activity report 2006 ipis vzw

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Activity Report 2006International Peace

Information Service


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Contents

From the Chair 3From the Director 4

Mission 6Method of research 6

Activities :Theme natural resources 7Theme arms trade 11Themecorporate social responsibility 15Library 18

Assignments 2000-2005 19IPIS Team 21

Institutional Funders 21Contact 22


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From the Chair

Antwerp, April 2007

Last summer, the staff, board members and sympathisers celebrated the25th anniversary of the founding of IPIS. On that occasion, we looked backupon the development that IPIS has gone through together with theinternational peace issue. Originally, IPIS was started as an independent andpluralistic documentation centre, whose purpose it was to support the broadpeace movement in Belgium. IPIS has always maintained its independencebut with time its focus has shifted from the Cold War context to armedconflicts in the South. Those often forgotten conflicts on the periphery of anincreasingly globalising world required, because of a lack of information andinterest in the North, a more active and direct role of IPIS as a centre ofknowledge. If we, as an organisation, wanted to strive for world peacethrough the collection and processing of knowledge, then we had to becomea real research centre. Therefore, IPIS has kept on enlarging its library butbesides has revealed itself as one of the few think tanks that furnish theiranalyses 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 thenumerous projects that we carried out for a multiplicity of clients. The recently founded Flemish Peace Institutecommissioned a voluminous study into military exports from Flanders. Within the world of NGOs, both Belgianand foreign organisations frequently appealed to our knowledge regarding conflicts, arms trade and theexploitation of mineral resources. With co-financing from the Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, weinitiated a project that maps conflict motives, which is now continuing with funding from the EU. For the samepublic service we carried on our project in Colombia, where we offered our knowledge of peace construction toa wide range of stakeholders. Finally, together with a new researcher we have brought in a broad expertise inCorporate Social Responsibility, a branch we intend to further develop and which in 2006 has already yieldedassignments by 11.11.11 and the network BankTrack. That the relatively small IPIS team managed to producesuch a copious and high quality output, compels admiration. Therefore, I wish to heartily congratulate all thestaff 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 professionalisingand optimising the workings of IPIS. Last year, this resulted in a number of interventions aiming at a properbalance between supporting and research staff. Besides that, we decided to concentrate the research capacityof our limited team on one region, namely Subsaharan Africa, and to stop our work concerning Latin America bythe 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 furtherdeveloping IPIS, with the help of modern management methods, into a necessary and indispensable researchinstitution. Joyful news at the beginning of 2007 is that our managerial efforts have been recognised in afavourable screening by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. This allows us to submit a new three-year programme to theBelgian Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (DGDC). Therefore, I wish to thank all the membersof the Board of Directors and of the General Meeting and I hope that they, together with me, will continue toprovide IPIS with the necessary support.


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From the Director

Antwerp, April 2007

Last year, Pax Christi Flanders asked me if Iwanted to go to the Democratic Republic ofCongo on their behalf, as an observer of theelections. I accepted their proposal gratefullyand travelled twice to our former colony, where Iformed part of a joint mission of a European(Eurac) and a Congolese (CDCE) NGO network.The first time I ended up in Bukavu andKamituga, a dusty little mining town in SouthKivu. The second trip took me to Goma in North

Kivu. In Bukavu, the Congolese told me aboutthe raid by the dissident army officer Nkunda in2004. How it had left a trail of death, destructionand rape. In Kamituga, people brought uppainful memories of how they had been drivenout of their villages during the war. In Goma, thepopulation was afraid of returning to a conflictsituation. They were proved right. I had only justarrived in Belgium, when the notorious Nkundalaunched a new offensive.

Still, the elections passed off rather peacefully and, as far as we could perceive, correctly altogether. Thecountry 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 corruptpolitical culture, ethnic contrasts and an extremely poor and traumatised population is menacing the peace thatwas attained with great difficulty.

The Congolese are now expecting from their leaders to finally be able to reap the fruits of their naturalresources. IPIS is following the Congolese mining sector for years now and in 2006 carried out two researchprojects on it. One of them resulted in a publication that has been cited by the prestigious International CrisisGroup and by the UN panel of experts in Congo. The other study provided Belgian NGOs with the necessarymaterial to launch a campaign memo which they will bring to the Spring meetings of the World Bank inWashington.

