Onafhankelijk onderzoeksinstituutvoor vrede, duurzame ontwikkeling en mensenrechten.
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Op 8 mei 2026 gaf de Vlaamse Regering haar definitieve goedkeuring aan het ontwerp van decreet tot regeling van de in-, uit-, doorvoer en overbrenging van militaire goederen, civiele vuurwapens, essentiële onderdelen en munitie (Wapenhandeldecreet) ter vervanging van het Wapenhandeldecreet van 2012. In dit rapport stellen IPIS en Amnesty International Vlaanderen vast dat het ontwerp tekortschiet in het waarborgen van een effectieve controle op de wapenhandel. Het slaagt er op verschillende plaatsen niet in om te verzekeren dat een transfer niet wordt toegestaan als er een duidelijk risico bestaat dat de wapens zullen worden gebruikt om ernstige schendingen van mensenrechten of van het internationaal humanitair recht te plegen of te faciliteren in het land van eindgebruik, of dat de verboden van het VN-Wapenhandelsverdrag worden nageleefd.
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.
Sinds 2022 wordt het westen van de Democratische Republiek Congo (DRC) geteisterd door een ernstige veiligheids- en humanitaire crisis, met meer dan 5.000 doden en 280.000 ontheemden. Terwijl de internationale aandacht vooral uitgaat naar de gewelddadige conflicten in het oosten van de DRC, raakt een conflict tussen verschillende gemeenschappen in de buurt van Kinshasa steeds verder verstrikt in een spiraal van geweld, zonder dat de nationale autoriteiten en internationale partijen hier veel aandacht aan besteden. Tegen deze achtergrond en als onderdeel van de bewustmakingscampagne van Caritas International België en Justice & Paix probeert dit rapport de aandacht te vestigen op de Mobondo-crisis en de gevolgen daarvan.
On 27 januari 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.
Nieuws
De Vlaamse Regering heeft een nieuw ontwerp van wapenhandeldecreet klaar. IPIS en Amnesty International waarschuwen dat het voorstel de controle op internationale wapenhandel aanzienlijk verzwakt(...)
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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