• UN REFORM: In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All • DEVELOPMENT: Our Common Interest: Report of the Commission for Africa • DISPLACEMENT: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2004 • ARMED GROUPS: Street Gangs: The New Urban Insurgency • SEXUAL VIOLENCE: The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur • CHILD SOLDIERS: Recruitment of Ex-Child Soldiers in Cote d’Ivoire • GOVERNANCE: Nepal: The Rule of Law Abandoned • HEALTH: Falling Behind: A Brief on the Living Conditions of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon • HUMAN RIGHTS: Worse Than a War: “Disappearances” in Chechnya: A Crime Against Humanity • ARMED CONFLICT: Conflict Barometer 2004 UNITED NATIONS REFORM In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has put forward a comprehensive deal for tackling poverty, security threats and human rights abuses while overhauling the United Nations through a set of recommendations slated for action by national leaders when they gather in September to mark the world body's sixtieth anniversary. Taking its name from a phrase in the UN Charter, the report, “In Larger Freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all,” marks the culmination of a process Mr. Annan has initiated to realign the world body in this milestone year so that it can better respond to today's pressing challenges. If acted on, the proposals – ranging from a nine-member increase in the Security Council's membership to the establishment of a new Human Rights Council – would mark the most dramatic change in the UN's functioning ever achieved at once. Continue Reading More on International and Regional Organizations DEVELOPMENT AND SECURITY Our Common Interest: Report of the Commission for Africa Commission for Africa African poverty and stagnation is the greatest tragedy of our time. Poverty on such a scale demands a forceful response. And Africa – at country, regional, and continental levels – is creating much stronger foundations for tackling its problems. Recent years have seen improvements in economic growth and in governance. But Africa needs more of both if it is to make serious inroads into poverty. To do that requires a partnership between Africa and the developed world which takes full account of Africa’s diversity and particular circumstances. For its part, Africa must accelerate reform. And the developed world must increase and improve its aid, and stop doing those things which hinder Africa’s progress. The developed world has a moral duty – as well as a powerful motive of self-interest – to assist Africa. We believe that now is the time when greater external support can have a major impact and this is a vital moment for the world to get behind Africa’s efforts. The actions proposed by the Commission constitute a coherent package for Africa. The problems they address are interlocking. They are vicious circles which reinforce one another. They must be tackled together. To do that Africa requires a comprehensive ‘big push’ on many fronts at once. Partners must work together to implement this package with commitment, perseverance and speed, each focusing on how they can make the most effective contribution. Continue reading More on Africa and Development and Security INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2004 Global IDP Project Civil wars and human rights abuses forced three million people -- over 8,000 per day -- to flee their homes and seek refuge elsewhere within their countries in 2004, according to a report by the Global IDP Project of the Norwegian Refugee Council. The total number of internally displaced people is estimated at 25 million in some 50 countries across all continents, making this one of the world’s largest -- and most neglected -- vulnerable groups. Unlike refugees who have managed to cross an international border, internally displaced people cannot count on a functioning international system of protection and assistance. Their own governments are rarely willing or able to provide assistance. In 2004, three in four IDPs did not receive adequate assistance from the authorities in their country, and half of them were faced with governments reacting with indifference or hostility to their protection needs. Continue reading More on Refugees and Internally Displaced People ARMED GROUPS Street Gangs: The New Urban Insurgency Strategic Studies Institute // U.S. Army War College The primary thrust of this monograph is to explain the linkage of contemporary criminal street gangs to insurgency in terms of the instability it wreaks upon government and the concomitant challenge to state sovereignty. Although there are differences between gangs and insurgents regarding motives and modes of operations, this linkage infers that gang phenomena are mutated forms of urban insurgency. In these terms, these “new” nonstate actors must eventually seize political power in order to guarantee the freedom of action and the commercial environment they want. The common denominator that clearly links the gang phenomenon to insurgency is that gangs’ and insurgents’ ultimate objective is to depose or control the government. This monograph concludes with recommendations for the U.S. and other countries to focus security and assistance responses at the strategic level. The intent is to help leaders achieve strategic clarity and operate more effectively in the complex politically dominated, contemporary global security arena. Continue reading More on Armies, Paramilitaries and Non-State Armed Groups SEXUAL VIOLENCE The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur Médecins Sans Frontières Since early 2003, the people of Darfur have endured a vicious campaign of violence, which has forced almost 2 million people to flee from their destroyed villages in search of safety. Rape against women children and men has sadly been a constant factor in this violence throughout this campaign of terror. The stories of rape survivors give a horrific illustration of the daily reality of people in Darfur and especially of women and young girls, the primary victims of this form of violence. Rape, a feature of the attacks on their villages, has now followed them insidiously into their places of