Key points

• Commentators and practitioners recognise that the value of mediation
  as a tool to facilitate political solutions to armed conflict is under severe
  pressure. Innovation is necessary to meet the challenges presented by
  contemporary armed conflicts.
• Viable and sustainable transitions from war to peace require the provision
  of specific support to the security and political transitions of non-state
  armed actors prior to mediation, and during the implementation of a
  peace agreement. Equally, the provision of support to the state in question
  (as a belligerent actor in the armed conflict) is pivotal to a sustainable
  transition process.
• The approach known as “advising armed actors” is relevant to all non-state
  armed actors in contemporary conflicts, including those that lack cohesion
  (pre-political), are proscribed (listed as terrorists), and are sub-political
  (gangs/criminals), and is equally relevant to states as belligerents in an
  armed conflict.
• The overall purpose of this approach is to establish a conducive environment
  that supports a transition from war to peace in a way that establishes
  a trajectory towards an environment where human rights are protected
  by the rule of law.