Peace Negotiations
PILPG provides pro bono legal assistance and political counsel to parties and mediators involved in peace negotiations. PILPG works closely with clients to clarify and prioritize goals, develop negotiation strategies, and create effective mechanisms for implementing peace agreements. PILPG lawyers customarily participate as advisors during negotiations, and PILPG frequently opens in-country program offices to support its peace negotiations work. To date, PILPG has advised participants in over two dozen international peace negotiations.
Featured Projects
Syria
PILPG provided legal and strategic transition-planning assistance to the Syrian opposition. This assistance included onsite support to the moderate Syrian opposition delegation during the peace negotiations Geneva and Astana as well as support between negotiation rounds through the provision of negotiation trainings, consultations, briefing papers, and proposal analysis and drafting. PILPG advised members of the Syrian opposition on issues related to ceasefires, transitional justice, governance, constitution-drafting, elections, security, and humanitarian issues. In addition to direct negotiation support, PILPG provided a broad range of Syrian civil society activists with support related to inclusive peace-building, mediation, and community reconciliation processes. PILPG established program offices in Istanbul and Gaziantep to facilitate its work on the Syrian peace process.
Bosnia
PILPG served as legal counsel to the Bosnian government during the Dayton peace negotiations and advised the Bosnian government in connection with the Brčko arbitration. PILPG also provided legal assistance to the Bosnian government during the Brussels negotiations on state succession and served as legal adviser during the 2005-2006 negotiations on the April package to amend the Dayton Constitution. PILPG established a program office in Sarajevo to facilitate its work in Bosnia.
Yemen
PILPG advised the UN Special Advisor to Yemen on peace negotiations, ceasefire negotiations, the National Dialogue Conference and the preparation of a new constitution. During this multi-year engagement, PILPG provided analysis on constitutional models; state structure; federalism; devolution of power; separation of powers; judicial independence; human, civil, and political rights; and transitional justice. PILPG also conducted a series of trainings for officials in the Ministry of Local Administration regarding how to design a transition from a unitary to a federalist state, and the status of southern Yemen in a future federal state.
To see more on PILPG’s assistance with peace negotiations, visit our Clients page.