Swisspeace

swisspeace
Type Non-governmental Organization
Purpose Peacebuilding, Peace Research, Training
Headquarters Bern, Switzerland
Key people
 Jakob Kellenberger, President
Affiliations University of Basel
Staff
 50
Formerly called
 Swiss Peace Foundation

swisspeace is a practice-oriented peace research institute located in Bern and Basel, Switzerland. The goal of its activities is to promote the peaceful transformation of armed conflicts worldwide by supporting Swiss and international actors in their peacebuilding activities.[1]

History

swisspeace was founded in 1988 as the Swiss Peace Foundation with the goal of strengthening independent peace research in Switzerland. Today swisspeace employs approximately fifty people and is headquartered in Bern, Switzerland.[2]

swisspeace is a member of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAHS) and is an associated Institute of the University of Basel.[3]

Jakob Kellenberger, former president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), became president of swisspeace on the organization’s 25th anniversary on 10 September 2013.[4]

swisspeace President Jakob Kellenberger during an ICRC press conference in Geneva in 2010

Donors and Clients

The most important donors and clients are the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) as well as national and international organizations and foundations.[5]

Fields of Expertise

swisspeace aims to shape and help implement the Swiss government‘s peace and security policy through research, training, advisory services and information sharing. It cooperates with other organizations and has the capacity to found new organizations.[6] The Foundation focuses on the following subjects:

Mediation: Third parties can play an important role in establishing dialogue between warring parties. In collaboration with the Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich, swisspeace advices peace mediators of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and offers annual training courses on the subject of peace mediation. The Foundation currently also works with UN Women on the participation of women in the peace process and on minority issues in Myanmar.[7]

Peacebuilding Analysis & Impact: The peaceful resolution of armed conflicts requires thorough analysis of the respective conflict and the actors involved. In this field, swisspeace currently runs a reintegration project for public servants in Gaza to support the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.[8]

Dealing with the Past: Violent conflicts, dictatorships and repressive regimes often have a lasting impact on societies. Dealing with the legacy of human rights violations and other crimes has thus become a central topic for swisspeace. The Foundation seeks to pursue a holistic approach that was jointly developed with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). This approach has four pillars: the right to know; the right to justice; the right to reparation; and the guarantee of non-recurrence (see Figure 1).[9] Since the creation of the Truth and Dignity Commission (TDC) in Tunisia in 2014, swisspeace has advised the TDC in questions regarding the access to state archives.[10]

Figure 1: Conceptual framework of swisspeace's Dealing with the Past (DwP) program

Statehood & Conflict: Whether state institutions can function properly once an armed conflict has ended often depends on the history and the dynamics of the conflict. In this field, the focus of swisspeace’s activities lies on state-building, democracy and traditional authorities in South Sudan.[11]

Business & Peace: Private companies can play a critical role in conflict-ridden areas. Against this background, swisspeace offers companies assistance in identifying conflict-related risks of their operations and in adapting their business practices accordingly. For example, swisspeace developed a manual for conflict prevention and resolution for the logging company Danzer after tensions with the local population had escalated in the Democratic Republic of Congo.[12]

Gender: Conflicts affect women, children and men in different ways. To take these differences into account, swisspeace has sought to promote the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.[13]

KOFF: In 2001, swisspeace founded the Center for Peacebuilding (KOFF) to provide a dialogue, exchange and networking platform for Swiss state and non-state actors that are engaged in peacebuilding activities.[14]

swisspeace Academy: Launched in 2013, the swisspeace Academy is swisspeace’s center for postgraduate education in the peacebuilding sector. It is located in Basel and is associated with the University of Basel. The Academy offers the following programs:

OSCE: During Switzerland’s Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2014, swisspeace organized events and engaged in several projects on the subject of peace in the OSCE region. Among other events, the Foundation organized the 2014 OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference in Basel which took place at the same time as the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting.[18]

External links

References

Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent German-language Wikipedia article. Retrieved on 5 August 2015. Many of the following references are cited by that German-language article:

  1. ↑ http://www.swisspeace.ch/aboutus.html; Geneva Peacebuilding Platform: http://www.gpplatform.ch/pbguide/organisation/swisspeace
  2. ↑ Handeslregister des Kantons Bern. "Eintrag der «Schweizerische Friedensstiftung - swisspeace" Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  3. ↑ http://www.sagw.ch/de/sagw/die-akademie/mitgliedgesellschaften/sektion07.html
  4. ↑ Curtis, Malcolm (2013). "Former Red Cross chief to head Swisspeace“. The Local. Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  5. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung (2002). "Professionalisierung der Friedensarbeit". Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  6. ↑ Handeslregister des Kantons Bern. "Eintrag der «Schweizerische Friedensstiftung - swisspeace" Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  7. ↑ Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (2013). "Burmesische Delegation in der Schweiz". Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  8. ↑ swisspeace (2013). "Annual Report". Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  9. ↑ Swiss Info (2012). "Wenn das nationale Erbe aus Gräueltaten besteht". Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  10. ↑ swisspeace. "Annual Report". Retrieved 05 August 2015
  11. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung. "Perspektiven für einen neuen Staat". Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  12. ↑ Danzer Group (2013). "Danzer agrees cooperation with swisspeace". Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  13. ↑ Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft. "Bericht über die Umsetzung der UNO-Sicherheitsratsresolution 1325 durch die Schweiz". Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  14. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung (2001). "Allianz zur Konfliktbewältigung". Retrieved 05 August 2015.
  15. ↑ http://academy.swisspeace.ch/postgraduate-courses/mas-program/aim-target-audience/
  16. ↑ https://zasb.unibas.ch/de/ueber-uns/zasb-2012/2012-05-09-ankuendigung/
  17. ↑ https://politikwissenschaft.unibas.ch/studium/studienangebot/nachdiplom/
  18. ↑ http://www.humanrights.ch/en/switzerland/foreign-affairs/io/osce/ngo-conference-issues-recommendations-osce-foreign-ministers-conference-basel
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