Artisanal and small-scale mining Incident Tracker in eastern DRC

5 juni 2019

Since the end of 2018 witnesses and victims of incidents and accidents related to artisanal small-scale production, transport and trading of minerals in the provinces of South-Kivu and Ituri can be reported. IPIS, in collaboration with the Bukavu based Expertise Centre on Mining Governance (CEGEMI) and Ulula,has developed a new, anonymous reporting system. View the ASM Incident Tracker The tool al


Working on conflict mapping through GIS – A goodbye from our latest GIS intern

29 mei 2019

I arrived at IPIS in January of this year with the purpose to further improve my GIS skills and work on the topic of conflict mapping. Entering the IPIS premises and meeting the staff, my first impression of IPIS was that of a friendly and professional organization. They are lucky enough to be housed in an old monastery which seems like a small oasis in the middle of the loud and crowded city. Tha


Data sharing on the socio-economic and human rights impact of mining in Tanzania

15 mei 2019

Tanzania, May 2019   Since January 2017, IPIS has been working on a project to map the socio-economic and human rights impact of mining in northwest Tanzania. This project is supported by the Belgian development cooperation under a programme on human rights and digitisation. By using mobile technologies such as mobile data collection, GIS mapping, mobile incident reporting and phone surveys throug


Pastoralism in the Central African Republic conflict: new IPIS research launched

10 mei 2019

With thorough conflict mapping and analysis of the drivers and actors of conflict in the Central African Republic, IPIS has contributed to a better understanding of the Central African Republic conflict. In 2019, IPIS will be focussing on one particular activity that generates conflict on the one hand, but is fundamental for strengthening peace on the other: Pastoralism.  This research will t


New project of mapping artisanal and small-scale mining sites in the Central African Republic

2 mei 2019

Following a successful training in Bangui with members from civil society organizations and field officers from the Kimberley Process focal point at the Ministry of mines and geology of the Central African Republic (CAR), IPIS will start field based research to map artisanal and small-scale gold and diamond mining sites in Western CAR. This study will focus on quantitative research through Mobile


Multi-stakeholder dialogue on Business and Human Rights in Tanzania identifies ‘land rights and environment’ as priority topic

17 april 2019

Dodoma, 21 March 2019.       Over 60 key stakeholders from civil society, business and government agencies from Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar gathered at the Royal Village Hotel, Dodoma for the first annual multi-stakeholder dialogue on Business and Human Rights. This event was organized by the Tanzanian Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG), Business and Human Rights Tanzania


UN must help Kimberley Process to live up to its conflict prevention mandate

1 maart 2019

The Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition (KP CSC) participated in a panel discussion entitled “From blood diamonds to peace diamonds: conflict prevention through the Kimberley Process” on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Thursday 28th February 2019. The KP CSC urged the UN to engage more in the Kimberley Process and secure oversight to further the much needed reform agenda. The UN


My experience as a GIS Intern with IPIS – A goodbye from our latest GIS intern

14 februari 2019

In November of 2018, I left my job and country to move across the ocean for a GIS internship with The International Peace Information Service (IPIS). As I boarded my plane, I was full of anxious anticipation at what would await me in Antwerp, Belgium. I had no idea what to expect, but I was full of visions of big beautiful maps of Sub-Saharan Africa, reports documenting the realities of life as a


Kufatilia: a new Incident Monitoring Mechanism for Gold Supply Chains

4 december 2018

 “Today a man was killed in a pit collapse in an artisanal mining site near Numbi.” Civil society organizations, working to improve living conditions of artisanal and small-scale miners in Eastern DR Congo, regularly receive this kind of text message. Capture d’écran du système de Suivis des Incidents de l’Or (SIOr) Since a few weeks, incidents linked to the production, transport and selling of mi


KP Civil Society disappointed by resistance to reform in the Kimberley Process

16 november 2018

The Kimberley Process (KP) Civil Society Coalition (CSC) pushed hard for reform in the 2018 KP Brussels Plenary, with very concrete proposals, amongst others on changing the definition of conflict diamonds beyond the limited and outdated scope of rough diamonds financing rebel movements. The CSC, together with industry (World Diamond Council) and Canada made a realistic proposal for a wider defini


Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition calls on all Members to deliver on improving global diamond governance

