Crisis Prevention

Introduction to the panel discussion "The future of arms control - Cooperative arms limitations and reductions in times of global change" by Ralf Fücks, president of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

In July 2011, ISAF officially handed over seven areas to Afghan National Security Forces, beginning a process to gradually transition all security responsibility from international to Afghan leadership. Drawing on The Liaison Office’s experience in the region Loya Paktia, this paper examines the shortcomings of a transition strategy that focuses on security, while ignoring important social and political factors that could undermine the strategy. 

This paper outlines the tasks and character of an international mission aimed at supporting Israel and Palestine in the implementation of a peace agreement. It is the result of intensive consultation among a group of high-level experts - amongst them security experts from Israel, Palestine, Europe and Canada. The consultation process was organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

The Pashtuns are the ethnic majority in the border area of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but the Pakistani government is not caring about their issues. In the war on terror they often feel like cannon fodder.

Smuggled diamonds are still financing violent conflicts in Africa. In 2003 the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was created to prevent the trade of these blood diamonds. But recent reports of violence, human rights abuses and smuggling are fuelling doubts about the credibility and effectiveness of the certification scheme.

The Afghan region Loya Paktia is very much embedded in tribal traditions, which have in the past provided security in the area. Due to lost windows of opportunity, security has deteriorated to a large extend since 2005. This policy paper discusses the problematic relations between the main actors, why reconciliation initiatives to date have failed in the Southeast, and puts forward some practical suggestions to ensure a more effective strategy.

Afghanistan’s south eastern province of Khost is well connected with important centers of trade on the other side of the border in Pakistan. At the same time, these advantages are also being used by insurgents and make Khost a primary spot for infiltration. TLO, a partner organization of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, takes a closer look at Khost province and analyzes the effects of the erosion of tribal unity there over the last decades. 

Muhammad Idrees Kamal, the Executive Director of Citizen Rights and Sustainable Development Peshawar, about his organization, its issues, and how the advocacy organization did charity collection and relief operations after the flood in Pakistan.

Shagufta Malik (ANP), Member of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, about her experiences as a woman politician, her impressions of the flood affected areas and the political situation after the flood.

Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa, Independent political scientist and writer, Islamabad, about gender struggles in the Pakistani elite, her 2007 book “Military Inc.” and why there will be greater conflict in the Pakistani society. This is an interview with her on the occasion of our conference.

Dr. Abid Suleri, Executive Director Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad, on Food Insecurity in Pakistan, consequences of the flood and suggestions to politics.

In July, Pakistan was hit by a flood crisis of unexpected dimension. Against this background, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung initiated a dialog with Pakistani and German representatives from politics, academics and the NGO sector on political and economic impacts of the flood and on current needs and challenges.

It is an undeniable fact that women and men are affected differently by wars and conflicts. However, the assigned stereotypes – men as fighters, women as victims – do not do justice to the complex reality. Speech for the international Conference "Coping with Crises, Ending Armed Conflict"

Afghan President Karzai established “Peace Council” for negotiations with the Taliban. The names of 68 members of this council were announced, and hold few surprises

The final document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference includes reference to the convening of a conference in 2012 to discuss the idea of a Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free-Zone (WMDFZ) for the Middle East.

The clash between secularism and Islam in Palestine dates back to the beginning of the Palestinian Israeli conflict more than sixty years ago. The current split between the PA and Hamas will not be resolved in the foreseeable future, and a national unity government reunifying the West Bank and Gaza is not within sight.

Diversity, Unity, and Fragmentation are three terms that have been dominating the Palestinian political discourse since the emergence of the Palestinian National Movement in the twentieth century. The internal Palestinian division since June 2007 has given more intensity to the discussion about Diversity, Unity, and Fragmentation.

The perception is widely held that Fateh represents secularism, enlightened and modern secularism, open to the West, reformist, capable for democratic transformation and Hamas represents fundamentalism, backward, traditional (if looked at positively), anti-Western, pro-Iran, authoritarian, incapable for democratic transformation, simply using democratic slogans in order to reach power.

While the international community has over the last decade converged around a two-state vision, it has neither worked convincingly to implement this vision nor to prevent or stop processes that have the potential of making a two-state settlement impossible.

There is and there cannot be any democracy or the development of a democratic system under occupation. It follows, therefore, that in our discussion today we can only pose the question about the amount of freedom needed to end occupation and build a free society and, perhaps eventually, achieve the “dream” of a democratic state in Palestine.