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Activity Report 2006 International Peace Information Service

Contents
From the Chair From the Director Mission Method of research Activities : Theme natural resources Theme arms trade Theme corporate social responsibility Library Assignments 2000-2005 IPIS Team Institutional Funders Contact 3 4 6 6

7 11 15 18 19 21 21 22

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From the Chair


Antwerp, April 2007

Last summer, the staff, board members and sympathisers celebrated the 25th anniversary of the founding of IPIS. On that occasion, we looked back upon the development that IPIS has gone through together with the international peace issue. Originally, IPIS was started as an independent and pluralistic documentation centre, whose purpose it was to support the broad peace movement in Belgium. IPIS has always maintained its independence but with time its focus has shifted from the Cold War context to armed conflicts in the South. Those often forgotten conflicts on the periphery of an increasingly globalising world required, because of a lack of information and interest in the North, a more active and direct role of IPIS as a centre of knowledge. If we, as an organisation, wanted to strive for world peace through the collection and processing of knowledge, then we had to become a real research centre. Therefore, IPIS has kept on enlarging its library but besides has revealed itself as one of the few think tanks that furnish their analyses of conflicts with findings from field research in the South. That IPIS' expertise and 'action research' are in great demand, was amply demonstrated in 2006 by the numerous projects that we carried out for a multiplicity of clients. The recently founded Flemish Peace Institute commissioned a voluminous study into military exports from Flanders. Within the world of NGOs, both Belgian and foreign organisations frequently appealed to our knowledge regarding conflicts, arms trade and the exploitation of mineral resources. With co-financing from the Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, we initiated a project that maps conflict motives, which is now continuing with funding from the EU. For the same public service we carried on our project in Colombia, where we offered our knowledge of peace construction to a wide range of stakeholders. Finally, together with a new researcher we have brought in a broad expertise in Corporate Social Responsibility, a branch we intend to further develop and which in 2006 has already yielded assignments by 11.11.11 and the network BankTrack. That the relatively small IPIS team managed to produce such a copious and high quality output, compels admiration. Therefore, I wish to heartily congratulate all the staff members and thank them for their dedication. Also in the field of management we have not sat still. Since a few years we are working on professionalising and optimising the workings of IPIS. Last year, this resulted in a number of interventions aiming at a proper balance between supporting and research staff. Besides that, we decided to concentrate the research capacity of our limited team on one region, namely Subsaharan Africa, and to stop our work concerning Latin America by the end of 2007. Within the regional focus, research will cluster around three core themes: arms trade, exploitation of natural resources and regulation of sustainable business. In 2006, day-to-day management has been entrusted to a new director, Didier Verbruggen, who is further developing IPIS, with the help of modern management methods, into a necessary and indispensable research institution. Joyful news at the beginning of 2007 is that our managerial efforts have been recognised in a favourable screening by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. This allows us to submit a new three-year programme to the Belgian Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (DGDC). Therefore, I wish to thank all the members of the Board of Directors and of the General Meeting and I hope that they, together with me, will continue to provide IPIS with the necessary support.

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From the Director


Antwerp, April 2007 Last year, Pax Christi Flanders asked me if I wanted to go to the Democratic Republic of Congo on their behalf, as an observer of the elections. I accepted their proposal gratefully and travelled twice to our former colony, where I formed part of a joint mission of a European (Eurac) and a Congolese (CDCE) NGO network. The first time I ended up in Bukavu and Kamituga, a dusty little mining town in South Kivu. The second trip took me to Goma in North Kivu. In Bukavu, the Congolese told me about the raid by the dissident army officer Nkunda in 2004. How it had left a trail of death, destruction and rape. In Kamituga, people brought up painful memories of how they had been driven out of their villages during the war. In Goma, the population was afraid of returning to a conflict situation. They were proved right. I had only just arrived in Belgium, when the notorious Nkunda launched a new offensive.

