CIP’s mission is to promote a U.S. foreign policy based on international cooperation, demilitarization and respect for basic human rights.
The organisation was founded in 1975, in the wake of the Vietnam War, by former diplomats and peace activists. It has played a vital role in a number of citizens’ initiatives and has worked on the following areas:
- making sure that governments’ human rights record became a factor in allocating foreign aid
- reform of the US nation’s intelligence agencies
- Central America’s post-conflict reconciliation
- the effort to end isolation of Cuba
- efforts to limit military assistance to the Western Hemisphere, especially Colombia
- a program on nuclear proliferation in south and east Asia
- cutting-edge work on illegal financial flows
- a new effort to promote environmental protection and increase citizen participation in Central America