About International Alert

International Alert (IA) was established in 1985 by a group of human rights advocates that included Martin Ennals, former Secretary General of Amnesty International, in response to the increasing number of conflicts within countries and the subsequent abuse of individual and collective human rights.

Today, with a total of 80 multi-national staff based both in London and in the conflict regions in which it works, IA is one of the world’s leading non-governmental specialists in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.

Believing that it is the parties to violent conflict that are central to their solution, IA works to enhance the capacity of individuals, networks and organisations to build sustainable peace and reduce the likelihood of war.

It does this by analysing the causes of conflict, enabling mediation and dialogue to take place, setting standards of conduct to avoid violence and helping to develop skills to resolve disputes peacefully. It focuses its work on specific conflicts, and, after in-depth analysis, designs programmes with local partners that can respond at local, national, regional and global levels to the structural causes underlying them. This work is complex, and requires a combination of approaches.

IA currently works with partners on over forty projects in West Africa, the Great Lakes region of Africa, the Caucasus region of the former Soviet Union, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Philippines with a particular focus on the control of light weapons, security sector reform, the impact of development and humanitarian aid and the roles of the private sector, gender and religion in building peace.

Its high quality research into and analysis of these issues, based on extensive experience in regions of conflict, feeds into the development of long-term approaches to conflict prevention and peacebuilding based on practical, concrete and accountable initiatives and into advocating for policy changes at government, EU and UN levels.