14 november 2018

Reform is high on the agenda of this year’s Kimberley Process Plenary under EU Chairmanship. The Kimberley Process – once a pioneering tripartite effort to stop diamonds from financing rebel groups – is struggling to provide an adequate answer to numerous human rights challenges associated with the diamond sector today. Aware of these enormous challenges, it was decided at the 2017 Plenary meeting


22 November – IPIS panel discussion on the Central African Republic

19 oktober 2018

Central African Republic: A Conflict Mapping IPIS kindly invites you to a panel discussion on the conflict in the Central African Republic on Thursday November 22, 4:30pm at the Jacqmotte Conference Center, Hoogstraat/Rue Haute 139 in Brussels. Please register at events@ipisresearch.be     Programme 4:30 –  Welcome Honorary Ambassador Johan Swinnen, Chair IPIS 4:40 – Keynote speech


IPIS welcomes UA Summer School students for workshop on responsible sourcing using IPIS maps

10 september 2018

On September 6th, 30 students from the  University of Antwerp ‘Mine to Finger’ Summer School on diamonds participated in a responsible sourcing workshop organised by IPIS. They explored the upstream context of the diamond supply chain in Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) using IPIS webmaps. They  engaged in a critical and nuanced discussion on various due dilig


Strengthening local voices: discover IPIS’ partner publication series “Voices from the South”

3 september 2018

Since 2017, IPIS has been closely collaborating with civil society actors from central and east Africa who want to share their perspective on subjects related to IPIS’ work. Their hands-on experience, unique knowledge and access to information offer local insights relevant to a large audience. With the editorial support from IPIS, local partners are encouraged to write down their research. This ha


Training workshop: “Field Research and Report Writing on Business and Human Rights”

22 augustus 2018

At the start of August 2018, five Tanzanian civil society organisations gathered in Dar es Salaam for a three-day training on field research and report writing. The training forms part of the EU-funded project ‘Improving monitoring, research and dialogue on Business & Human Rights in Tanzania’ which is implemented by IPIS, the Tanzanian Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG),


Kimberley Process intersessional meeting: civil society coalition calls for meaningful reform on definition of conflict diamonds

29 juni 2018

At the Kimberley Process Intersessional Meeting, held in Antwerp from 18-22 June, the KP civil society coalition (KP CSC) called for meaningful reforms, on the scope of the definition of conflict diamonds, on the KP’s governance structures, and on internal controls on governments to ensure a clean, conflict-free and legal diamond supply chains. The KP CSC is dismayed over the lack of progress


How IPIS uses data from subscribers to our briefings

22 mei 2018

French below/Français ci-dessous We’re making some updates to IPIS’ Privacy Policy to ensure you know exactly what information we have from you and what we do with it, in compliance with the new European data protection laws. Our policy comes into effect on May 25, 2018. To receive IPIS’ news and publications, you can  subscribe to our mailing list   (When you are currently subscribed, we’ve sent


Voting D4D is open! Vote for “Watching over the Okapis”

19 april 2018

Would you like to encourage participatory science to map vulnerable areas? Support IPIS by voting for our  Okapi Wildlife Reserve map in the D4D prize 2018  Vote now IPIS has submitted its “Okapi Wildlife Reserve” map to the 2018 Digital 4 Development- Prize initiative of the Belgian Development Cooperation and the Royal Museum for Central Africa. The D4D prize goes to initiatives that use digital


IPIS lance une mise à jour majeure de sa carte interactive en RDC

19 maart 2018

Version française IPIS lance une mise à jour majeure de sa carte interactive en RDC, qui affiche des données sur plus de 2400 sites miniers artisanaux et plus de 800 barrages routiers dans l’est du pays. Depuis décembre 2016, les équipes d’IPIS ont visité plus de 500 mines artisanales dans la région, collectionnant des données qui ont été ajoutées sur la carte interactive. IPIS a également intégré


New data on mining sites and roadblocks on IPIS’ upgraded DRC interactive web map

19 maart 2018

IPIS launches a major update of it’s DRC webmap displaying data on more than 2400 artisanal mining sites in eastern DRC and more than 800 roadblocks. Since December 2016, IPIS teams have visited more than 500 artisanal mines in eastern DRC, gathering data that has been added to IPIS’ interactive webmap. IPIS also integrated other datasets gathered during its projects in the region, including the d