Peacemaking

Foreign Affairs Article

Do Less Harm

Author: Sarah Holewinski

The Afghanistan and Iraq wars taught the United States painful lessons about the need to limit harm to civilians and compensate victims for their suffering.

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Foreign Affairs Article

Peace Out

Author: Walter Russell Mead

Every aspiring beauty-pageant queen knows what to say when asked what she wants most: "World peace." World peace is at least nominally what we all want most. But evidently, we are not very good at making it.

See more in North America, Peacemaking

Primary Sources

Annan's Peace Plan for Syria

Author: Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan, Joint Special Envoy for the United Nations and the League of Arab States, drew up this six-point peace plan for Syria. It was submitted to the UN in March 2012 and on March 27 the Syrian government accepted the proposal. The ceasefire came in to effect on April 12, 2012 but as reported by the UN and other bodies, has not been honored.

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News Release

State Department Needs “Clear Guidelines” on Engaging with Nonstate Armed Groups

Recent data on organized violence shows that conflicts between a state and one or more nonstate armed groups vastly outnumber interstate conflicts. As a result, argues former international affairs fellow Payton L. Knopf in a new CFR Working Paper, the State Department needs clear guidelines as to why, when, and how its diplomats should conduct outreach to these groups.

See more in Horn of Africa, Sudan, Conflict Prevention, Peacekeeping, Peacemaking, Terrorist Organizations

Primary Sources

Quartet Statement, September 2011

The Quartet —U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union Catherine Ashton— met in New York on 23rd September 2011. They were joined by Quartet Representative Tony Blair.

See more in Middle East, Peacemaking