PeaceRep

An Introduction to the Amnesties, Conflict and Peace Agreement Database
2020-11-16 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | Online
How and why are amnesties used in response to conflict, and how can choices within amnesty design complement inclusive peacebuilding?
In this webinar, Prof Louise Mallinder of Queen’s University Belfast will introduce the new Amnesties, Conflict, and Peace Agreement Database (ACPA) that she has created in conjunction with PSRP. ACPA covers amnesties that were granted during ongoing conflicts, as part of peace negotiations, or in post-conflict periods between 1990-2016. Prof Mallinder’s presentation will use the findings from this database to demonstrate the diversity in how and why amnesties are used in response to conflict and to explore how choices within amnesty design can complement inclusive peacebuilding.
Register now on Eventbrite. The webinar will be held over Zoom, with joining links emailed to registered participants ahead of the event.
This event is part of PSRP’s Peace Talks webinar series, which will run from October 2020 – March 2021.

30 Years of Peace Agreements: A Quick Start Guide to the Power of PA-X
2020-11-12 13:00 - 14:00 | Online
In this webinar, PSRP’s PA-X coding team will introduce the PA-X Peace Agreements Database and demonstrate its potential for exploring and interpreting 30 years of peace agreements from around the world, with examples of use in research and a closer look into the path of agreement information as it gets transformed into neat PA-X data.
The event will take place from 13.00-14.00 (GMT). The webinar will be held over Zoom, with joining links emailed to registered participants ahead of the event.
Register now on Eventbrite.
This event is part of PSRP’s Peace Talks webinar series, which will run from October 2020 – March 2021.

Finding Peace in Somalia – the Galkaio 'local' agreement
2020-11-10 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
Galkaio town represents a boundary on the ground and in the imagination within Somali society. The 1993 Peace Accord held a fragile peace for many years as political and developmental trajectories differed markedly on either side of this border town. This talk explores the 2016/17 peace agreement, in its local and national dimensions, and which occurred as part of the state-building project that is still ongoing in Somalia and offers insights on the quality of international intervention.
This event is hosted by the Conflict Research Programme (CRP) at the London School of Economics and Political Science. View the full event listing on the CRP website.
Register now.
Speakers
Nisar Majid is the Research Director for the CRP-Somalia. He has worked in and on Somalia and the Somali territories of the Horn of Africa for over twenty years, in various applied research capacities. This included his doctoral research which explored transnationalism in the Somali context. He a co-author of Famine in Somalia: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures, 2011-21 (Hurst, 2016).Khalif Abdirahman is Senior Field Researcher on the CRP- Somalia. He has conducted research across the Somali regions for the last seven years including for Tufts University, the Rift Valley Institute and the Overseas Development Institute.
Mark Bradbury is Executive Director of the Rift Valley Institute. He is a social analyst with over 20 years’ experience in international development and humanitarian aid. He has worked in and written about Somalia, Somaliland, Sudan, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda, and Kosovo as a development worker and researcher. He is author of Becoming Somaliland (Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 2008), Search for Peace, a synthesis report of a Peace Mapping study on Somalia, and Whose Peace is it Anyway? Connecting Somali and International Peacemaking.
Ilham Gassar is CEO of KIGS Consulting. She is currently a Senior Stabilization and Conflict advisor to the International Organization of Migration (IOM). Prior to that she served with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), as a Political Advisor to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia (SRSG), from 2016 to 2019. Ilham was the chief negotiator of the Galkayo Peace agreement and chief facilitator for the Ahla Sunna Wah Jama and Galmudug State power sharing agreement. She has over 10 years’ experience in social advocacy, strategy and programme development and project management. She has undertaken two research assignments for the CRP-Somalia.
Matthew Benson is the CRP’s South Sudan Research Director and the CRP’s Research Manager. He has conducted researched on, and worked in, South Sudan and Sudan in various capacities since 2008, with on-going research on taxation and state-formation in these countries. Matthew has also researched the equitable provision of public services in the Horn with the World Bank, the Rift Valley Institute, the Overseas Development Institute, the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex, the UN Refugee Agency, and Oxfam America.
The Conflict Research Programme is based within LSE IDEAS.
Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSESomalia

