In the Field
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September 2009
USIP's Maria Jessop-Mandel writes about the Institute's recent human rights workshop, "Putting Human Rights Values into Action," for Iraqi professors held in Beirut, Lebanon. The program explored three human rights-related themes specific to the Iraqi context -- children’s rights, women's equality and academic freedom -- and ways these professors could more effectively teach human rights in their classrooms, and ultimately learn from each other's experiences. Countries: Iraq
| Issue Areas: Education, Human Rights, Religion, Women, Youth
| Programs: Education and Training Center, Education and Training Center/International
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August 2009
Ahead of the country's critical 2011 referendum on whether the South should secede from Sudan, USIP is dedicated to help resolve internal conflicts and help ensure the country's future stability and security. In "Notes from Sudan," USIP's Jon Temin writes about his recent tour of the country to get an update on the status of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended decades of civil war in Sudan and learn about preparations for the 2011 referendum and the 2010 national elections.
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May 2009
USIP peace scholar Benjamin Schonthal provides a first person account of the excitement at the end of Sri Lanka's 30-year civil war. And, he also reminds us that the hard work of peace is just beginning. Countries: Sri Lanka
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis, Conflict Management and Resolution, Governance, Human Rights, Humanitarian Efforts, Identity, Ethnicity, and Culture, Negotiation and Diplomacy, Political Systems and International Relations, Religion, Terrorism and Political Extremism
| Programs: Grants & Fellowships, Jennings Randolph Peace Scholarship Dissertation Program
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April 2009
From March 31st to April 4th 2009, USIP’s Religion and Peacemaking program, working in partnership with the Council of Representatives’ Religious Affairs Committee, brought together twenty-five religious leaders, civil society activists, and academics from throughout Iraq to discuss religious violence in conflict and how to leverage religious resources in peacemaking. The participants were representative of Iraq’s pluralistic society: hailing from all eighteen provinces, they included both Shia and Suni Muslim, Christian, Yazidi, and Sabean Mandean faiths, Kurdish and Arab ethnic identity, male and female. |
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Religion is often cited as a cause of violent conflict, yet there is little recognition of how faith communities contribute toward peacemaking in zones of conflict throughout the world. Issue Areas: Capacity Building, Religion, Training
| Programs: Education and Training Center/International
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The Religion and Peacemaking program at USIP visited Colombia in November 2008 to support a joint-initiative of the Conferencia de Religiosos y Religiosas de Colombia, the organizing body of Catholic men’s and women’s religious orders, and Justapaz, a Menonite organization, to convene a four-day workshop outside of Bogota for Catholic and Protestant women peacemakers. This workshop provided an opportunity for women doing peace work on the ground through their churches to share best practices, network, and conceive future joint-initiatives. |