APPGCI Report
2011 progress report to the Global Alliance for
Ministries and Departments of Peace
Country: UK (Parliament)
GA Contact Person: Irving Rappaport
Contact Email: irving@meetingofminds.co.uk
Website: www.conflictissues.org.uk
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Conflict Issues
Progress report to the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace 2011 Summit, South Africa.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Conflict Issues (APPGCI) was launched as an official organ of the UK Parliament in December 2006 ‘to encourage dialogue, on the basis of expert information and opinion from across the political spectrum, on issues relating to conflict; especially on the practical means to prevent, transform and resolve violent conflict.’
The group promotes non-violent approaches to conflict both within and outside parliament and has held many meetings within Parliament since that time, from large events with audiences of more than 200, to small confidential briefings.
The group was reconstituted in July 2010, following the General Election, and formally has five Conservative and five Liberal Democrat members from the Government side, and seven Labour members, two Nationalists (DUP and SNP) and a Crossbench peer from the Opposition. Fourteen of the formal members are MPs (members of the House of Commons) and six are members of the House of Lords. Two members sit on the Defence Select Committee and one sits on the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee.
In addition, we have the active support of several prominent Parliamentarians, including the Archbishop of York, Harriet Harman (Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Shadow International Development Secretary), and Tessa Munt MP.
The group has three Co-Chairs, all MPs, one from each of the three main parties – Simon Hughes (Deputy Leader, Liberal Democrats), Gary Streeter (Conservative) and John McDonnell (Labour). This means that the APPGCI now includes the deputy leaders of two of the UK’s three main political parties.
The APPGCI is supported by an Advisory Group that includes Lord Wood (Strategic Adviser to Ed Miliband the leader of the Opposition); General Sir Rupert Smith, former Deputy Supreme Commander Allied Powers Europe, 1998- 2001; and senior figures from the peace sector and academia such as Dan Smith, head of International Alert, and Bradford University Peace Department’s Professor Oliver Ramsbotham.
The APPGCI is run by a Secretariat of three – Eddy Canfor-Dumas, Yeshim Harris and Irving Rappaport. They are augmented by the input of a media/PR consultant, Wendy Bailey.
Why the APPGCI is needed
The APPGCI plays an important role in the UK Parliament. Until its creation there was no regular forum for the voice of the peace sector to be heard in Westminster, other than on specific conflicts or issues. Parliamentarians were largely ignorant of both the academic and practical work being done in this field and were consequently unable to draw on it for policy options. Fortunately, thanks to the persistent efforts of many individuals and organisations, that ignorance is diminishing. The APPGCI helps provide effective Parliamentary focus for those efforts, a role that will strengthen when we establish an annual debate on Conflict Prevention as a regular feature of the Parliamentary calendar (see below).
The APPGCI’s Achievements
The APPGCI was established during the Iraq insurgency. The period 2007-10 saw a growing realisation in Parliament and in the government that hard military power has severe limitations, is extremely costly in blood and cash, and that alternative approaches to conflict are desparately needed.
So – notwithstanding the latest action in Libya – in the last Parliament, many of the arguments about the ‘why’ of conflict prevention (and its associated concepts) were effectively won, and the APPGCI played a significant role in that success. Not only did we help to create an awareness of possible alternatives through our regular meetings in Parliament, and through the Westminster launch in March 2009 of the international Parliamentarians Network on Conflict Prevention, but also through the relationships we have been assiduously cultivating with Government officials since our inception. As evidence of this, we were recently asked to convene a meeting for senior officials of two ministries – the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DFID) to brief Parliamentarians from all parties on the Government’s ‘Building Stability Overseas’ strategy.
In February 2010, the APPGCI secured what we believe to be the first-ever Parliamentary debate devoted to Conflict Prevention. Supported by MPs from all sides of the House, it featured a call from our co-chair, Simon Hughes MP, for a debate on this subject to be held annually, on a par with other debates of national importance, for example on the Army, Navy and Airforce.
As a result, on 21 June 2011, we secured a second debate on the government’s strategy regarding Conflict Prevention which featured this quote from Henry Bellingham MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, speaking for the government.