Africa Week 2020: The African Union's Role in the Global Order
2020-10-27 14:00 - 15:00 | Online
On several fronts the African Union (AU) has advanced innovative responses to some of the world’s most pressing issues. During the COVID-19 pandemic the AU and its specialised health institution, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), launched coordinated action to support member states. This included using regional collective negotiating power to secure more financial resources, setting up a pooled procurement mechanism, and supporting member state efforts to prevent, diagnose, and treat COVID-19.
On peace and security, the AU and its recognised regional economic communities (RECs) often take leading roles in ending violent conflict in their spheres. Some RECs, such as the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) are increasing their work in peace and security whilst others, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have played pioneering roles for years. Meanwhile, the AU has negotiated with the United Nations (UN) on complementarity issues and designed new ways for the regional and international actors to cooperate on peace and security issues.
The global order is transforming and moving away from great powers, a trend that the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to speed up. This talk, delivered by Dr Kathryn Nash from the Political Settlements Research Programme, will explore how the AU has previously contributed to the global order and how it might help to shape transformations going forward.
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Register now via Eventbrite. This event is free to attend and will be hosted online via Zoom.
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AFRICA WEEK is a cross-university celebration of the University of Edinburgh’s links with the African continent. It encourages collaboration between our different communities, seeks to address current issues and asks important questions of the past, present and future. Africa Week 2020 embraces the theme of Movement.
Our programme features events which tap into movement through privilege, movement which is sometimes forced, and movement which can be restricted. Learn during Africa Week how to make the move to study abroad, what it’s like to move to Edinburgh for the first time, how covid-19 has affected movement across the continent, and how we, as a university, can provide the tools for the continent’s future movers and shakers.
For more information on other Africa Week events, please visit https://global.ed.ac.uk/events or contact global.admin@ed.ac.uk
Africa Week 2020 is a partnership between: Edinburgh Global, The Centre of African Studies, The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, Ekasi Podcast, Political Settlements Research Programme, The James Tait Black Prize, Race.Ed, TIBA, Teaching Matters, the African Caribbean Society, and the Scotland Africa Recruitment Group.

Gender Provisions in Peace Accords: Reflections on Negotiation, Design and Implementation in Support of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda
2020-10-15 14:00 - 17:00 | Online
On October 31, 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). Twenty years later, the UN Secretary General’s WPS report emphasizes that the resolution placed women’s participation at the center of peace efforts, and there now exist clear commitments by the UN and its member states to promote women’s rights and gender equality in all conflict resolution efforts.
In peace accord negotiation and implementation, the importance of having women at the negotiating table and gender provisions in agreements has also gained prominence. While the expectation of participation and inclusion to achieve gender equality have risen, experiences and evidence show that the realization of the WPS agenda continues to be a challenge.
This webinar brings together insights on the progress and challenges facing WPS aspects in peace accord negotiation, design, and implementation. Contributors will present data, research, and experience from policymaking over the past 20 years in an effort to sharpen the understanding of what efforts have an impact on the ground. Contributors include Laura Wise of the Political Settlements Research Programme at the University of Edinburgh and Dr Jan Pospisil of the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Register now to attend >>>
This event is co-sponsored by the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) program of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).
PAM is a unique source of qualitative and quantitative longitudinal data on the implementation of comprehensive peace agreements negotiated since 1989. Composed of researchers and practitioners seeking to promote and facilitate a higher order of integration between these domains, PAM is pioneering innovations in peace process research and real-time monitoring of peace agreement implementation. One of PAM’s central features is the Barometer Initiative in Colombia, which is entrusted with the responsibility for real-time technical support and monitoring of the implementation of the 2016 Colombian Peace Accord.
Photo: Poly Martinez

Peace Talks: Ceasefires in a Time of Covid-19
2020-10-09 13:00 - 14:00 | Online
On 23 March 2020, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate global ceasefire, in order to tackle the threat of Covid-19, which is recognised as posing a disproportionate risk to those in fragile and conflict affected areas. In this event, we present insights from USIP and PSRP research tracking the causes and consequences of ceasefires declared during the Covid-19 pandemic and reflect on the potential of ceasefires to lead to a more sustainable peace process.
PSRP will present data and insights from the Covid-19 Ceasefire Tracker, and USIP will present its new report, Searching for COVID-19 Ceasefires: Conflict Zone Impacts, Needs, and Opportunities.
Featuring special guest Tyler Thompson from the United States Institute of Peace, alongside PSRP’s Dr Sanja Badanjak and Laura Wise.