Didier Verbruggen observes voting activities in Sak, Goma Oct. 2006 (photo IPIS)

Still, the elections passed off rather peacefully and, as far as we could perceive, correctly altogether. The country has got a democratically elected president, a prime minister, a parliament, senators and governors. But the hardest part is yet to come. The infrastructure, social provisions, security services, the legal apparatus, economic life, just about everything in Congo has to be rebuilt from nearly zero. A combination of a corrupt political culture, ethnic contrasts and an extremely poor and traumatised population is menacing the peace that was attained with great difficulty. The Congolese are now expecting from their leaders to finally be able to reap the fruits of their natural resources. IPIS is following the Congolese mining sector for years now and in 2006 carried out two research projects on it. One of them resulted in a publication that has been cited by the prestigious International Crisis Group and by the UN panel of experts in Congo. The other study provided Belgian NGOs with the necessary material to launch a campaign memo which they will bring to the Spring meetings of the World Bank in Washington. Thanks to the increasing stabilisation in post-conflict countries, the mining industry there is often getting a more formal, industrial character. In the past, IPIS focused on the link between the mineral sector and the financing of conflicts, now we are concentrating more on the issue of redistribution, or the lack of it, of African natural resources. We analyse stock exchange filings, shareholder structures, fiscal constructions and prices of raw materials. We will have to increase that know-how in the future. We also keep an eye on new, geopolitical trends. Chinas hunger for raw materials, for instance, and the economic offensive of that country in Africa, going from the construction of a railway line in Angola for transports from the Zambian-Congolese copper belt, to the control over oil fields in Sudan. And what to expect of India?

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The rise of young economic super powers holds the risk of a race to the bottom in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We are currently looking for interested parties willing to finance research projects on, for instance, the role of Chinese companies in Congo. Meanwhile, in 2006 we turned into value newly acquired expertise in CSR through studies into environmental and social criteria and human rights obligations of financial institutions. Further, the CSR research crossed our know-how on arms trade in a study of ruling legislation in European countries applying to banks that do business with arms traders. Legislation on trade in military goods also formed an important part of a report we made in 2006 for the Flemish Peace Institute. Besides that, we did a lot of digging in countries of origin and African countries of destination of small arms and ammunition. For Amnesty International (AI), we looked for evidence in Ituri and Uganda of the role of Kampala in the Congolese conflict. And also for AI, we are currently preparing a study into arms trafficking in the direction of the stricken Sudan. In Republics of the former Yugoslavia, in 2006, we searched for arms exports towards Africa. Recently, we were invited by the OSCE, as the first NGO ever, to come and present our report on the subject in Vienna. We are planning to continue our research in the Balkan region and to make up a training package for officials dealing with the problem of export licences and controls in that area. As always, for IPIS it is a matter to find the required funding. Finally, we are holding high expectations about the project of two recently hired young researchers who have just returned from Katanga. In 2006 they developed their method of visualising local conflict motives on geographical maps. Now they will apply this method to the data they collected in Congo. It promises to become an ingenious piece of applied geopolitics. Didier Verbruggen Director

Militia members of Nkunda disrupt voting activities in Mushak, Rutshuru Oct.2006 (photo IPIS)

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Mission
IPIS carries out research into arms trade, exploitation of natural resources and corporate social responsibility in Sub-Saharan Africa. In its research, IPIS aims at the greatest possible objectivity and operates from an independent position. IPIS wants to provide a better insight into its domain of expertise to all parties involved. For that reason we give information to non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations, public authorities, companies, the media and the general public. IPIS aims at providing this contribution through three strategic objectives: to organise research activities and reporting to maintain an information and documentation system to stimulate the exchange of information in different forums