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 ofconflicts, now we are concentrating more on the issue of redistribution, or the lack of it, of African naturalresources. We analyse stock exchange filings, shareholder structures, fiscal constructions and prices of rawmaterials. We will have to increase that know-how in the future. We also keep an eye on new, geopoliticaltrends. 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?

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


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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 socialresponsibility (CSR). We are currently looking for interested parties willing to finance research projects on, forinstance, the role of Chinese companies in Congo. Meanwhile, in 2006 we turned into value newly acquiredexpertise in CSR through studies into environmental and social criteria and human rights obligations of financialinstitutions. Further, the CSR research crossed our know-how on arms trade in a study of ruling legislation inEuropean 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 FlemishPeace Institute. Besides that, we did a lot of digging in countries of origin and African countries of destination ofsmall arms and ammunition. For Amnesty International (AI), we looked for evidence in Ituri and Uganda of therole of Kampala in the Congolese conflict. And also for AI, we are currently preparing a study into armstrafficking in the direction of the stricken Sudan. In Republics of the former Yugoslavia, in 2006, we searched forarms 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 andto 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 havejust returned from Katanga. In 2006 they developed their method of visualising local conflict motives ongeographical maps. Now they will apply this method to the data they collected in Congo. It promises tobecome an ingenious piece of applied geopolitics.

Didier VerbruggenDirector

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 socialresponsibility 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 wegive 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 academicresearch. However, IPIS goes deeper and more thoroughly into its themes of research than is usual within thejournalistic profession. By doing so, we come near to investigative journalism and its digging extending tosources 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 interviewswithin an extensive network of contacts built up over many years. That stream of information is elaborated bythe researchers and forms the basis of the research projects that we carry out for external clients. Dependingon our clients requirements, the output consists of publishable reports or dossiers that are only intended for theclient. In the latter case it can be, for instance, a dossier serving as the basis of an NGO campaign, or one for apublic authority to map out its policy options.

The analyses we provide in our dossiers are always accompanied by workable recommendations that havebeen submitted for review by legal and technical experts and by policy makers. These recommendations areaddressed 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.


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Activities in 2006

Theme natural resources

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

Study into the role of theDRCongolese political elite

in the mining sector.

Commissioned by:Niza (Dutch NGO) and Fatal Transactions(international network of NGOs that dedicates itself toa social and sustainable exploitation of naturalresources in Africa).

Description:This desktop study extended over a period of fivemonths, beginning in October 2005. The study startsfrom the ascertainment that the fabulous riches of theDRCs soil (diamond, copper/cobalt, gold, coltan,cassiterite, ) do not or hardly benefit the localpopulation, and also played a central role in the warsthat struck the country between 1996 and 2003.Invariably the finger is pointed at foreign companies, butwhat is the part of the Congolese elite in this issue? Toanswer this question, we focused on the south of theKatanga province, which has the greatest economicpotential for mining and during the wars was spared from

armed conflicts. Bad government and corruption duringthe Transitional Regime, despite the close involvementof the World Bank, caused the privatisation process ofthe parastatal Gcamines to turn out a complete failure.On the basis of media reports, academic publications,NGO reports, reports by Congolese parliamentarycommissions and a multitude of confidential documents,IPIS reconstructed the privatisations failure andidentified those who were politically responsible. Casestudies of the establishment of multi-million-dollarcontracts between private companies and Gcaminesand of the failed modernisation of the mining registryprovide a concrete and penetrating insight into the

triangular relationship between foreign companies,Congolese politicians and the World Bank, that proved tobe disastrous. The study shows how the futurereconstruction of the DRC is put at risk by themismanagement of the mining sector.