Registration
The event will take place from 13.00-14.00 (BST). The webinar will be held over Zoom, with joining links emailed to participants ahead of the event.
Register now on Eventbrite.
Peace Talks Series
This event is part of PSRP’s Peace Talks webinar series, which will run from October 2020 – February 2021.

The Elders in conversation on women in mediation in the Arab world
2020-10-05 - 2020-10-07 | Online
This high-level virtual gathering will bring together around 50 experienced mediators, experts, peacebuilders and national and multilateral officials to promote women’s meaningful participation as mediators in peace processes in the Arab world.
It marks the 20th anniversary of the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security which reaffirmed the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations and peacebuilding.
Women are highly active in peace making in the Arab region but there is a missing link between women in grassroots peace making and senior policy circles, where women are under-represented, especially in roles that relate to conflict or security. The virtual gathering will make a contribution to bridging this gap, by bringing together women who are active in mediation from selected countries across the Arab world, with experts and practitioners from other regions and countries, and with members of The Elders. Guests include Christine Bell, PSRP Director, who will speak on “Doing things differently: models for women in mediation”.
Over sessions on three consecutive days, four Elders will share their collective experience and insight into the power and importance of women’s engagement in mediation and hear from leaders in the Arab world about the challenges and the opportunities they face in promoting women’s participation as mediators in the COVID world.
The Elders will publish a final short policy paper with key recommendations for mediators, governments and multilateral organisations, and will use their social media channels to highlight the experiences of women mediators.
A provisional programme is attached. More information will be published in due course.
Wilton Park in conversation provisional programme

COVID-19 and Ceasefires: What Have We Learned?
2020-09-23 16:00 - 17:00 | Online
In March, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a global cease-fire to combat the spread of COVID-19. Though initially dismissed as unrealistic, the secretary-general’s call was surprisingly well-received: Nearly 70 countries, hundreds of nongovernmental organizations, and eminent persons joined in repeating the call for a humanitarian pause to address the growing pandemic. In response, several conflict parties announced unilateral cease-fires, including the National Democratic Front in the Philippines, the Syrian Democratic Forces, and the National Liberation Army in Colombia. Two months later, the U.N. Security Council adopted resolution 2532, calling on conflict parties across the world to support a 90-day humanitarian ceasefires. However, since then, it has been challenging for any bilateral or multilateral cease-fires related to the pandemic to materialize, despite the spread of COVID-19 to numerous conflict zones, including Yemen and Syria.
Join USIP for a timely discussion on the strategies needed to pursue effective cease-fires in conflict zones. Drawing from recent reports, including the forthcoming USIP publication “Searching for COVID-19 Cease-fires: Conflict Zone Impacts, Needs, and Opportunities,” panelists will consider the correlation between political willpower and conflict resolution, how the secretary-general’s cease-fire appeal was perceived on the ground in conflict zones, and whether international pressure could make a difference in advancing the secretary-general’s call.
Speakers
Christine Bell
Professor of Constitutional Law and Assistant Principal, The University of Edinburgh School of Law
Ashish Pradhan
Senior Analyst, U.N. Advocacy and Research, International Crisis Group
Tyler Thompson
Senior Expert, Negotiations and Peace Process Support, U.S. Institute of Peace
More information and register now: https://www.usip.org/events/covid-19-and-cease-fires-what-have-we-learned

PeaceFem - Peace in Your Hands
2020-09-08 14:15 - 15:15 | Online
Join PSRP for a presentation on the PeaceFem app and how PeaceTech could support the Women, Peace and Security agenda. We will be discussing how women use PeaceTech/technologies for peacebuilding, how participants could use PeaceFem in their work, and what challenges there are with using PeaceTech.
This event is part of the Virtual Torino Forum for Sustaining Peace, hosted by United Nations System Staff College. Originally envisaged as a high-level event at the UN campus in Turin, Italy, the 2020 Torino Forum is leveraging innovation and technology to bring the Women, Peace and Security community together with the Youth, Peace and Security community for a series of virtual discussions and exchanges. The event will explore the status of the agendas of these respective communities in an open exchange with the wider peacebuilding community.
Speakers:
Fiona Knäussel, Political Settlements Research Programme, University of Edinburgh
Sarah Brun, UN Women
Christine Bell, Political Settlements Research Programme, University of Edinburgh
Laura Wise, Political Settlements Research Programme, University of Edinburgh
Date and time:
8th September CEST 15:15 -16:15 (14:15 – 15:15 BST/UK time)
Register now.