Method of research
The research method of IPIS stands midway between a journalistic and an academic approach. With journalism we share a strong focus on the factual, as opposed to the rather theoretical line of approach of academic research. However, IPIS goes deeper and more thoroughly into its themes of research than is usual within the journalistic profession. By doing so, we come near to investigative journalism and its digging extending to sources outside the public domain. Our gathering of information is a permanent activity and is done through consulting sources on the internet, studying academic and journalistic publications, analysing confidential documents, fieldwork and interviews within an extensive network of contacts built up over many years. That stream of information is elaborated by the researchers and forms the basis of the research projects that we carry out for external clients. Depending on our clients requirements, the output consists of publishable reports or dossiers that are only intended for the client. In the latter case it can be, for instance, a dossier serving as the basis of an NGO campaign, or one for a public authority to map out its policy options. The analyses we provide in our dossiers are always accompanied by workable recommendations that have been submitted for review by legal and technical experts and by policy makers. These recommendations are addressed to all the stakeholders involved with the research theme. IPIS often deals with sensitive information and in handling this pursues deontological principles as reliability, critical sense and check & double-check.

Activities in 2006

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Theme natural resources


Description: This desktop study extended over a period of five months, beginning in October 2005. The study starts from the ascertainment that the fabulous riches of the DRCs soil (diamond, copper/cobalt, gold, coltan, cassiterite, ) do not or hardly benefit the local population, and also played a central role in the wars that struck the country between 1996 and 2003. Invariably the finger is pointed at foreign companies, but what is the part of the Congolese elite in this issue? To answer this question, we focused on the south of the Katanga province, which has the greatest economic potential for mining and during the wars was spared from armed conflicts. Bad government and corruption during the Transitional Regime, despite the close involvement of the World Bank, caused the privatisation process of the parastatal Gcamines to turn out a complete failure. On the basis of media reports, academic publications, NGO reports, reports by Congolese parliamentary commissions and a multitude of confidential documents, IPIS reconstructed the privatisations failure and identified those who were politically responsible. Case studies of the establishment of multi-million-dollar contracts between private companies and Gcamines and of the failed modernisation of the mining registry provide a concrete and penetrating insight into the triangular relationship between foreign companies, Congolese politicians and the World Bank, that proved to be disastrous. The study shows how the future reconstruction of the DRC is put at risk by the mismanagement of the mining sector.

Cover picture IPIS-report 'The State vs. the People'

Study into the role of the DRCongolese political elite in the mining sector.
Commissioned by: Niza (Dutch NGO) and Fatal Transactions (international network of NGOs that dedicates itself to a social and sustainable exploitation of natural resources in Africa).

Output: Report The State vs. the People. Governance, Mining and the Transitional Regime in the Democratic Republic of Congo, publ. March 2006, 79 pp. http://www.ipisresearch.be/publications_report.php The report has also been translated into French. Impact: The analysis by IPIS got the attention of, among others, the Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, for which good government is central with regard to the DRC. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Karel De Gucht, th quoted from the report in his speech at the study day on Africa of the Flemish Liberal Students Union on 29 April, 2006. Our critical analysis of the World Banks role produced high-level internal debates within that organisation. Bank watchdogs, such as the NGO Bank Information Center in Washington, and NGOs striving for sound governance of the Congolese mining sector, use the report as a reference work. Meanwhile, it has also been quoted by the prestigious think tank International Crisis Group, Le Monde diplomatique and the UN Panel of Experts monitoring the arms embargo on Congo. Finally, in the DRC itself, a local campaign of Niza/Fatal Transactions widely publicised the report in the midst of the election period. After that, countless NGOs referred to the report in an open plea for good governance and, through diffusion within a network of Congolese journalists, it reached all important media.

Activities in 2006

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Theme natural resources


Study into financial aspects of large mining projects in Katanga.
Campaign logo fair mining contracts

Description: This desktop study ran over a period of two months and got an extension in 2007. IPIS compiled a financialtechnical dossier on three important private-public joint ventures in the copper sector of Katanga. We collected and analysed press articles, stock exchange filings, various internet sources and unpublished documents (contracts and agreements, feasibility studies, audits, technical reports etc.). The resulting report gave an overview of the shareholder structure of the companies involved, the individual actors behind that structure, the financing of projects, the return for the investors and that for the DRC.

Commissioned by: The Belgian NGO Broederlijk Delen and the umbrella organisation of Flemish NGOs 11.11.11.

