Kumar Rupesinghe - International Alert

International Alert

From 1992-1998 Dr. Rupesinghe was Secretary General of International Alert (IA), an International NonGovernmental Organisation (INGO) dedicated to the prevention and mitigation of violent internal conflict, based in London, succeeding the world renowned human rights advocate, the first secretary General of Amnesty International, Martin Ennals, who received the Nobel Prize. During his tenure, Dr. Rupesinghe was in the august company of IA Board members like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureates and other distinguished citizens of the global human rights community.

Under the leadership of Dr. Rupesinghe, International Alert became one of the largest international nongovernmental organisations in the world, with a budget of approximately UK£5 million a year, a staff of 80 and field programmes in over 15 countries in conflict. Many organisations adopted International Alert’s mandate of conflict prevention. In his capacity, Dr. Rupesinghe engaged in capacity building of local organisations and collaborated with over 50 organisations mainly in the regions of conflict.

International Alert has been involved in mediation and conflict resolution in Sri Lanka, Philippines Fiji, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Rwanda, the Caucuses region, and the Russian Federation. International Alert made a decisive intervention in the conflict in Sierra Leone, and cofacilitated the mediation process together with the Foreign Minister of Côte d'Ivoire, the U.N. the O.A.U and the Commonwealth Secretariat. Their efforts eventually led to the Abidjan Accords. In Liberia, at the request of President Carter, early efforts were made to encourage dialogue between the now President Charles Taylor (Liberia) and President Abacha of Nigeria.

In Sri Lanka, International Alert undertook many complimentary efforts to contribute towards the resolution of the conflict there, with many problemsolving workshops, including all the parties to the conflicts. Of special interest was a programme to take 20 MPs from all the political parties to learn from the experience from Northern Ireland, South Africa and the Philippines.

In the Caucuses, in collaboration with the then Minister of Nationalities, Professor Valery Tishkov, who was also the Director of the Institute of Ethnography, Russian Institute of Sciences, Dr. Rupesinghe initiated a programme to expand an early warning and early response network in the Russian Federation, and inaugurated a citizenbased network for peace building and conflict resolution. International Alert was asked to intervene in several conflicts in the former Soviet Union, which included Chechnya and Dagestan.

In Fiji, International Alert was involved in several workshops with decisionmakers from both sides to work towards constitutional reform.