Output:Report The State vs. the People. Governance, Mining and the Transitional Regime in the Democratic Republic ofCongo, publ. March 2006, 79 pp. http://www.ipisresearch.be/publications_report.phpThe 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, forwhich good government is central with regard to the DRC. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Karel De Gucht,quoted from the report in his speech at the study day on Africa of the Flemish Liberal Students Union on 29

th

April, 2006. Our critical analysis of the World Banks role produced high-level internal debates within thatorganisation. Bank watchdogs, such as the NGO Bank Information Center in Washington, and NGOs striving forsound governance of the Congolese mining sector, use the report as a reference work. Meanwhile, it has alsobeen quoted by the prestigious think tank International Crisis Group, Le Monde diplomatique and the UN Panelof Experts monitoring the arms embargo on Congo. Finally, in the DRC itself, a local campaign of Niza/FatalTransactions widely publicised the report in the midst of the election period. After that, countless NGOs referred tothe report in an open plea for good governance and, through diffusion within a network of Congolese journalists, itreached all important media.


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Activities in 2006


Study into financialaspects of large mining

projects in Katanga.

Description:This desktop study ran over a periodof two months and got an extensionin 2007. IPIS compiled a financial-technical dossier on three importantprivate-public joint ventures in the

copper sector of Katanga. Wecollected and analysed press articles,stock exchange filings, variousinternet sources and unpublisheddocuments (contracts andagreements, feasibility studies,audits, technical reports etc.). Theresulting report gave an overview ofthe shareholder structure of thecompanies involved, the individualactors behind that structure, thefinancing of projects, the return forthe investors and that for the DRC.

Campaign logo fair mining contracts

Commissioned by:The Belgian NGO Broederlijk Delen and the umbrella organisationof 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 amemorandum with an analysis and recommendations regarding theCongolese mining sector. That memorandum, together with anappeal to stakeholders at policy level, was launched at a pressconference in Brussels in March 2007. Afterwards, it was explainedat a public hearing in the Belgian Senate, once again by arepresentative of both Broederlijk Delen and IPIS. Meanwhile, more

than a hundred Belgian, Congolese and international NGOs havesigned the appeal. Our clients will continue their campaign at thecoming World Banks Spring Meetings in Washington.

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

Tenke Mining Corporation(Canada)

58,912,129 shares outstanding

81,37% of 47.934.493

sharesowner unknown

18,63% of10.977.636 shares

Adolph Lundin

EllegroveCapital Ltd

(Barbados 22/02/2000)8.377.636

shares

AbaloneCapital Ltd(Barbados -22/02/2000)1.000.000

shares

LoritoHoldingsLimited800.000shares

ZebraHoldings andInvestments

Limited800.000shares


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Activities in 2006


Study concerningthe visualisation of conflict motives on geographical maps

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 IPISwebsite in June 2007. Report to bepublished.

Impact:

The impact of this policy advisoryresearch will show in the future.

Description:

IPIS is currently developing an interdisciplinary method forthe mapping of conflict motives. This instrument for analysismakes use of GIS software and will consist of geographicalmaps visualising economic, ethno-political, religious and

other conflict drivers. The aim is to compare these maps to asecond set of maps showing troop movements andconcentrations, violent incidents, territorial claims of partiesin conflict etc. This project will continue until June 2009. Itwill enable us to work out several case studies, the first ofwhich 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.

Violent incidents and conflict drivers in the Upemba Region, Katanga(draft map IPIS Mapping project)


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Activities in 2006


Trainee supervision

IPIS regularly takes on trainees and offers themsupervision under various forms. One of these is tooffer young talented researchers a forum forpublications. In 2006, we supervised Frans Schram,Master of Laws of the University of Maastricht, inrecasting his thesis as a research paper. The paperwas published as part of the educational projectcarried out by an international consortium of NGOsunder the direction of the Dutch Niza and co-financed by the EU. IPIS forms part of theconsortium.

Output: The legal aspects of the KimberleyProcess, publ. January 2007, 38 pp.http://www.ipisresearch.be/download.php?id=153

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 theimplementation of transparent tendering procedures for mining rights as described in the Mining Code andRegulation. 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 TransitionalRegime 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 n2, June 2006 .http://www.mo.be/index.php?id=61&tx_uwnews_pi2%5Bart_id%5D=838

omptoir minerals Goma (photo IPIS)


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Activities in 2006

Theme arms trade

Study into the role of Uganda in the Congolese civil war

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

Output:

Report Greed and Guns: Ugandasrole 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 Armscampaign, that it conducts togetherwith Oxfam and the InternationalAction Network on Small Arms(IANSA). Control Arms strives foran international, binding treaty toregulate arms trafficking.