Output: Unpublished dossier. Impact: On the basis of this study and of further research work by IPIS, Broederlijk Delen, 11.11.11 and the British NGO RAID prepared a memorandum with an analysis and recommendations regarding the Congolese mining sector. That memorandum, together with an appeal to stakeholders at policy level, was launched at a press conference in Brussels in March 2007. Afterwards, it was explained at a public hearing in the Belgian Senate, once again by a representative of both Broederlijk Delen and IPIS. Meanwhile, more than a hundred Belgian, Congolese and international NGOs have signed the appeal. Our clients will continue their campaign at the coming World Banks Spring Meetings in Washington.

Tenke Mining Corporation(Canada)

58,912,129 shares outstanding 18,63% of 10.977.636 shares Adolph Lundin

81,37% of 47.934.493 shares owner unknown

Ellegrove Capital Ltd (Barbados 22/02/2000) 8.377.636 shares

Abalone Capital Ltd (Barbados 22/02/2000) 1.000.000 shares

Lorito Holdings Limited 800.000 shares

Zebra Holdings and Investments Limited 800.000 shares

Shareholder structure Tenke Mining Corporation from IPIS-dossier for Broederlijk Delen and 11.11.11

Activities in 2006

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Theme natural resources


Study concerning the visualisation of conflict motives on geographical maps

Description: IPIS is currently developing an interdisciplinary method for the mapping of conflict motives. This instrument for analysis makes use of GIS software and will consist of geographical maps visualising economic, ethno-political, religious and other conflict drivers. The aim is to compare these maps to a second set of maps showing troop movements and concentrations, violent incidents, territorial claims of parties in conflict etc. This project will continue until June 2009. It will enable us to work out several case studies, the first of which will focus on the province of Katanga in the DRCongo. After fieldwork this spring, the study and accompanying maps will be published on the IPIS website in June 2007.

Mai Mai child soldiers in Mitwaba, Katanga Financed by: 2006-2007: Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, 2007-2009: European Union. Output: Maps + analysis on the IPIS website in June 2007. Report to be published. Impact: The impact of this policy advisory research will show in the future.
Violent incidents and conflict drivers in the Upemba Region, Katanga (draft map IPIS Mapping project)

Activities in 2006

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Theme natural resources


Trainee supervision
IPIS regularly takes on trainees and offers them supervision under various forms. One of these is to offer young talented researchers a forum for publications. In 2006, we supervised Frans Schram, Master of Laws of the University of Maastricht, in recasting his thesis as a research paper. The paper was published as part of the educational project carried out by an international consortium of NGOs under the direction of the Dutch Niza and cofinanced by the EU. IPIS forms part of the consortium. Output: The legal aspects of the Kimberley Process, publ. January 2007, 38 pp. http://www.ipisresearch.be/download.php?id=153
Comptoir minerals Goma (photo IPIS)

Lectures
Domestic politics as the key to change, lecture commissioned by Niza/Fatal Transactions.Event. Event: Colloque international Gouvernance et secteur minier: le dfi congolais Organised by: Table de concertation sur la Rgion des Grands Lacs + Groupe de recherche sur les activits minires en Afrique Location, date: Montral Canada, 31/03/06. The role of business in conflict. Examples from the DRC. Event: EU-Launch BICC Brief 32 Whos minding the Store? Organised by: Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. Location, date: Brussels, 28/09/2006. Action points related to the review/renegotiation of joint venture contracts in the DRC mining sector, and to the implementation of transparent tendering procedures for mining rights as described in the Mining Code and Regulation. Event: Round table meeting Natural resource sector reform in the DRC. Organised by: All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Location, date: House of Commons, London, 07/12/06.

