PEACE & SECURITY

The Compton Foundation continues its long-standing commitment to Peace and Security, a priority established by its founders in 1946. Under the current guidelines, the Foundation focuses on the area of peace operations and human security, supporting organizations that work to develop more effective policies and practices to provide for human safety in areas emerging from violent conflict anywhere in the world. In addition, the Foundation devotes a small portion of its grantmaking to innovative art that inspires and promotes peace.

Improving peacebuilding policy and practice to save lives requires civilian and military practitioners to share their knowledge with each other and with policy makers, academics and policy analysts. The Foundation supported a colloquium series at the Peace Operations Policy Program (POPP) at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, which provides a forum for military and civilian personnel recently returned from the field to share their expertise with other practitioners, policy makers, analysts and academics. Topics have included the building of democratic policing institutions, a peacekeeper training program in Africa, and anti-corruption efforts in Iraq.

The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) builds sustainable local media through the training and mentoring of journalists in countries in or emerging from conflict or dictatorships. Compton support also helped local reporters bring their stories to U.S. media, including the New York Times.

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) is working to help countries whose citizens have been abused by police and security forces to reform those institutions and build forces that respect human rights. With Compton support, the ICTJ helped the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) develop vetting procedures for the Haitian government to screen police officers and candidates. In Burundi, the ICTJ is supporting the government in designing and conducting a census and identification process for all police personnel in order to increase control and accountability and stop illegal policing.

A Foundation grant to the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation enabled their Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies to bring together representatives from non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations to participate with representatives of the military in real-world post-conflict scenarios. Workshops during the grant period addressed building institutions to resist corruption, and rebuilding health care systems in post-conflict environments.

The Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University publishes the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations, the only comprehensive annual summary of peace support missions. Covering over 40 UN and non-UN missions, the Annual Review is produced with the support of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), but is editorially independent. Compton funded CIC’s Outreach Project, a series of seminars and workshops in Africa. These policy briefings engaged governmental and non-governmental organizations, presenting them with the latest information on peace operations, and bringing their voices to bear on the critical issue of how the world community will be able to meet the increasing demand for peacekeepers in the future. This outreach resulted in the African Union’s Commission for Peace and Security joining the UN in supporting the production of the Annual Review. www.cic.nyu.edu

A grant to Refugees International supported the Partnership for Effective Peace Operations (PEP), an important monitoring, communications and convening entity for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academics, practitioners and others concerned with peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The PEP analyzes actions by policy makers in Washington, DC that affect the key institutional players, including the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the UN. It plays a vital role in providing a forum for humanitarian organizations, peacekeeping and peacebuilding NGOs and policymakers to discuss and advance advocacy for more effective UN peacekeeping operations, as well as promote enhanced U.S. engagement in post-conflict activities.

Preventing the future recruitment of child soldiers around the world will require a sharing of expertise and close cooperation and coordination among civilian and military actors, whose lack of common culture and sometimes distrust can inhibit effective problem solving. With Compton support, Search for Common Ground is working with General (ret) Roméo Dallaire (now a Canadian Senator), UNICEF Canada and others to bring together practitioners and experts from humanitarian and human rights NGOs, militaries, national governments and intergovernmental organizations. Their goals are to draw the world’s attention to the tragedy of child soldiers, and to develop new, practical procedures for addressing this problem on the ground.

ART AND PEACE

A Compton grant to the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles supported the Weavings of War exhibit, which featured a stunning collection of woven and stitched textiles created by artists in war-torn countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa. Staged simultaneously were two additional exhibits: Woven Witness: Afghan War Rugs and Patriot Art, North American artists’ response to war, dating back to the Civil War. In conjunction with the exhibits, the grant supported free museum-sponsored artist demonstrations, as well as panel discussions with artists and human rights activists about the role of art in social change and peacebuilding.

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