Description:This study started in 2005 against the backgroundof a charge that the DRC brought against Ugandabefore the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Thecharge concerned Ugandas involvement in the wars inCongo and the massive violations of human rights thatattended it. An IPIS researcher, together with an externalexpert, travelled to Uganda and Ituri in east Congo, togather evidence to support the claims concerning theoccupation of a part of east Congo by Uganda forces andthe support given by Uganda to Congolese rebelmovements. IPIS interviewed, among others, the formerleader 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, IPISconvincingly proved that Ugandas interference in theconflict was orchestrated at the highest political andmilitary level in that country. Besides political motives, thenatural resources of the DRC, mainly diamonds and gold,played a central role in the hidden agenda of Ugandaselite.

Commissioned by:Amnesty Internationals International Secretariat Machine guns seized by Monuc, Bunia Oct. 2005

(photo IPIS)


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Activities in 2006

Theme arms trade

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

Description:

In 2003, the Belgian authority over export, transit andimport of arms was regionalised. The regionalisationhas not yet resulted in a new legal frameworkregulating the licence and assessment procedures ofthe export and transit of arms. The FlemishGovernment has repeatedly signified that it considersnecessary to lay before Parliament a draft decree onthe subject. The Flemish Government and Parliamentattach importance to the balance between economicinterests and supranational, legal aspects. To providean insight into the main elements of the discussion,IPIS carried out a three-month desktop study of theEuropean and international state obligations andagreements 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 Flandersand the export abroad of such goods. IPIS also drewup a forecast of the implications for policy and forpractice, in case the Flemish regulations would notinclude a system of transit licences, specific criteriaand/or a specific list of arms, or a catch-all clause.

Commissioned by:

The Flemish Institute for Peace and Violence Prevention(Flemish Peace Institute), a paraparliamentary institutionat the Flemish Parliament.

Output:

Unpublished dossier

Impact:

On the basis of this study, the Flemish Peace Instituteconducted further research, which resulted in 3reports:

Flemish Foreign Arms Trade 2006 Benchmarking Arms Export Controls: a

Region and its Neighbours The Flemish Arms Export Policy: An Analysis

of the Legal FrameworkThese three studies can be consulted publicly on thewebsite of the Flemish Peace Institute.http://www.vlaamsvredesinstituut.eu/page.php?mnu=h3&lang=EN&ID=5

Cover FPI report Flemish arms exports,March 2007


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Activities in 2006

Theme arms trade

Study into arms exports from the former Yugoslavia

7.62 mm M59, Bosnia (photo IPIS)

Description:

This research was carried out on the occasion of the Belgian OSCE Presidency in2006. The OSCE is formally committed to fighting against the proliferation of smallarms and light weapons, and numbers among its members Bosnia-Herzegovina,Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro. IPIS made an analysis of the legislationon weapon export and transport in these countries, and put this in the light ofregional and international treaties which the Member States of the OSCEcommitted themselves to. Afterwards, a team of experts under the direction of IPIStravelled to the region to inquire on the spot into the implementation of the existinglegislation. The team collected official documents and took interviews with officialsand representatives of companies. The focus was on Bosnia-Herzegovina andSerbia, but the team also visited the port of Bar in Montenegro and that of Ploce inCroatia. The collected information provided material for a multitude of case studiesrevealing flaws in the existing export controls. Further, the problem of brokeringwas denounced, a practice contributing to the fact that small arms and lightweapons turn up in African countries under embargo, or even with non-stateactors. The study ends with a list of workable recommendations addressed to allstakeholders at policy level.

Commissioned by:

IPIS has undertaken this study on its own initiative.

Output:

Report Recent arms deliveries from the successor statesof 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 NGOever, to address a meeting of the OSCE. That meeting tookplace in Vienna and offered IPIS the occasion to present itsreport to the gathered representatives of the OSCE MemberStates. Subject of the meeting was the fight against theproliferation of small arms and light weapons by air transport.The mere fact that such a sensitive theme was put on theagenda, may be considered a success. For IPIS, this confirmsits importance as a unique centre of expertise that can reallyweigh on the policy agenda of national and internationalinstitutions. As far as civil society is concerned, the report willalso serve the Control Arms campaign of AmnestyInternational, IANSA and Oxfam.

