Twenty years of Ploughshares' Armed Conflicts Reports: 1987-2007.

In 1987 Project Ploughshares began documenting major armed conflicts with the publication of the first armed conflicts map in The Ploughshares Monitor. For the past 20 years the annual map and related information have informed people around the world on the nature and extent of violent conflicts.

The evolution of the ACR

In 1994 a new publication, the Armed Conflicts Report (ACR), was launched. It included the world conflicts map, brief descriptions of the conflicts in each country, plus maps and charts that detailed factors contributing to conflict, such as the arms trade. This publication was produced annually until 2000, when the format that is still used today was introduced.

Now, every year a 22" x 34" four-colour poster provides a strong visual representation of the impact of armed conflict worldwide. A map that indicates the conflicts of the previous year is supplemented with graphs and narrative, including a message from a notable expert such as Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HW/AIDS in Africa from 2001-2006, or Graca Machel, author of the 1996 UN report Impact of Armed Conflict on Children. Expanded conflict descriptions are published in electronic form on the Ploughshares website (http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/ACRText/ ACR-TitlePageRev.htm).

Spreading the word

Since 1994 the ACR and poster have been mailed around the world. Individuals and organizations across Canada and the US have been the most frequent recipients, but requests have also come from the Czech Republic, Turkey, Costa Rica, the West Indies, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Kenya, Australia, England, Italy, Hungary, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and Spain. One year the map was translated into Japanese. Global distribution expanded greatly at the end of 2006 when the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) included the Armed Conflicts Report 2006 poster with a yearend mailing to its more than 700 member organizations in 106 countries.

Mainstream journalists have often used the ACR as the basis for stories on conflicts and conflict trends. A case in point was a 2004 article written by Charles J. Hanley of the Associated Press (AP) on the trend to fewer major armed conflicts in the world, as documented in the Armed Conflicts Report 2004. AP claims that "on any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP," so the significance of this coverage is not to be underrated.

Putting the report to use

Project Ploughshares created the Armed Conflicts Report primarily as an educational resource that was easily accessible to a general audience. Many individuals request posters to display in their homes, workplaces, or places of worship. Organizations that receive the poster include the national offices of the eight churches that sponsor Project Ploughshares, UNICEF, UNESCO, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, the World March of Women, the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, the UN Department of Disarmament Affairs, the Military Planning Service of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Radda Barnen (Save the Children Sweden), World Vision, and The Norwegian Red Cross.

Requests come from education professionals. For example, professors from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, in our hometown, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University have used these materials in their classes. Many Ontario secondary school teachers and librarians use the ACR poster as reference material for classes such as "Canada and World Issues." A few years ago a curriculum guide was developed for the use of the ACR in Ontario secondary schools. Some school boards, including the Toronto Catholic District School Board and the Toronto District School Board, have ordered copies of the poster for all of their schools. In Australia, ACR information was used in an educational atlas for secondary students that had a print run of 100,000.

Researchers and academics use information from the Armed Conflicts Report in articles and publications. For example, both Sociology: A Canadian Perspective by Professors Lorne Tepperman and James Curtis and Peace-Building and Nation-Building, a brochure issued by the UNDP, feature the Ploughshares armed conflicts map. Analysts at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat use ACR information in assessing foreign policy expenditures by government departments and in describing trends in armed conflict in their annual report Canada's Performance: The Government of Canada's Contribution. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has ordered copies, but has not indicated any intended use.

Impact

The Armed Conflicts Reports and posters have introduced Project Ploughshares and our work on conflict prevention and peacebuilding to new audiences. Updating the reports has enriched the educational experience of the resourceful and highly motivated Ploughshares interns who, since 1997, have carried out the primary research on the range of conflicts throughout the world. Finally, the ACR has provided an empirical basis for concluding that peacebuilding efforts do work. Although one conflict is too many for those being killed and wounded, there has been a significant decrease in the number and intensity of armed conflicts over the past 10 years. The graph of this downward trend can be seen on this year's Armed Conflicts Report poster at http://www. ploughshares.ca/imagesarticles/ACR07/poster2007.pdf.