Alert 2009: Report on conflicts, human rights and peace-building is a study carried out annually by the the
School for a Culture of Peace at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, providing an overview of the world situation at the end of the year on the basis of an analysis of various indicators. 20 indicators have been used in the preparation of this report, divided into eight large groups: armed conflicts, tensions, peace processes, post-war peace-building, humanitarian crises, disarmament, human rights and transitional justice and gender issues in peace-building. A description and analysis of what has happened in the world throughout this year, based on these indicators, helps to provide a greater knowledge of the advances, reverses and dynamics of various kinds that affect the whole of humanity. The majority of these indicators, once crossreferenced, can also help us to understand the influence of some factors on others. Comparing this data with the information gathered during the previous years means that the report can act as a preventive warning of certain general tendencies or a particular situation in individual countries, something that may be useful, among other things, for the rethinking of foreign policy, development cooperation and arms transfers, as well as for the development of policies aimed at preventing armed conflicts and facilitating the consolidation of peace processes and post-war rehabilitation throughout the world. Alert 2009 identifies also several opportunities for peace. They are different scenarios in which the existence of certain factors allows to think in a positive evolution during 2009 if the political action and international involvement required are present.
Alert 2009! (pdf)
