International Crisis Group

International Crisis Group

Type	Non-profit NGO
Founded	1995
Location	Brussels, Belgium
Key people	Louise Arbour, President/CEO
Method	international conflict prevention
Website	http://www.crisisgroup.org/

The International Crisis Group (ICG) is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts around the world through field-based analyses and high-level advocacy.

History

The International Crisis Group was founded in 1995 by World Bank Vice-President Mark Malloch Brown, former US diplomat Morton Abramowitz^[1] and Fred Cuny, an international disaster relief specialist who disappeared in Chechnya in 1995. Their aim was to create an organisation, wholly independent from any government, to assist governments, intergovernmental bodies and the international community at large in preventing deadly conflict.

Organization and purpose

The ICG gives advice to governments, and intergovernmental bodies like the United Nations, European Union and World Bank, on the prevention and resolution of deadly conflict. Its primary goals are a combination of field-based analysis, policy prescription, and aggressive advocacy, with key roles being played by a senior management team highly experienced in government and by a highly active Board of Trustees containing many senior diplomats. By its own accounts, the ICG plays a major role in six ways:

• Ringing early warning alarm bells, in the monthly CrisisWatch bulletin, and in specific ‘crisis alerts’, e.g., in Ethiopia-Eritrea, Darfur, Somalia and Pakistan;
• Contributing, on both process and substance, behind the scenes support and advice to critical peace negotiations, e.g., in Sudan, Burundi, Northern Uganda, Aceh, Nepal and Kenya;
• Producing highly detailed analysis and advice on specific policy issues in scores of conflict or potential conflict situations around the world, helping policymakers in the UN Security Council, regional organisations, donor countries and others with major influence, and in the countries at risk themselves, do better in preventing, managing and resolving conflict, and in rebuilding after it;
• Providing detailed information unobtainable elsewhere on developments regarding conflict, mass violence and terrorism of particular utility to policymakers, e.g., on the Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia and Islamic Courts Union in Somalia;
• Offering new strategic thinking on some of the world’s most intractable conflicts and crises, e.g., on the Iran nuclear issue, the role of Islamism worldwide, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the way forward in Kosovo, Iraq and the Western Sahara; and
• Strongly supporting a rules-based, rather than force-based, international order, in particular significantly influencing UN resolutions and institutional structures in relation to the new international norm of the ‘responsibility to protect’.^[2]

The ICG maintains teams of analysts in 17 field offices worldwide, who are dispatched to areas at risk of outbreak, escalation, or recurrence of conflict. Based on the information these teams gather, the organization creates analytical reports with recommendations targeted at various world leaders and organizations. In addition to this work, the Crisis Group publishes a monthly newsletter, CrisisWatch, which provides a brief overview of continuing or impending violence in the world. All of the Crisis Group's reporting is available on its website.

Current officers

The Crisis Group is co-chaired by former British politician and European Commissioner for External Affairs, Christopher Patten and former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Thomas R. Pickering.

Its President and Chief Executive from January 2000 was former Foreign Minister of Australia, Gareth Evans. In July 2009 he was succeeded by Louise Arbour, formerly the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Funding

The Crisis Group raises funds from mainly western governments, charitable foundations, companies and individual donors. In 2006, 40% of its funding came from 22 different governments, 32% from 15 philanthropic organisations, and 28% from individuals and private foundations. Philanthropist George Soros who is chairman of the Open Society Institute is on the Board of Trustees.^[3] And its Advisory Council includes corporations like Chevron and Shell.^[4]

Offices

The Crisis Group's international headquarters are in Brussels, with advocacy offices in Washington DC (where it is based as a legal entity), New York, London and Moscow. The organisation currently operates seventeen field offices (in Abuja, Amman, Bishkek, Bogotá, Cairo, Colombo, Dakar, Dushanbe, Islamabad, Jakarta, Kabul, Kathmandu, Nairobi, Port-au-Prince, Pristina, Seoul and Tbilisi), with analysts working in over 50 crisis-affected countries and territories across four continents.

Countries and territories with ongoing Crisis Group activity

• Africa: Angola, Burundi, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe
• Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China/Taiwan Strait, India (Kashmir), Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar/Burma, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan
• Europe: Abkhazia, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, South Ossetia, Turkey
• Latin America: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Venezuela
• Middle East/North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Issues research

Crisis Group's ten areas of issues research is co-ordinated out of Brussels. Reports published in 2001 and 2005 under the "Issues" heading "draw on lessons from Crisis Group's in-country experience in crisis zones around the world as well as existing studies by research institutions and think tanks."^[5] The ten research areas are Islamism, Violence and Reform, Energy Issues, The Responsibility to Protect (R2P), Peace and justice, Gender and Conflict, Climate Change and Conflict, International Terrorism, Democratisation, The European Union and its crisis response capability, and HIV/AIDS as a security issue.^[5]