Contributions to journals, joint publications


Kirsten Hund & Didier Verbruggen: The State versus the people? Governance, mining and the Transitional Regime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: the Case of Katanga. Resource Extraction and Transparency. In: OPENSPACE Vol. 1, no. 4, Open society initiative for Southern Africa, June 2006. http://www.osisa.org/files/openspace/1_4_p53_kirsten_hund_didier_verbruggen.pdf Didier Verbruggen: De Congolese politiek als sleutel tot een rationeel beheer van natuurlijke rijkdommen. In: Gevaarlijke rijkdom. Grondstoffen in de mondiale economie, noord zuid CAHIER jrg. 31 n 2, June 2006 . http://www.mo.be/index.php?id=61&tx_uwnews_pi2%5Bart_id%5D=838

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Activities in 2006

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Theme arms trade


Study into the role of Uganda in the Congolese civil war

Output: Report Greed and Guns: Ugandas role in the rape of the Congo, publ. July 2006, 24 pp.
http://www.ipisresearch.be/download.php?id=140

Impact: Amnesty International used the report for the Control Arms campaign, that it conducts together with Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). Control Arms strives for an international, binding treaty to regulate arms trafficking.

P. Danssaert and B. Johnson-Thomas inspecting arms in Bunia Oct. 2005 (photo IPIS)

Description: This study started in 2005 against the background of a charge that the DRC brought against Uganda before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The charge concerned Ugandas involvement in the wars in Congo and the massive violations of human rights that attended it. An IPIS researcher, together with an external expert, travelled to Uganda and Ituri in east Congo, to gather evidence to support the claims concerning the occupation of a part of east Congo by Uganda forces and the support given by Uganda to Congolese rebel movements. IPIS interviewed, among others, the former leader of the rebel group PUSIC and studied batches of arms and ammunition seized by the UN mission MONUC. Also on the basis of confidential documents, IPIS convincingly proved that Ugandas interference in the conflict was orchestrated at the highest political and military level in that country. Besides political motives, the natural resources of the DRC, mainly diamonds and gold, played a central role in the hidden agenda of Ugandas elite. Commissioned by: Amnesty Internationals International Secretariat

Machine guns seized by Monuc, Bunia Oct. 2005 (photo IPIS)

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Activities in 2006

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Theme arms trade


Study into Flemish export and transit of arms, the Flemish licence policy on the subject, and the arms legislation in European countries

Description: In 2003, the Belgian authority over export, transit and import of arms was regionalised. The regionalisation has not yet resulted in a new legal framework regulating the licence and assessment procedures of the export and transit of arms. The Flemish Government has repeatedly signified that it considers necessary to lay before Parliament a draft decree on the subject. The Flemish Government and Parliament attach importance to the balance between economic interests and supranational, legal aspects. To provide an insight into the main elements of the discussion, IPIS carried out a three-month desktop study of the European and international state obligations and agreements in relation to the export of military goods, of the arms legislation in 9 European countries, the extent of the production of military goods in Flanders and the export abroad of such goods. IPIS also drew up a forecast of the implications for policy and for practice, in case the Flemish regulations would not include a system of transit licences, specific criteria and/or a specific list of arms, or a catch-all clause.

Cover FPI report Flemish arms exports, March 2007

Commissioned by: The Flemish Institute for Peace and Violence Prevention (Flemish Peace Institute), a paraparliamentary institution at the Flemish Parliament. Output: Unpublished dossier Impact: On the basis of this study, the Flemish Peace Institute conducted further research, which resulted in 3 reports: Flemish Foreign Arms Trade 2006 Benchmarking Arms Export Controls: a Region and its Neighbours The Flemish Arms Export Policy: An Analysis of the Legal Framework These three studies can be consulted publicly on the website of the Flemish Peace Institute.
http://www.vlaamsvredesinstituut.eu/page.php?mnu=h3&lang=EN&ID=5

