The private sector and conflict-sensitivity - Summary report of Expert Meeting

On May 21st 2015, SOMO, Oxfam Novib and Tilburg Law School convened an expert meeting on the private sector and conflict-sensitivity in The Hague. This event was supported by the Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law. The goal was to contribute to a better understanding of the complex role of the private sector in fragile and conflict-affected settings and to take stock of current research. 

This summary report reflects the discussion and the conclusions reached. The main findings of this expert meeting were:

1. There is a need for factual research to provide evidence based information on the role of private sector in conflict-affected settings.
2. More attention has to be paid to the perspective of private sector actors on the issues they face within conflict-affected settings.
3. It is important that future research findings will actually reach practitioners and policymakers, so that academic research on conflict-sensitivity does not get stuck in a theoretical bubble, but has practical implications.