refuge. Families, in order to sustain themselves, have to continue collecting wood, fetching water or working their fields. In doing so, women have to make a terrible choice, putting themselves or their children at the risk of rape, beatings or death as soon as they are outside the camps, towns or villages. Rape has serious consequences for womens’ health and well-being, especially without adequate access to health care and general proper attention. Between October 2004 and the first half of February 2005, doctors from MSF treated almost 500 rape victims in Darfur. Given the great sense of shame, humiliation and fear felt by victims of sexual violence, a sense which discourages them from going to a health facility to receive treatment, MSF strongly believes that the numbers recorded are only a partial representation of the real number of victims. Continue reading More on Sudan and Gender and Security CHILD SOLDIERS Recruitment of Ex-Child Soldiers in Cote d’Ivoire Human Rights Watch Liberians interviewed by Human Rights Watch in towns and villages close to the Ivorian border described two periods of intense recruitment: in October, just prior to an Ivorian government offensive against the rebel-held north, and in the beginning of March, in anticipation—according to their reports—of future attacks on rebel-held positions. All four mid-level commanders and one of the children said they were actively involved in recruiting other Liberians, most of whom had fought in the recently ended Liberian civil war (1999-2003). They said numerous Liberian children who had not previously fought in any war had also been recruited and recently crossed into Côte d’Ivoire to fight. According to their reports, the Liberians are being recruited from the south-eastern counties of Grand Gedeh, River Gee, and Maryland – areas which border government controlled areas of Côte d’Ivoire. Continue reading More on Liberia, Ivory Coast and Children and Armed Conflict GOVERNANCE Nepal: The Rule of Law Abandoned International Commission of Jurists Nepal is in the midst of a dire human rights and rule of law crisis that requires urgent action by the authorities in Nepal and the international community. By assuming direct power on 1 February 2005, suspending almost all rights in a new state of emergency and removing most of the last democratic checks and balances on the Army, King Gyanendra has effectively decreed an end to the rule of law in Nepal. The King’s far-reaching action has added a new layer of human rights violations to the existing patterns of gross and systematic violations suffered by the Nepali people at the hands of both the government security forces and the Maoist insurgents. Continue reading More on Nepal and Governance and Security HEALTH AND DISPLACEMENT Falling Behind: A Brief on the Living Conditions of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon Fafo Fafo, in cooperation with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in Damascus and with economic support from the Government of Norway, carried out a living conditions survey of 4,000 households in Lebanon in 1999–2001. The subsequent Fafo report, Difficult Past, Uncertain Future, documented the situation of Palestinian refugees with respect to demography, health, education, employment, economic resources, and people’s social networks. Summarizing and building on some of the key findings from Difficult Past, this report contrasts the situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon with that of Palestinian refugees residing in Syria, Jordan, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and draws comparisons between the refugee and non-refugee populations of these countries and Lebanon. Continue reading More on Lebanon, Health and Security and Refugees and Internally Displaced People HUMAN RIGHTS Worse Than a War: “Disappearances” in Chechnya: A Crime Against Humanity Human Rights Watch With “disappearances” continuing on a wide scale in Chechnya, the practice has now reached the level of a crime against humanity, Human Rights Watch said on March 21. This 57-page briefing paper documents several dozen new cases of “disappearances” based on Human Rights Watch’s recent research mission to Chechnya. Most occurred in the past months, as the Russian government claimed to the international community that the situation in Chechnya was steadily normalizing. Local human rights groups estimate that between 3,000 and 5,000 people have “disappeared” since the beginning of the conflict in 1999. Russian governmental statistics put the figure at 2,090 persons. All of these people are either civilians or otherwise unarmed when taken into custody. Russian authorities deny all responsibility for their fate or whereabouts. Continue reading More on Russia and Human Rights ARMED CONFLICT Conflict Barometer 2004 Heidelberg Institute on International Conflict Research In its databank Cosimo, the Heidelberg Institute on International Conflict Research (HIIK) records information on political conflicts between 1945 and today. Since 2003, it has been working with a relational databank system, completely reconsidering, updating, and extending the dataset of Cosimo 1.3. At present, Cosimo 2.0 includes information on more than 500 conflicts with over 2,500 phases. By the systematic recording of single conflict measures, the new conceptual design enables a detailed description of the conflict development in violent and non-violent phases. In addition, the databank includes extensive annual structural data on state and non-state actors. The research results are periodically published in the yearly Conflict-Barometer. Continue reading More on Armed Conflict Compiled by Robert Hartfiel Human Security Research is produced by the Human Security Centre at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC. The Human Security Centre produces the annual Human Security Report and is funded by the governments of Canada, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. For more information on human security visit the Human Security Gateway, an online research and information database that contains a broad range of human security-related resources. 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