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Activities in 2006

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Theme arms trade


Study into arms exports from the former Yugoslavia

Description: This research was carried out on the occasion of the Belgian OSCE Presidency in 2006. The OSCE is formally committed to fighting against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, and numbers among its members Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro. IPIS made an analysis of the legislation on weapon export and transport in these countries, and put this in the light of regional and international treaties which the Member States of the OSCE committed themselves to. Afterwards, a team of experts under the direction of IPIS travelled to the region to inquire on the spot into the implementation of the existing legislation. The team collected official documents and took interviews with officials and representatives of companies. The focus was on Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, but the team also visited the port of Bar in Montenegro and that of Ploce in Croatia. The collected information provided material for a multitude of case studies revealing flaws in the existing export controls. Further, the problem of brokering was denounced, a practice contributing to the fact that small arms and light weapons turn up in African countries under embargo, or even with non-state actors. The study ends with a list of workable recommendations addressed to all stakeholders at policy level. Commissioned by: IPIS has undertaken this study on its own initiative.
7.62 mm M59, Bosnia (photo IPIS)

Output: Report Recent arms deliveries from the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, publ. march 2007, 69 pp. http://www.ipisresearch.be/download.php?id=165 Impact: In March 2007, IPIS was given the honour, as the first NGO ever, to address a meeting of the OSCE. That meeting took place in Vienna and offered IPIS the occasion to present its report to the gathered representatives of the OSCE Member States. Subject of the meeting was the fight against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons by air transport. The mere fact that such a sensitive theme was put on the agenda, may be considered a success. For IPIS, this confirms its importance as a unique centre of expertise that can really weigh on the policy agenda of national and international institutions. As far as civil society is concerned, the report will also serve the Control Arms campaign of Amnesty International, IANSA and Oxfam.
Arms depot, Bosnia (photo IPIS)

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Activities in 2006

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Theme arms trade


Lectures Contributions to journals, joint publications
Contribution to Chapter 1 of Developing a Mechanism to Prevent Illicit Brokering in Small Arms and Light Weapons: Scope and Implications, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Geneva, November 2006.
http://www.unidir.org/bdd/fiche-ouvrage.php?ref_ouvrage=978-92-9045-188-4-en#contents

La scurit communautaire en Ituri, au Sudan et en Ouganda, lecture commissioned by Pax Christi Flanders o Event : Sminaire interne Rafal. o Organised by: Groupe de recherche et dinformation sur la paix et la scurit (GRIP) o Location, date : Brussels, 19/06/06. Leading of the debate Peace and economy from different disciplines o Event: Conference Peace and Economy o Organised by: Flemish Peace Institute o Location, date: Brussels, 20/10/2006

Trainee supervision

In 2006 we supervised Alexander Mattelaer, lic. German Languages of the Catholic University of Leuven and Master of Arts of the European Studies University of Bath, in recasting his thesis as a research paper. Output: Vredesoperaties in Rwanda en Congo: lessen voor het ontwerp van militair-humanitaire interventies, publ. June 2006, IPIS dossier 147, 44 pp. http://www.ipisresearch.be/download.php?id=137

RPG-7 seized by MONUC, Bunia Oct. 2005 (photo IPIS)

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Activities in 2006

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Theme corporate social responsibility


Study into human rights obligations of private financial institutions
Description: Commissioned by: Under the pressure of NGOs, there is a growing tendency among banks and other financial institutions to incorporate human rights requirements in their decisions about granting a product or offering a service. In Belgium, for instance, the NGO Netwerk Vlaanderen has opened a debate with banks and the government regarding the legal enforceability of human rights requirements. In other countries as well, a number of successes have been scored in this area. A joint initiative from within the NGO community was needed, not only because financial institutions operate at multinational level, but also to harmonise the initiatives and positions of NGOs worldwide. Against that background, IPIS carried out a five-month desktop study into the expectations of NGOs towards the bank sector and into the legal obligations of banks in the field of human rights. To elucidate the latter, IPIS called on numerous academics and jurists. The study was commissioned by BankTrack, a worldwide network of NGOs, from the nonprofit association Proyecto Gato, which in turn put it out to IPIS. Output: Report Human Rights, Banking Risks, Incorporating Human Rights Obligations in Bank Policies, publ. February 2007, 31 pp. http://www.ipisresearch.be/download.php?id=164 Impact: The report was launched by BankTrack at a workshop in Geneva organised by John Ruggie, UN Rapporteur on Human Rights and Companies. Later, the reports conclusions and recommendations were included in more recent reports, such as that of the Argentine organisation CEDHA addressed to the OECD Investment Committee working group. The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs put the theme on the agenda of that OECD working group and invited IPIS, among others, for consultation.

