As a national, nonpartisan, independent Institute, the U.S. Institute of Peace draws on our exceptional convening power to create opportunities for diverse audiences to exchange knowledge, experiences, and ideas necessary for creative solutions to difficult challenges. We serve as an important, neutral platform for bringing together government and nongovernment, diplomacy, security, and development actors, and participants across political views. The Institute’s events help shape public policy and priorities to advance peaceful solutions to conflict and strengthen international security.
On July 25, USIP hosted a discussion on what’s next for Sri Lanka — from reforming the constitution to lessen the power of the presidency to finalizing a deal with the International Monetary Fund and Sri Lanka’s creditors to secure relief to the immediate economic crisis. The conversation also touched on how the United States, India, China and other international actors are addressing Sri Lanka’s crisis.
On July 22, USIP and the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs hosted a conversation that attempted to pierce the veil of secrecy around some of these recent events in Central Asia. A panel of scholars discussed how they view these protests and tried to understand more broadly why governments in the region are suddenly struggling to keep things under control.
On July 20, USIP, the Simon Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the U.S. State Department held a discussion of the newly released U.S. Strategy to Anticipate, Prevent and Respond to Atrocities — as well as looked at the work of the Atrocity Prevention Task Force has made over the past year as documented through its 2022 report to Congress as part of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act.
On July 19, USIP held a conversation on the importance of documentation in the pursuit of accountability for crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war — as well as lessons for current international accountability efforts for atrocities in other conflict-affected countries, such as Ukraine, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.
On July 15, USIP, the Washington Office on Latin America, the Colombia Human Rights Committee, the Latin America Working Group, Humanity United and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies hosted three commissioners for the first international presentation of their final report.
On July 15, USIP hosted Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), vice ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia and Nonproliferation, for a discussion on the bipartisan congressional response to the Chinese government’s human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the XUAR.
On July 13, USIP held a discussion on the approaches to reconciliation and justice in Rwanda that followed the 1994 genocide, including the Gacaca Courts and community-based and women-led initiatives. Panelists discussed how Rwanda’s experiences are inspiring the imagination and action of those pursuing peace and transitional justice across Africa and beyond.
On July 12, USIP and Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy hosted a discussion reflecting on Ambassador Hof’s experience trying to broker Syrian-Israeli peace and what it can tell us about the possibilities and limitations of American conflict mediation. The conversation also looked back on the consistent and the unpredictable elements of successful negotiations in the Middle East, Balkans, Colombia and Africa, and drew lessons from past successes, failures and near-misses.
On July 6, USIP held a conversation with journalist and author Elizabeth Becker, atrocity investigator and educator Ly Sok-Kheang and former advisor to the Extraordinary Chambers Courts of Cambodia Susana SáCouto to reflect on role of documentation in achieving justice and accountability.
On June 30, USIP hosted a conversation with leading experts on how the international community can work together to help prevent or mitigate the possibility of violence caused by a food security crisis of this scale.