As a national, nonpartisan, independent Institute, the U.S. Institute of Peace draws on our exceptional convening power to create opportunities for diverse audiences to exchange knowledge, experiences, and ideas necessary for creative solutions to difficult challenges. We serve as an important, neutral platform for bringing together government and nongovernment, diplomacy, security, and development actors, and participants across political views. The Institute’s events help shape public policy and priorities to advance peaceful solutions to conflict and strengthen international security.
Osama al-Nujaifi is one of Iraq’s three vice presidents. Hailing from Mosul, a city recaptured this year from the ISIS extremist group, he is secretary general of the United for Iraq Party, and the leader of the Sunni political coalition Muttahidoon. Vice President al-Nujaifi’s address at USIP was his only public appearance during his visit to Washington.
Reparations for victims and reintegration of combatants are key provisions of Colombian law and of the year-old peace agreement that ended a half century of war between the government and the country’s largest rebel group. The effect of the conflict and how the government is fulfilling its commitments was the focus of a discussion on October 31st at the U.S. Institute of Peace, co-hosted with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Latin American Program.
On August 1, USIP held an examination of the work required to protect and include minorities, and the roles that can be played by Iraq’s national government, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the United States.
Following the Global Coalition's meetings in Washington, USIP held a conversation with Ambassador Ekkehard Brose, who co-chairs the Global Coalition’s “Stabilization Working Group”, and Joseph Pennington, deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq.
Only July 12, USIP held a panel discussion with leading experts on how a political strategy can help win the peace in Afghanistan.
U.S.-backed military offensives, at Mosul in Iraq and at Raqqa in Syria, are squeezing the Islamic State (ISIS) from its last territorial strongholds. But what will replace ISIS rule? Persistent conflicts in both countries, including new ones fueled by ISIS’ brutal rise, continue to undermine stability. Can Iraq steady itself, even as ethnic Kurds have called a referendum on independence? In eastern Syria, what groups might fill the post-ISIS power vacuum? Will ISIS even be truly eliminated? On June 30, experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace held a Facebook Live discussion on the rising challenges.
On June 26, the U.S. Institute of Peace and the organization Inclusive Security held a discussion on Rwanda’s transition from genocide to a country at peace, where women hold 64 percent of seats in parliament.
On April 25, USIP and HALO Trust, one of the world’s largest demining organizations, gathered experts for a discussion on the implications and results of demining.
When Northern Ireland’s combatants finally made peace in the 1990s, they did so on a broad foundation of grassroots reconciliation and economic development work, built over more than a decade by the International Fund for Ireland. On March 13, the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Embassy of Ireland gathered former government officials, peacebuilding practitioners and scholars to examine what worked in advancing peace in Northern Ireland—and what lessons might be applied to the difficult process of peacemaking and peacebuilding between Israelis and Palestinians. Former Senator George Mitchell, who served as an envoy in both peace processes, was the keynote speaker.
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaafari addressed his country’s role in the Middle East, its battle against ISIS/ISIL, relations with the U.S., and the need for international assistance, in an event at the U.S. Institute of Peace on July 19. It was his only public appearance during a trip to Washington for meetings with the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL and an international pledging conference to raise funds for relief and reconstruction, as the Iraqi government works with allies to prepare for the massive undertaking of recapturing the country’s second-largest city, Mosul, from ISIS control.