EPLO Letter – Building Peace with the European Union’s Green Transition
EPLO believes that the EU’s efforts to promote the green transition, expand its climate diplomacy, and implement the EU Joint Communication on the Climate-Security Nexus, present key opportunities to advance the EU’s priorities on conflict prevention and peacebuilding. We are convinced that the EU is uniquely positioned to play a leading role on the world […]
Letter to Future MEPs – The European Union as a Global Peace Actor
As a peace project itself, the EU has a unique comparative advantage in promoting nonviolent forms of conflict resolution and contributing to long-term, sustainable peace across the world through its peacebuilding and development instruments. Alongside initiatives like the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), the EU plays […]
Standing up against gender-based violence? Mismatches between EU internal and foreign policy
By Marie Lena Groenewald In early February, EU institutions reached a political agreement on new rules to combat violence against women and domestic violence. While the directive is yet to be finally adopted, the agreement follows an almost two year process, starting with a Commission proposal for a Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence set forth in […]
Trends towards the defunding of European Peacebuilding: German ODA cuts as a case in point
By Philipp Kittman Following a protracted process, Germany finalised its federal budget for 2024 in late January, navigating through economic challenges marked by slowing growth. The resultant austerity course led to significant budget reductions, notably impacting official development assistance (ODA) and funding for peacebuilding. In relative terms, peacebuilding and other international cooperation initiatives rank as the […]
Peace in the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus: Key Recommendations
By Lorenzo Angelini Since the European Union (EU) published its Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy in 2016, it has made steady efforts to strengthen the connections between its humanitarian, development and peacebuilding actions. However, despite the progress achieved, there remain across EU services and delegations different understandings of the peace component of the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus […]
What Mariama Diomande can teach us about social cohesion
By Jack Kennedy In the new EPLO documentary, “MARIAMA”, we meet Mariama Diomande, a young Ivorian woman who has dedicated herself to building peace in her community in Abidjan, in the wake of the violence that engulfed Côte d’Ivoire following the 2010 election. Mariama’s story is inspiring; it is a demonstration of what a small […]
Water, Peace and Conflict: Recommendations from Civil Society
By Marie Lena Groenewald and Lorenzo Angelini In recent years, the European Union (EU) has made clear that it is committed to addressing the linkages between the climate crisis, water resources, and peace and conflict dynamics. The EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy (2016), the Climate Change and Defence Roadmap (2020), the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change (2021) and […]
Peace as Practice
By Sarah Luft (see bio below), a guest writer for The Peace Studio and the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office on the occasion of the world premiere of Dí Mi L’amore (Une version en français de l’article est disponible ici.) What does peace mean to you? Dí Mi L’amore, an artistic offering created by Petru Canon and Britt Hewitt with The Peace Studio and the European Peacebuilding […]
International Day of Peace 2020
By Manon Levrey & Ben Moore On Monday 21 September, people around the world will mark the 39th International Day of Peace. Following the adoption of United Nations (UN) Resolution 36/37 in 1981, the UN General Assembly designated 21 September as a day devoted to ‘commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and people.’ The […]
Conflict Dynamics and Drivers of Peace in the Sahel Region: Perspectives from Civil Society
By Lorenzo Angelini The Sahel region faces a number of development and security challenges which are often interlinked. While some of these challenges are specific to individual countries, others are similar across borders or are transnational in nature. As the European Union (EU) is currently looking to adjust its engagement in the Sahel, especially in relation […]