Crisis Group President Gareth Evans served as co-chair of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty that first fully articulated the doctrine of the Responsibility to protect concept in 2001. The doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) holds that sovereign states, and the international community as a whole, have a responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocity crimes.^[5]

Other notable members and staff

Board of Trustees

Executive Committee

• Cheryl Carolus^[6]
• Maria Livanos Cattaui,^[7] board member of Petroplus
• Yoichi Funabashi,^[8] former editor-in-chief of the Asahi Shimbun
• Frank Giustra^[9]
• George Soros^[10]
• Pär Stenbäck^[11]

Other trustees

• Kenneth Adelman^[12]
• Kofi Annan^[13]
• Nahum Barnea^[14]
• Sandy Berger^[15]
• Emma Bonino^[16]
• Wesley Clark^[17]
• Sheila Coronel^[18]
• Jan Egeland^[19]
• Mohamed ElBaradei (self-suspended as of January 2011)^[20]
• Uffe Ellemann-Jensen^[21]
• Gareth Evans^[22]
• Mark Eyskens^[23]
• Joschka Fischer^[24]
• Jean-Marie Guéhenno^[25]
• Carla Anderson Hills^[26]
• Lena Hjelm-Wallén^[27]
• Swanee Hunt^[28]
• Mo Ibrahim^[29]
• Igor Ivanov^[30]
• Asma Jahangir^[31]
• Wim Kok^[32]
• Ricardo Lagos^[33]
• Joanne Leedom-Ackerman,^[34] wife of Peter Ackerman, mother of Nate Ackerman, vice president of International PEN
• Mark Malloch Brown, Baron Malloch-Brown^[35]
• Lalit Mansingh^[36]
• Jessica Mathews^[37]
• Benjamin Mkapa^[38]
• Moisés Naím^[39]
• Güler Sabancı^[40]
• Javier Solana^[41]

Chairmen Emeritus

• Martti Ahtisaari^[42]
• George J. Mitchell^[42]

Senior advisors

Current

• Turki bin Faisal Al Saud^[43]
• Hushang Ansary^[43]
• Ersin Kalaycıoğlu^[43]
• Óscar Arias^[43]
• Richard Armitage^[43]
• Diego Arria^[43]
• Zainab Bangura^[43]
• Shlomo Ben-Ami^[43]
• Christoph Bertram,^[43] former director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs
• Alan Blinken^[43]
• Lakhdar Brahimi^[43]
• Zbigniew Brzezinski^[43]
• Kim Campbell^[43]
• Jorge Castañeda Gutman^[43]
• Naresh Chandra^[43]
• Eugene Chien^[43]
• Joaquim Chissano^[43]
• Victor Chu,^[43] chairman of the First Eastern Investment Group, advisory councillor for The James Martin 21st Century School
• Chung Mong-joon^[43]
• Pat Cox^[43]
• Gianfranco Dell'Alba^[43] (Italian article available here), member of the Pannella List
• Jacques Delors^[43]
• Alain Destexhe^[43]
• Gernot Erler^[43] (German article available here)
• Stanley Fischer^[43]
• Malcolm Fraser^[43]
• Inder Kumar Gujral^[43]
• Max Jakobson^[43]
• Jim Kimsey^[43]
• Aleksander Kwaśniewski^[43]
• Todung Mulya Lubis^[43]
• Allan MacEachen^[43]
• Graça Machel^[43]
• Barbara McDougall^[43]
• Matthew F. McHugh^[43]
• Miklós Németh^[43]
• Christine Ockrent^[43]
• Timothy Ong^[43] (co-chairman of Asia Inc.?)
• Olara Otunnu^[43]
• Shimon Peres^[43]
• Victor Pinchuk^[43]
• Surin Pitsuwan^[43]
• Cyril Ramaphosa^[43]
• Fidel V. Ramos^[43]
• George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen^[43]
• Michel Rocard^[43]
• Volker Rühe^[43]
• Mohamed Sahnoun^[43]
• Salim Ahmed Salim^[43]
• Douglas Schoen^[43]
• Christian Schwarz-Schilling^[43]
• Michael Sohlman^[43] (Swedish article available here)
• Thorvald Stoltenberg,^[43]
• William O. Taylor,^[43] chairman emeritus of The Boston Globe, descendant of Charles H. Taylor (publisher)
• Leo Tindemans^[43]
• Ed van Thijn^[43]
• Simone Veil^[43]
• Shirley Williams^[43]
• Grigory Yavlinsky^[43]
• Uta Zapf^[43]
• Ernesto Zedillo^[43]

