International Institute for Peace The International Institute for Peace (IIP) is a non-governmental organization with consultative status to the ECOSOC and UNESCO The IIP functions as a platform to Annual Report promote peace and non-violent conflict resolution across the world to a wide 2020 range of stakeholders – scholars, diplomats, practitioners, military personnel, and civil society as well as students and private citizens. The Institute strives to address the most topical issues of the day and promote dialogue, public engagement, and a common understanding to ensure a holistic approach to conflict resolution and a durable peace. 3 Table of Contents Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 About the IIP ........................................................................................................................................... 7 IIP Team and Board ................................................................................................................................ 8 IIP in Numbers ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Projects and Activities ........................................................................................................................... 13 International Security and Disarmament ..................................................................................... 14 Selected projects ............................................................................................................................ 16 All Activities: International Security and Disarmament ............................................................... 22 Transatlantic Relations ................................................................................................................... 24 Selected projects ............................................................................................................................ 26 All Activities: Transatlantic Relations .......................................................................................... 31 Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Russia ............................................................................... 33 Selected projects ............................................................................................................................ 37 All Activities: Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Russia ......................................................... 42 The Western Balkans Initiative ...................................................................................................... 44 Selected projects ............................................................................................................................ 46 All Activities: The Western Balkans Initiative.............................................................................. 54 Middle East and North Africa ........................................................................................................ 57 Selected projects ............................................................................................................................ 60 All Activities: Middle East and North Africa ................................................................................ 66 Africa ................................................................................................................................................ 68 Selected projects ............................................................................................................................ 71 All Activities: Africa ..................................................................................................................... 75 Climate, Resources and Health ...................................................................................................... 76 Selected projects ............................................................................................................................ 79 All Activities: Climate, resources and health ................................................................................ 84 Peace and Arts ................................................................................................................................. 85 Selected projects ............................................................................................................................ 86 All Activities: Peace and arts ........................................................................................................ 88 Global topics and Multilateralism ................................................................................................. 89 Selected projects ............................................................................................................................ 92 All Activities: Global topics and multilateralism .......................................................................... 98 Der Standard Blog: Gesellschaft - Macht – Frieden .................................................................. 100 All Blogs at Der Standard ........................................................................................................... 101 Partners and Networks ......................................................................................................................... 102 4 5 Preface The year 2020 was an incredibly challenging one. The COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly showed how fragile and vulnerable established structures, institutions and states are. We saw how easily things fall apart, which we took for granted for a long time. Free travelling, open borders, economic stability, education, health care and stockpiling of health-related goods – concepts which were a reality for most of the people living in the so-called West or the first world. These concepts, however, have never been a reality for many people living in areas of conflict and war, in areas of drought and malnutrition, in poverty, in authoritarian states. While the focus of the year 2020 clearly was to cope with the pandemic and its consequences all over the world plus the election of a new US president, it is important not to forget about the most vulnerable, their needs, desires, and their hopes for a prosperous future. Undeniably, 2020 posed a challenge for the work of the IIP as well. How to continue advocating for democracy and human rights when people cannot meet anymore? How to continue to collect information on the ground when travelling is not possible? Finally, how to continue to share background information on ongoing conflicts when there is no safe space for activists and civil society, diplomats, scholars, and military to meet confidentially and engage in an open dialogue? As everyone else, we were confronted with all these questions in the beginning of March. However, we must say that even with all the restrictions we were and are still facing, we managed to keep up our work quite vividly. Taking advantage of digital tools, we switched to online meetings and discussions. Thus, since the pandemic hit Europe, our Institute has held more than 40 events in 2020, covering international security and disarmament, transatlantic relations, developments in the Middle East and North Africa region, conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, developments in the Western Balkans, climate and health care and many other timely topics. Even though we observe geopolitical developments all over the world, it is at the center of the IIP’s work to consider the impact of these developments on basic human rights and democracies and especially on the individual citizens and societies that are affected by these politics and policies. We were proud to learn that the IIP, as the only foreign policy institute from Austria, has been included in the global think tank ranking by the University of Pennsylvania. This recognition as one of the top think tanks in Western Europe gives us an additional incentive to continue our efforts in making expert analysis available to the broader public and fostering conflict resolution and peace. Our goal is to bring to one table different points of views, without hiding our interest in promoting democracy and human rights globally, while not forgetting about cooperation, partnership and solidarity, diversity and gender-equality and the rights of persons belonging to minorities. We would like to express our gratitude to our team, Marylia Hushcha and Luka Cekic, to our Vice-President Angela Kane and the Chair of the Advisory Board Heinz Gärtner, our interns Joy Hellers and Patrick McGrath, to all members of our Executive and Advisory Boards who have continuously supported our work with innovative ideas, proposals, written contributions, and by participating in discussions, talks and conferences organized by the IIP. Very importantly, we also thank to our audiovisual technician Michel Andriessen for his indispensable support and dedication that proved to be especially valuable this year. 6 In March 2020 we held the IIP General Assembly that was followed by an Advisory Board meeting in September where we discussed the future of our work, how to be more effective and stringent and how to extend our network in the spirit of cooperation and shared values. Our honorary president Erwin Lanc celebrated his 90th birthday on May 17th and we hope that