighted that climate change is complicating and exacerbating conflict, often in relation to gender and cultural dynamics. Through insights from our partners in Uganda, Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the Philippines, this report provides lessons for more gender and culturally responsive peacebuilding and climate programming and policy.
The climate crisis, conflict and gender and social inequality form a connected system. Each challenge shapes, and is shaped by, the others. Policy and practice - which addresses each of these challenges - therefore has the potential to reinforce or undermine progress in the other.
The climate crisis is putting increasing pressure on already complex conflicts and deepening the issues that drive conflict. But how we respond to a changing climate can also present opportunities to bridge divides. In this video, Irtaza Muhammad and Ms. Noraida Abu explain how the climate crisis interacts with conflict in Kashmir and the Philippines, and the opportunities for peacebuilding.
The global climate crisis, and how humans respond to it, is changing and amplifying the dynamics of current violent conflicts and is contributing to new conflicts emerging. This practice paper presents our understanding of the interaction between climate change, conflict and peace and how peacebuilding can tackle the unique challenges that arise.
Our climate and environment is changing at a rate never seen before in human history. The way we respond to these changes has the potential to accelerate conflict or, if done sensitively, offers opportunities for peacebuilding where few might have existed. Explore our infographic to understand more about how climate change, conflict and peace interact and the vital role peacebuilders can play in ensuring responses to climate change don’t cause more harm.
2023 marks the mid-way point for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure all people enjoy peace and prosperity. There are 17 SDGs in total, but they don’t sit in isolation and without peace, inclusion and equality it simply won’t be possible to achieve these global ambitions.
Conciliation Resources has appointed three new members to its Board of Trustees; Megan Fearon, Henry Raine and Nicholas Griffin KC. The new trustees bring to the board vast expertise in politics, community peacebuilding, law and finance.
