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On 8 May 2026, the Flemish Government gave its final approval to the draft decree regulating the import, export, transit and transfer of military goods, civilian firearms, essential components and ammunition (Arms Trade Decree) to replace the Arms Trade Decree of 2012. In this report, IPIS and Amnesty International Flanders conclude that the draft fails to ensure effective control of the arms trade. In several respects, it fails to ensure that a transfer is not authorised if there is a clear risk that the arms will be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of human rights or international humanitarian law in the country of end-use, or that the prohibitions of the UN Arms Trade Treaty are complied with.
As demand for critical raw materials accelerates, digital traceability has become central to efforts aimed at strengthening responsible sourcing, environmental, social and governance (ESG) oversight, and supply chain resilience. Yet while traceability is increasingly promoted as a key governance tool, important questions remain about its feasibility, scalability and implications for producer countries and artisanal and small-scale mining. This report analyses the rapidly evolving landscape of digital traceability systems for critical mineral value chains.
The prefecture of Boké in the Republic of Guinea is home to the world's largest bauxite reserves. Bauxite is used to produce aluminum, a metal that is essential to the defense, construction, aerospace, and renewable energy industries. Driven by global demand, bauxite mining in Guinea has accelerated significantly since 2015. However, the environmental impact of the mining industry is undermining communities living in and around the mining areas, which depend mainly on fishing, agro-pastoralism, and livestock farming. This report analyses the little-studied effects of bauxite mining on communities living from agro-pastoral and fishing activities in the prefecture of Boké, and more specifically in the sub-prefectures of Sangarédi, Kolaboui, and Kamsar.
On January 27, 2025, the Congo River Alliance/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23) – supported by Rwanda – took control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and then moved on to Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, which fell in February 2025.
The re-emergence of M23 in 2021 and its rapid advance prompted the Congolese government to resort to non-state armed groups – the so-called Wazalendo - to fight the rebellion, alongside the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC). Given the problematic attempts to integrate rebels into the army in the past, this strategy could jeopardise current and future peace processes. It also contradicts earlier government commitments to disarmament and demobilisation, namely the new implementation of the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Community Recovery and Stabilisation Programme (P-DDRCS).
Operational since March 2024, Africa’s longest crude oil pipeline, the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline (NBEP), connects the oil fields of Agadem in eastern Niger to the port of Sèmè-Kpodji in southern Benin. like other large-scale infrastructure investments, the NBEP promises to bring significant benefits to both its investors and its host countries. The NBEP project is expected to bring socioeconomic development on both national and local levels, through tax revenue, job creation, employment, and local infrastructure development. To better gauge the NBEP’s role in driving local development, and its potential for alleviating and/or amplifying local grievances and conflict, this paper assesses the socio-economic, environmental and security impacts of the NBEP as lived and perceived by affected persons and communities in northern Benin.
On 4 December 2025, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) signed the US-brokered Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, committing to cease hostilities, establish a permanent ceasefire, and implement the 25 April Declaration of Principles and the 27 June Peace Agreement.
However, critical questions have been raised about the prospects for lasting peace in eastern DRC, as Kigali continues to deny its backing of the M23 despite documented UN evidence, and separate peace talks between the Congolese government and the AFC/M23, held in Qatar, have so far stalled following the signing of the Doha Framework of Comprehensive Peace on 15 November.
In the Faradje administrative territory in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Haut-Uélé province, more than 5,000 people rely on artisanal gold mining to earn a living and support their families. Many artisanal-mining families have done so for generations. They currently work on sites that now fall largely within mining permits owned by Kibali Goldmines (Kibali), a joint venture of Barrick Mining Corporation, AngloGold Ashanti, and the Congolese parastatal Société minière de Kilo-Moto (SOKIMO). Community members have long criticized the lack of dialogue with both the company and the Congolese authorities.
Since 2020, West Africa has been experiencing political turmoil characterised by a series of coups d’état, which led to the emergence of two blocs: the coastal countries, which are still members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, who founded the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in 2023. Combining literature review with primary data collected from Nigerien civil society organisations working on pastoralism and agriculture, as well as from current and former transhumant pastoralists from Benin, this Insight explores the potential of pastoralism in contributing to peace, stability and the sustainable mitigation of climate-related challenges in the region.
Since 2022, western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been plagued by a major security and humanitarian crisis, with more than 5,000 dead, and 280,000 still displaced. While international attention has focused on the violent conflicts in eastern DRC, an intercommunity conflict at the on the outskirts of Kinshasa is sinking into a spiral of violence, with very little attention from national authorities and international partners. Against this backdrop, and as part of the awareness-raising campaign led by Caritas International Belgium and Justice & Paix, this report seeks to draw attention to the Mobondo crisis and its consequences.
The European Union has developed a set of due diligence frameworks aimed at improving corporate accountability in mineral supply chains, particularly those linked to conflict-affected and high-risk areas. These regulations, such as the Conflict Minerals Regulation, the Battery Regulation, and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), seek to address both social and environmental risks associated with mineral extraction. This IPIS report argues that while these frameworks represent an important step, their current implementation does not sufficiently account for the complex nexus between environmental harm, conflict dynamics, and poor governance in areas like eastern DRC.
New peace agreements from Washington and Doha have brought hope for initiating a pathway to resolve the ongoing M23-conflict in DRC’s eastern territories in recent months. However, after the signing of the Declaration of Principles in Doha on 19 July, direct negotiations between the DRC and AFC/M23 were intended to result in a comprehensive peace agreement and were planned to begin no later than 8 August. By the end of September, however, these negotiations had still not commenced. Despite the new permanent ceasefire agreed on in Doha, continuous clashes between the AFC/M23 and the FARDC-Wazalendo coalitions persist in the DRC’s North and South Kivu provinces.
News
The Flemish Government has finalized a new draft of its Arms Trade Decree. IPIS and Amnesty International are raising serious concerns, as the proposal significantly(...)
On 12 March 2026, IPIS, in cooperation with the Belgian Embassy to Tanzania and ENABEL, organized a roundtable discussion at the EU Delegation in Dar(...)
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