Can PeaceTech end conflict during Covid-19?
2020-08-30 16:00 - 17:00
Can PeaceTech end conflict during Covid-19? Part of the Edinburgh University Women in STEM Connect series.
Our panelists will be discussing how their tools support those brokering peace, and the challenges and opportunities the pandemic presents. Register now.

The Covid-19 pandemic is having disproportionate impacts on people in countries already affected by conflict, and travel restrictions both within and between countries have disrupted in-person mediation processes that have historically relied on bringing people together. Since March 2020, those working in the nascent field of PeaceTech (technological tools that support peacebuilding) have suddenly found their services more in demand than ever, as peacebuilders and their supports shift to online ways of working, often in communities where internet accessibility is not always guaranteed.
In this talk, Professor Christine Bell, Laura Wise, and Fiona Knäussel will illustrate how the Political Settlements Research Programme (PSRP) has developed a suite of PeaceTech tools to support those brokering peace, and explain how these have come into their own during the Covid-19 pandemic and they hope, beyond. They will discuss the opportunities and challenges of developing technological responses to facilitate conflict resolution, and how PeaceTech could assist women’s meaningful inclusion in peace processes.
This event will be held online. By signing up for a ticket on Eventbrite, you will receive a Zoom joining link by email a day or two before the event.
Register now.

Making inclusive peacemaking a reality: virtual launch of the PeaceFem mobile app
2020-06-30 13:00 - 14:30
Join UN Women, University of Edinburgh’s Political Settlements Research Programme (PSRP), Monash Gender, Peace and Security Centre, and Inclusive Peace to celebrate the launch of the new PeaceFem mobile app.
Tuesday 30 June 2020, 1:00-2:30pm London / 3:00-4:30pm Beirut / 8:00-9:30am New York City

A contribution to the growing field of peace tech that utilizes technology to support peace and security, the new PeaceFem app brings together data on women and peacemaking in one easy-to-use app in English and Arabic.
The launch seminar will be an opportunity for participants to discover the app and its functions, and to discuss peacemaking and technology as a tool for inclusivity. The webinar will be held via Zoom in English and Arabic with simultaneous translation. Register now.
Speakers include:

Barney Afako, Judge, Lawyer and Mediation Expert
Miriam Colonel Ferrer, Senior Mediation Advisor on Process Design, Gender and Inclusion
Rasha Jarhum, Co-Founder and Director of the Peace Track Initiative
Christine Bell, Director, Political Settlements Research Programme
Jacqui True, Director, Monash Gender, Peace and Security Centre
Moez Doraid, Regional Director a.i., UN Women Regional Office for Arab States
Thania Paffenholz, Executive Director, Inclusive Peace

Registration:
Register now.
This seminar is free and open to all. Booking is essential. Registered participants will be emailed a link to the Zoom webinar before the event.

OxPeace Conference 2020
2020-05-16
OXPEACE 2020 CONFERENCE: WOMEN, PEACE & SECURITY

16 May 2020 – online

The UN Resolution 1325 (2000) was a key moment for global peace. The world for the first time recognised the key role of women in peace and the need for their equal participation in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction. This landmark resolution also acknowledged the different experience of war for women.
​Marking the 20th anniversary of a path-breaking resolution, this year’s conference is dedicated to the scholarship, policy and practice of women’s inclusion in peacebuilding, peacekeeping and security as well as discussions about gender-based violence and the role of grassroots actors and organisations. Providing a discussion between practitioners, policymakers and academics, OxPeace2020 conference will reflect upon key achievements and failures in the inclusion of women in peace in the past two decades.

The event will be co-hosted by Tim Epple of the Political Settlements Research Programme, and speakers include the PSRP’s Dr Kevin McNicholl and Laura Wise. For the full speaker lineup, visit the conference website.
​Attending the online conference is free. Register now.