Arms depot, Bosnia (photo IPIS)


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Activities in 2006

Theme arms trade

LecturesContributions to journals,joint publications

La scurit communautaire en Ituri, auSudan et en Ouganda, lecturecommissioned by Pax Christi Flanderso 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 economyfrom different disciplineso Event: Conference Peace and Economyo Organised by: Flemish Peace Instituteo Location, date: Brussels, 20/10/2006

Contribution to Chapter 1 of Developing aMechanism to Prevent Illicit Brokering inSmall Arms and Light Weapons: Scope andImplications, United Nations Institute forDisarmament Research, Geneva, November2006.

http://www.unidir.org/bdd/fiche-ouvrage.php?ref_ouvrage=978-92-9045-188-4-en#contents

Trainee supervision

In 2006 we supervised Alexander Mattelaer, lic.German Languages of the Catholic University ofLeuven and Master of Arts of the European StudiesUniversity of Bath, in recasting his thesis as aresearch paper.

Output:

Vredesoperaties in Rwanda en Congo: lessen voorhet 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

Theme

corporate social responsibility

Study into human rights obligations of private financial institutions

Description:

Under the pressure of NGOs, there is a growing tendencyamong banks and other financial institutions to incorporatehuman rights requirements in their decisions aboutgranting a product or offering a service. In Belgium, forinstance, the NGO Netwerk Vlaanderen has opened adebate with banks and the government regarding the legalenforceability of human rights requirements. In othercountries as well, a number of successes have beenscored in this area. A joint initiative from within the NGOcommunity was needed, not only because financialinstitutions operate at multinational level, but also toharmonise the initiatives and positions of NGOs worldwide.Against that background, IPIS carried out a five-monthdesktop study into the expectations of NGOs towards thebank sector and into the legal obligations of banks in thefield of human rights. To elucidate the latter, IPIS called onnumerous academics and jurists.

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

Commissioned by:

The study was commissioned by BankTrack, aworldwide network of NGOs, from the non-profit association Proyecto Gato, which inturn put it out to IPIS.

Output:

Report Human Rights, Banking Risks,Incorporating Human Rights Obligations in BankPolicies, publ. February 2007, 31 pp.http://www.ipisresearch.be/download.php?id=164

Impact:

The report was launched by BankTrack at aworkshop in Geneva organised by John Ruggie,UN Rapporteur on Human Rights andCompanies. Later, the reports conclusions andrecommendations were included in more recentreports, such as that of the Argentineorganisation CEDHA addressed to the OECDInvestment Committee working group. TheSwedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs put thetheme on the agenda of that OECD workinggroup and invited IPIS, among others, forconsultation.


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Activities in 2006

Themecorporate social responsibility

Study into the legislation and the practical approach adoptedby financial institutions concerning the supply of productsand services to arms exporting companies

Description:

Article 14 (formerly article 8) of the Belgian lawregulating the import, export and transit of militarygoods, contains an important implication for creditand insurance institutions. These institutions areonly allowed to conclude a transaction with a clientafter the latter has obtained the necessarylicences from the competent authorities. IPISconducted a two-week study into the legislation onthe matter in five other European Member Statesand into the practical approach adopted byfinancial 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 policyadvisory work.

Study into ethical standards applied byexport credit insurance companies in Europe

Description:

IPIS did a five-month desktop research intosocial and environmental requirements and anti-corruption measures applied by export creditinsurers in 11 European countries. The sourcematerial for this study consisted of publications

by the companies in question, reports by NGOs,the OECD and the Berne Union of Credit andInvestment Insurers. IPIS itself also contactedthe companies and took interviews. The studyends with a series of workablerecommendations for NGOs, governments andexport 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 havealready signified they are very interested in IPISfindings and are waiting for the publication of thereport.


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Activities in 2006

Themecorporate 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 inInternational Organisations and InternationalRelations at the University of Groningen, inwriting her essay on the OECD measures formultinational enterprises.

Output:

Essay Minder woorden, meer daden, unpubl.2006..


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Activities in 2006

Library

In 2006, IPIS has made available in its library

almost 3000 documents. That increase of35% reflects the modernisation of thecollection, adding to it an ever-increasingnumber of electronic documents, after arather hesitant start in 2003. The 2000 digitalacquisitions of the past year are a directresult of our researchers daily search forinformation concerning our research themes.In 2007, the librarys operation and collectionwill undergo thorough changes.

