With international attention focused on a potential U.S.-North Korea summit meeting in May, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a surprise trip to Beijing in late March to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This conference explored the dynamics and tensions of the historical relationship between China and North Korea, the potential impact of Korean reunification on China, and China’s role in a limited military conflict and its aftermath.

Speakers

Nancy Lindborg
President, U.S. Institute of Peace

Thomas Banchoff
Vice President for Global Engagement, Georgetown University

Panelists

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/china-and-north-korea-past-present-and-future

On April 17, Representative Steve Pearce (R-NM) and Representative Jim Himes (D-CT) discussed the growing threat of illicit exploitation of online terrorist financial networks and steps the U.S. should take to improve security and reduce global conflict. Both members serve on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance, where Rep. Pearce serves as chairman.

Nancy Lindborg, moderator
President, U.S. Institute of Peace
@nancylindborg

Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) 
2nd Congressional District of New Mexico, U.S. House of Representatives 
@RepStevePearce

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) 
4th Congressional District of Connecticut, U.S. House of Representatives
@jahimes

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/countering-illicit-funding-terrorism-congressional-approach

Seven years of conflict in Syria have exacted an enormous human toll and led to widespread physical destruction. The psychological impact of the war, although less visible, has been just as devastating. The levels of trauma and distress impacting Syrian civilians, especially children have been staggering with nearly 500,000 killed, half the population displaced and more than 13 million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance. The traumatic impact of the Syrian conflict is less often acknowledged, but could significantly impair the ability of Syrian civilians to recover and build a more peaceful future.  Join USIP and specialists from the Syrian American Medical Society, the U.S. State Department and Save the Children for a panel discussion, addressing an aspect of the Syrian conflict that often receives less attention than it deserves.

Speakers:

Mona Yacoubian, moderator

Catherine Bou-Maroun

Dr. Mohamed Khaled Hamza

Amy Richmond

While threats of violence marred recent legislative campaigns in Colombia, the March 11 election was Colombia’s most peaceful in decades. Although the FARC’s new political party underperformed, its comprehensive demobilization was palpable and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s second-largest rebel group, respected a temporary unilateral ceasefire. For the first time in 50 years, ballots were cast freely throughout the country and not a single incident of violence was recorded.

With the composition of Colombia’s next Congress set, jockeying and coalition-building among the main candidates is fully underway ahead of the May 27 presidential polls. The outcome will have important implications for the precarious implementation of the 2016 FARC peace accord, which has yet to tackle key political and agrarian reforms, and the next president will also have to chart a way forward for the dialogues with the ELN as talks in Quito race against the clock to design a new indefinite bilateral ceasefire and cement the parameters for public participation in future negotiations.

Speakers:
Alejandra Barrios
Director, Electoral Observation Mission and former President of the Global Network of Domestic Electoral Monitors

Juanita Goebertus
Colombian Congresswoman, Former Member of the Government Peace Delegation with the FARC

Mark Schneider
Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Jonas Claes
Senior Program Officer, Preventing Election Violence, U.S. Institute of Peace

Steve Hege, Moderator
Senior Program Officer, Security & Justice, U.S. Institute of Peace

As a part of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ ongoing project on Civil Wars, Violence and International Responses, the second volume of a special issue of the journal Dædalus was released in January 2018 to explore trends in civil wars and solutions moving forward. Join us as experts discuss their findings and recommendations on how the United States can better respond to intrastate conflict and promote both development and stability to create lasting peace.