‘We want to be the world leader in terms of making a real impact in this absolutely vital area…I’d like to congratulate Simon Hughes MP on the work he’s done with the All-Party Group on Conflict Issues and the honorable colleagues who have been supportive of that group, which I think is one of the most important groups in Parliament.’
The key points and commitments made by the minister during the debate include:
- Programme resources in the Conflict Pool will rise from £229m to £309m by 2014-15
- The Stabilisation Unit will be refocused to give more attention to upstream conflict prevention
- By 2014-15 HMG will increase to 30% the proportion of UK overseas development assistance that supports conflict-affected and fragile states
- The government will seek to improve its early-warning and early-response capabilities
- The government will seek to improve its cooperation on conflict prevention with partner countries and organisations
- The government will convene a ministerial seminar on conflict prevention that involves a wide range of stakeholders.
A full recording of the debate can be watched here.
Backgound material is available on the Resources page.
The APPGCI’s Objectives
All three main parties – plus the Greens, the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru (the Welsh National Party) made manifesto commitments to conflict prevention during the 2010 General Election (another achievement for which the APPGCI can claim some credit), but there is still a large degree of uncertainty about exactly what this means in concrete terms. We see the APPGCI’s main role until the next election as helping to clarify the practical options for the Government. We will do this through:-
- securing a regular annual debate in both Houses of Parliament on conflict prevention
- publishing a basic ‘primer’ to help educate Parliamentarians about conflict prevention
- hosting an annual lecture by a leading figure in the field – we are currently talking with the EastWest Institute about the possibility of Nobel Peace Prize winner Maarti Ahtisaari delivering the inaugural lecture
- organising an annual awards event at Westminster to celebrate significant achievements by peace sector individuals and organizations
- seeking to secure a Select Committee enquiry into conflict prevention
- working to extend the Parliamentarians Network at Westminster, both by recruiting more UK Parliamentarians into it and by organising more contact between UK and overseas members – we are planning with the EWI to bring German, Belgian and Finnish MPs to Westminster for a joint event on prevention as soon as funding can be secured.
- continuing our function as a channel into Parliament for individuals and organisations in the peace sector
- holding regular meetings on important generic topics and ongoing conflicts
- steadily building relationships with stakeholders in a wide variety of sectors and organisations. The business world is increasingly coming into play, for example, as the government seeks to draw on its potential influence in fragile and conflict-affected areas of the world.
The annual debate, lecture and awards ceremony are conceived as ‘Big Events’ – one per Parliamentary Term – whose aim is to raise the profile of conflict prevention and peace-building, both in Parliament and in the media.
The annual debate will be an opportunity for Parliamentarians to hold the Government to account in this area, to press for more resources to be allocated and to ensure that the government is aware of best practice and recent developments. The APPGCI will produce a briefing paper ahead of each annual debate, compiled from the input of those working in the field. It will also seek to generate media interest in the debate and will hold a reception afterwards. We want this to be
one of the highlights of the year for the conflict prevention and peace-building community.
The annual lecture will be another highlight, whose main aim will be to add vision, weight and credibility to the prevention agenda. High profile and respected speakers will be invited to give the lecture, in which the APPGCI will again seek to generate media interest. The lecture will also be followed by a reception. The annual awards event, probably held in December each year, will draw attention both to exceptional work in the field and also, more broadly, to what conflict prevention methods are actually working. Nominations will be sought from individuals and organisations in the field and the awards decided by APPGCI members and Advisors. We might invite
celebrities associated with peace to present the awards and, once again, will seek to attract media interest in this event.
How the APPGCI measures its impact
The APPGCI evaluates its impact by monitoring:-
- the level of active involvement by APPGCI members
- the recruitment of new APPGCI members
- the number of Parliamentarians attending APPGCI meetings
- the level of support for Early Day Motions sponsored by the
APPGCI - the number of conflict issues questions asked by parliamentarians in both Houses
- engagement with officials from the FCO, DFID and the Ministry of Defence
- other Parliamentary activity prompted by APPGCI members e.g. calls for conflict prevention in Select Committees, party meetings and so on
- its effect on government policy
- how it is seen generally in Parliament
The establishment of a regular annual debate on Conflict Prevention in both Houses will remain our key benchmark.
More details of our activities can be seen at www.conflictissues.org.uk.
End.