Documents made available at IPIS library 2003-2006:2003 2004 2005 2006

Journal articles 915 817 1314 850

Books 482 124 578 139

Pdf files 12 319 328 2004

Total 1409 1260 2220 2993

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 EconomicReview

- 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, thelibrary 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 25.000times.http://www.cocosnet.be/wwwisis/engels/form.htm


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Assignments 2000-2005

2005

Arms trafficking in the Great LakesRegion: Tanzania.For: Belgian Federal Public Service ForeignAffairs.

Interests of Congolese politicians in themineral industry in the DRC.For: Fatal Transactions.

Training package for monitoring armsembargo.For: MONUC, funded by Belgian Federal

Public Service Foreign Affairs

Contract research: Arms flows from theMiddle East.For: Amnesty International.

Contract research: Arms procurementCentral Africa.For: Amnesty International and Raid.

Civil society activity on disarmament inEurope 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 laEsperenza I/b: Peace building and preventivediplomacy.Financed by: Belgian Federal Public ServiceForeign Affairs.

Contract research: Violation of the UN-weapon embargo against East-Congo.For: All Party Parliamentary Group on the GreatLakes Region & Genocide Prevention (APPG)House of Commons, UK.

European Arms Exports to Latin America.For: publication IPIS.

EU Policies towards the ColombianConflict.For: United Nations University ComparativeRegional Integration Studies.

Containing arms trafficking to the South:European arms export laws vs. facts set in aLatin American context.For: publication IPIS.

Arms for Macondo.For: publication Noord-Zuid Cahier.

Colombia: Ecomujer Cartografie de laEsperenza I/a: vredesopbouw en preventievediplomatie.Financed by: Belgian Federal Public ServiceForeign Affairs.

Lessen in samenwerkingsontwikkeling- overhet gewapend conflict in Sierra Leone enillegale exploitatie en handel inbloeddiamanten.

For: AROSA (Adviesraad voorontwikkelingssamenwerking Antwerpen).


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2003

UN Panel of Experts on Somalia.For: United Nations.

Consultancy to the Belgian SenateCommission Great Lakes.For: Belgian Senate.

3 case studies on arms trafficking inAfrica.For: Amnesty International.

Contract research : Les enjeuxconomiques du conflit en Ituri.

For: UNDP.

Contract research: Congos Privatised WarEconomy.For: NOVIB.

The political economy of resourcetrafficking in the Democratic Republic ofCongo.Financed by: Belgian Federal Public ServiceForeign Affairs.

2002

UN Panel of Experts on Liberia.Outsourcing of expert.For: United Nations.

Colombia, Belgium and the weaponindustry.For: publication IPIS.

Case study Lebanese arms and diamondtraders in West-Africa.For: publication Global Witness.

Natural Resources.

Financed by: Belgian Federal Public ServiceForeign Affairs.

Coltan trade.For: Kerk in Actie.

2001

UN Panel of Experts on Liberia.Outsourcing of expert.For: United Nations.

Contract research: FN Herstal: licensedproduction.For: Small Arms Survey.

Contract research: Diamonds andConflicts 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 transportnetwork & sanctions violations.For: United Nations.


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IPIS Team

IPIS staff in December 2006:

Director: Didier [email protected]

Administration:

Anne [email protected]

Jeanine Doublet (library)[email protected]

Researchers :

An [email protected]

Peter Danssaertpeter.danssaert@ipisresearch;be

Jan [email protected]

Steven [email protected]

Nick [email protected]

Ward Docx(left IPIS in March 2007)

Institutional Funders

Flemish governmenthttp://www.vlaanderen.be

Belgian Directorate-General for Development Cooperationhttp://www.dgos.be

Province of Antwerphttp://www.provant.be


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Contact

Contact

IPIS vzwItalilei 98a2000 AntwerpBelgium

Tel.: +32(0)3/225.00.22Fax: +32(0)3/231.01.51

[email protected]

Editorial

Editing: Didier VerbruggenLay-out: Anne HullebroeckTranslation: Filip Hilgert