Location forum on human rights, Nijmegen 9-11 nov. 2006

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Activities in 2006

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Theme corporate social responsibility


Study into the legislation and the practical approach adopted by financial institutions concerning the supply of products and services to arms exporting companies

Description: Article 14 (formerly article 8) of the Belgian law regulating the import, export and transit of military goods, contains an important implication for credit and insurance institutions. These institutions are only allowed to conclude a transaction with a client after the latter has obtained the necessary licences from the competent authorities. IPIS conducted a two-week study into the legislation on the matter in five other European Member States and into the practical approach adopted by financial institutions.

Commissioned by : IPIS undertook this study at its own initiative. Output: Two unpublished reports Impact: The dossiers will serve as a basis for future policy advisory work.

Study into ethical standards applied by export credit insurance companies in Europe

Description: IPIS did a five-month desktop research into social and environmental requirements and anticorruption measures applied by export credit insurers in 11 European countries. The source material for this study consisted of publications by the companies in question, reports by NGOs, the OECD and the Berne Union of Credit and Investment Insurers. IPIS itself also contacted the companies and took interviews. The study ends with a series of workable recommendations for NGOs, governments and export credit insurers.

Commissioned by: The Flemish NGO umbrella organisation 11.11.11. Output: Report to be published. Impact: 11.11.11 will use the report in its campaign work. Several export credit insurance companies have already signified they are very interested in IPIS findings and are waiting for the publication of the report.

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Activities in 2006

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Theme corporate social responsibility


Lectures Trainee supervision

Legislation on export of small weapons and light arms, lecture commissioned by Pax Christi Flanders Event: Humanitarian awareness course Organised by: Royal Military School Location, date: Brussels, 01/12/2006

IPIS supervised Antje Veld, student in International Organisations and International Relations at the University of Groningen, in writing her essay on the OECD measures for multinational enterprises. Output: Essay Minder woorden, meer daden, unpubl. 2006. .

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Activities in 2006

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Library
In 2006, IPIS has made available in its library almost 3000 documents. That increase of 35% reflects the modernisation of the collection, adding to it an ever-increasing number of electronic documents, after a rather hesitant start in 2003. The 2000 digital acquisitions of the past year are a direct result of our researchers daily search for information concerning our research themes. In 2007, the librarys operation and collection will undergo thorough changes. Documents made available at IPIS library 2003-2006: 2003 915 482 12 1409 2004 817 124 319 1260 2005 1314 578 328 2220 2006 850 139 2004 2993

Journal articles Books Pdf files Total

Current journals:

Adelphi papers Africa Confidential Africa Mining Intelligence Alternatives Non Violentes Arms Control Today Aviation week Billets d'Afrique Cahier IBVO Disarmament diplomacy Far Eastern Economic Review Flight International Helsinki monitor Internationaal humanitair recht in de kijker (zoeklicht)

Internationale Samenwerking Internationale Spectator Jane's Intelligence Review Jeune Afrique l'Intelligent Keesings historisch archief La lettre du Continent Military Technology Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights New African NJCM bulletin Noord-Zuid cahier Osteuropa

Raids Security Dialogue Strategic Survey Survival Terrorism and political violence The arms control reporter The bulletin of the atomic scientists The Military Balance Veiligheid en strategie Vrede en Veiligheid (formerly Transaktie)

This table with the journals current in 2006 presents a picture of the IPIS collection up to the present.