Former

• Nobuo Matsunaga^[43]

References

1. ^ "Morton Abramowitz". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=29FA7455A291475DA6C0B6C5BF636E2C&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
2. ^ International Crisis Group - About International Crisis Group
3. ^ Crisis Group's Board of Trustees
4. ^ Who Supports Crisis Group
5. ^ ^{a b c} International Crisis Group - thematic issues
6. ^ "Cheryl Carolus". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=8EBC8C4427854ED6A40B5028DC8F221D&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
7. ^ "Maria Livanos Cattaui". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=4DDF6F11E2B7463EBEA7E84F55869FB1&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
8. ^ "Yoichi Funabashi". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=6ABCF08BE7DC49FD9525789E3133E270&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
9. ^ "Frank Giustra". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=69356DB95560433BA35921ED79D62643&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
10. ^ "George Soros". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=FB8F7EFF92D64AD181E313919B71504F&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
11. ^ "Pär Stenbäck". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=9D70B1646B9D4598B789BADFF6DC89E3&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
12. ^ "Kenneth L. Adelman". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=4820CB51911B40DB9FCF32D7891E65BF&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
13. ^ "Kofi Annan". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=DC3CD72C36144A57855FC71809776916&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
14. ^ "Nahum Barnea". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=A9E7E8A53E9B4C50AF01182B8CE1DA73&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
15. ^ "samuel Berger". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=4A456C562CFC4F809A386072DAB68907&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
16. ^ "Emma Bonino". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=CEBF375184B549EDA8AE9BCC24A8A1FC&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
17. ^ "Wesley K. Clark". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=CD447B3C4DE5419491F3EADF2A8244BC&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
18. ^ "Sheila Coronel". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=C7449DAC8BB4432B95A7BDE57019FFCF&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
19. ^ "Jan Egeland". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=7DA0EE52950B443A934EE4B11C793286&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
20. ^ "Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=007F025EA86D4399B7F8C7BEB488046E&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
21. ^ "Uffe Ellemann-Jensen". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=AC8629F618814E66B6D186F66EE72A7A&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
22. ^ "Gareth Evans". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=32B8DE16C2844DABA3A380E1D08F4B11&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
23. ^ "Mark Eyskens". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=B84B69C27E7243E693CD9A8C4CE555E8&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
24. ^ "Joschka Fischer". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=24AD1BED64814C10B3377508CAB0B357&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
25. ^ "Jean-Marie Guéhenno". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=82DC235348564E7A8F2925BA342BE859&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
26. ^ "Carla A. Hills". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=9689DFE1C0C94A4BBB3497F8ACE488B0&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
27. ^ "Lena Hjelm-Wallén". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=0F39E238635A4A1BBD4998A6FF9B4FAB&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
28. ^ "Swanee Hunt". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=D60EFB2FB0724217BCCBF1FD4D2615E1&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
29. ^ "Dr Mohamed Ibrahim". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=FC1D5713AB9B48148A091337B05ADA23&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
30. ^ "Igor Ivanov". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=AF475E060A4648F7B47192C37FFB4F7A&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
31. ^ "Asma Jahangir". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=2D8DE8E5CA3D4C4BBCBB44A8BE29A7FD&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
32. ^ "Wim Kok". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=CB4DFA1438DA4D34AC399E61D1D9605B&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
33. ^ "Ricardo Lagos". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=130AE6C5C235443DBDEFF7F4439B81B0&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
34. ^ "Joanne Leedom-Ackerman". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=18596E4110E644A59638A71D920B63A1&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
35. ^ "Mark Malloch-Brown". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=A45489F6FCDC4F60B59BDE2DCF416E7B&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
36. ^ "Lalit Mansingh". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=02F3E87245454084BDB9C0058E8729F4&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
37. ^ "Jessica Tuchman Mathews". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=46C678D990BB471B9A3257469BD09DD6&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
38. ^ "Benjamin W. Mkapa". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=844C768B15E64D36B91228913DBA4CC7&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
39. ^ "Moisés Naím". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=19E91048AE3B467DA14C187496DBDA1B&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
40. ^ "Guler Sabanci". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=F87D83337F7C4DC4BBE2C635F6B9F2F8&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
41. ^ "Javier Solana". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=ADF0104831F749BA9D13ADEEE968C40C&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
42. ^ ^{a b} "Board of Trustees". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/board.aspx. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
43. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj} "Crisis Group Senior Advisers". International Crisis Group. http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/~/link.aspx?_id=afaad992bc154c93b71b1e76d6151f3f&_z=z. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 

External links

• official website
• International Crisis Group: The Problem Solvers in Asia's Heroes 2005 by Aryn Baker, TIMEasia, October 3, 2005
• SourceWatch: International Crisis Group