As Iraqis celebrate the one-year anniversary of the fall of ISIS, USIP’s Elie Abouaoun says that there is a sense of relief in the country over the terrorist group’s defeat and that elections happened this year.
Listen to the full podcast here.
Report: Reconciliation in Rwanda
Since the genocide in 1994, the Rwandan government has been working on setting a strategic direction for sustainable peace and socioeconomic development in the country. This new policy brief examines community perspectives on how the National Policy on Unity and Reconciliation can be utilized by decision-makers, to address not just the existing gaps within Rwanda’s reconciliation policy itself, but other conflicts and tensions that continue to hamper unity and reconciliation in the country.
Read the full report from International Alert here.
Ending Sexual Violence during, after Conflict
Awarding the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to advocates for survivors of wartime sexual violence, Dr. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, indicates that the issue of sexual abuse has gained international recognition. This comes ten years after the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution 1820, which declared that conflict-related sexual violence constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity.
This Special Report from USIP highlights the limited scope of the resolution, examines the connections between sexual violence and conflict, and urges key stakeholders to view sexual violence—both during conflict and after—as a threat to international peace and security.
Nigeria: Residents support mosque and church built side-by-side
What would happen if you built a Muslim mosque right next door to a Christian church, in a country plagued by religious violence?
In Kaduna State in Nigeria, where religious violence has intensified in the last year, building two places of worship so close seemed like an impossibility. Residents In the suburb of Kudanden were nervous when construction began next to a Living Faith church, with the new mosque even sharing a fence-line with the church. But despite clashes between the two religious groups in other parts of the country, worshipers here, are determined to work together.
“The issue of peaceful co-existence, or better still, refer to it as religious co-existence, cannot be over-emphasized,” said Christian resident Isiah Benjamin.
“So if the mosque is going to be used to worship and serve god, and the church is going to be used to worship and serve god, there’s no big deal about it, it’s a good one, and it therefore shows that we, as human beings, must learn to live as one.”
The harmony in the community was aided by a memorandum of understanding that was established by leaders in the region. The chief of Kudanden, Gabriel Galadima, said leaders from both parties were brought together to recognize a mutual, peaceful, understanding.
“What I want to call on the youth of this community, not only this community but the state at large, that wish not to live in peace with one another—that yes relations will come and go, but we will still be together.”
“I want to praise the people of our Kaduna community, other areas in Kaduna, other communities should also emulate that,” said Muslim resident Tajudeen Ajibade.
“So that we can go back to what Kaduna used to be: My name John, my name Mohammed, my name Taju—it does not make a difference—what makes a difference to us is how we are going to move this state forward.”
“This happened because we want to be together, we should be our brother’s keeper, we should live together,” said resident Samuel David Galadima.
“We want other people to emulate the habit of people from Kudanden, to learn from them. To live in peace with one another.”
Could transparency aid South Sudan cease-fire?
In the last five years, international monitors in South Sudan have documented more than 100 violations of the country’s numerous cease-fire agreements. A new analysis of the monitors’ data published from April 2014 to August 2018 demonstrates how the conflict changed as the government’s military position strengthened. The statistics also show that the pace of monitoring violations and completing investigation reports significantly slowed over time. Following the September 2018 peace agreement, further incidents of violence have regrettably occurred, and the monitors’ most recent reports have only disclosed some details of those events. To improve their effectiveness, monitors should be more transparent and detailed, and seek to lessen the time it takes to conclude investigations and report findings.
Read the full analysis from USIP here.