Impact: The collection is built up by our researchers and forms an essential component of their information gathering. They permanently process the acquired publications, in this way contributing to the extension of our expertise. IPIS produces bibliographical records to make its collection accessible on the online catalogue of Cocosnet, the library network of the Flemish North-South Movement. This catalogue already contains about 200.000 records. To the present day, IPIS accounts for 40% of that total. In 2006, the online catalogue was consulted 25.000 times. http://www.cocosnet.be/wwwisis/engels/form.htm

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Assignments 2000-2005
2005 Arms trafficking in the Great Lakes Region: Tanzania. For: Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs. Interests of Congolese politicians in the mineral industry in the DRC. For: Fatal Transactions. Training package for monitoring arms embargo. For: MONUC, funded by Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs Contract research: Arms flows from the Middle East. For: Amnesty International. Contract research: Arms procurement Central Africa. For: Amnesty International and Raid. Civil society activity on disarmament in Europe and Brazil. For: publication IPIS. Contract research: DRC: Arming the East. For: Amnesty International. Colombia - Development education. For: Flemish Ministry of Foreign Policy. 2004 Colombia: Ecomujer Cartografie de la Esperenza I/b: Peace building and preventive diplomacy. Financed by: Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs. Contract research: Violation of the UNweapon embargo against East-Congo. For: All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region & Genocide Prevention (APPG) House of Commons, UK. European Arms Exports to Latin America. For: publication IPIS. EU Policies towards the Colombian Conflict. For: United Nations University Comparative Regional Integration Studies. Containing arms trafficking to the South: European arms export laws vs. facts set in a Latin American context. For: publication IPIS. Arms for Macondo. For: publication Noord-Zuid Cahier. Colombia: Ecomujer Cartografie de la Esperenza I/a: vredesopbouw en preventieve diplomatie. Financed by: Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs. Lessen in samenwerkingsontwikkeling- over het gewapend conflict in Sierra Leone en illegale exploitatie en handel in bloeddiamanten. For: AROSA (Adviesraad voor ontwikkelingssamenwerking Antwerpen).

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2003 UN Panel of Experts on Somalia. For: United Nations. Consultancy to the Belgian Senate Commission Great Lakes. For: Belgian Senate. 3 case studies on arms trafficking in Africa. For: Amnesty International. Contract research : Les enjeux conomiques du conflit en Ituri. For: UNDP. Contract research: Congos Privatised War Economy. For: NOVIB. The political economy of resource trafficking in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Financed by: Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs.

2002 UN Panel of Experts on Liberia. Outsourcing of expert. For: United Nations. Colombia, Belgium and the weapon industry. For: publication IPIS. Case study Lebanese arms and diamond traders in West-Africa. For: publication Global Witness. Natural Resources. Financed by: Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs. Coltan trade. For: Kerk in Actie.

2001 UN Panel of Experts on Liberia. Outsourcing of expert. For: United Nations. Contract research: FN Herstal: licensed production. For: Small Arms Survey. Contract research: Diamonds and Conflicts in Congo. For: Partnership Africa Canada.

2000 UN Panel of Experts on Sierra Leone: Diamonds & Arms. Outsourcing of expert. For: United Nations. Consultancy work: Angola: air transport network & sanctions violations. For: United Nations.

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IPIS Team
IPIS staff in December 2006:
Researchers : An Vranckx an.vranckx@ipisresearch.be Director: Didier Verbruggen didier.verbruggen@ipisresearch.be Peter Danssaert peter.danssaert@ipisresearch;be Jan Cappelle jan.cappelle@ipisresearch.be Administration: Anne Hullebroeck anne.hullebroeck@ipisresearch.be Jeanine Doublet (library) jeanine.doublet@ipisresearch.be Steven Spittaels steven.spittaels@ipisresearch.be Nick Meynen nick.meynen@ipisresearch.be Ward Docx (left IPIS in March 2007)

Institutional Funders
Flemish government
http://www.vlaanderen.be

Belgian Directorate-General for Development Cooperation


http://www.dgos.be

Province of Antwerp
http://www.provant.be

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Contact
Contact IPIS vzw Italilei 98a 2000 Antwerp Belgium Tel.: +32(0)3/225.00.22 Fax: +32(0)3/231.01.51 Info@ipisresearch.be www.ipisresearch.be

Editorial Editing: Didier Verbruggen Lay-out: Anne Hullebroeck Translation: Filip Hilgert

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