• GOVERNANCE:Transitional Governance: From Bullets to Ballots • POST-CONFLICT: Aid, Policies and Risk in Post-Conflict Societies • INT'L ORGANIZATIONS: The Creation of Multi-Ethnic Police Forces in the Balkans • FOREIGN POLICY: A Human Security Agenda for the European Union? • GENDER: Beyond Victimhood: Women’s Peacebuilding in Sudan, Congo and Uganda • ARMED GROUPS: Engagement of Armed Groups in Peace Processes • HEALTH: Angola: The Human Impact of War 1999-2005 • DISPLACEMENT: 2005 Global Refugee Trends • DEVELOPMENT: The Reality of Aid 2006: Conflict, Security and Development • PEACE OPERATIONS: No Peace to Keep: Canadian Forces in Southern Afghanistan • CHILDREN: After the 'Storm': Economic Activities Among Returning Youths • RESOURCES: The Western Sahara Conflict: Natural Resources and Decolonization GOVERNANCE Transitional Governance: From Bullets to Ballots United States Institute of Peace Effective transitional governance is one of the most formidable challenges facing reconstruction and stabilization missions in war-torn, failed states. Peace can be sustained only when power is attained through political rather than violent means and when government institutions are legitimate. Despite numerous interventions around the world, establishing governance has too often been an elusive goal or an ephemeral achievement. Attaining this objective can involve prolonging the intervention, as was done in Bosnia, or repeating the intervention, as was done in Haiti. When the objective to establish governance fails, the entire mission may collapse, as it did in Somalia. By attending to the governance lessons from the past decade and a half, intervenors can identify and incorporate best practices into the planning and conduct of interventions to help societies move from bullets to ballots effectively and expeditiously. There is no one-size-fits-all formula for establishing governance in states emerging from conflict. The environment international intervenors inherit when mounting reconstruction and stabilization missions will differ widely in scope and scale from state to state. The quality of the peace settlement that permits the mission to operate, including the presence or absence of fundamental power-sharing agreements, can lay the foundation for success or failure. Even with adequate peace settlements, some states lack any semblance of functioning government institutions and have no tradition of civil participation in governance. Other states offer the workable remains of past government institutions and have vibrant civil societies. Continue Reading More on Governance and Security POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION Aid, Policies and Risk in Post-Conflict Societies Centre for the Study of African Economies Post-conflict societies face two distinctive challenges: economic recovery and risk reduction. Conflict will usually have severely damaged the economy. In a companion paper (Collier and Hoeffler, 2004), we studied the post-conflict economic recovery. We showed that although the post-conflict period is an opportunity for a phase of abnormally rapid growth, this is dependent upon both external assistance and domestic policy choices. In this paper we study the other challenge, risk reduction. The post-conflict peace is typically fragile: around half of all civil wars are due to post-conflict relapses (Collier et al. 2003). Both external actors and the post-conflict government must therefore give priority to reducing the risk of conflict. The two objectives of economic recovery and risk reduction are likely to be complementary: economic recovery may reduce risks, and risk reduction may speed recovery. However, this complementary between objectives does not imply coincidence of instruments: the instruments that are effective for risk reduction may be quite distinct from those for economic recovery. Continue reading More on Peace Operations and Post-Conflict Reconstruction INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS The OSCE and the Creation of Multi-Ethnic Police Forces in the Balkans Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy The police components of international post-conflict peace-building missions, which deal with peace consolidation after the resolution of violent intra-state conflicts, are of increasing importance. A prime feature of intra-state conflicts is the challenging of the states’ “internal sovereignty” by domestic actors (sometimes supported by external ones), who call into question the legitimacy of the state’s monopoly of force. If this monopoly is challenged and the state is no longer able to provide “security, law and a reasonable amount of order” for all citizens, intra-state security dilemmas arise. If citizens or groups believe that potential rivals will not be restrained by state authority, they will take security into their own hands by arming themselves, thus initiating an “intra-state arms race”. In order to re-establish the state’s legitimate monopoly of force, which, according to Senghaas, is “of paramount importance for any modern peace order” and to secure a sustainable peace process, citizens must be disarmed, the parties to the conflict demobilized and demilitarized, and the armed forces reconstituted. In addition, it is particularly important to reform or even completely restructure the domestic police forces. After the international police have withdrawn, the (re-)established democratic police services must have both the ability and the will to prevent human rights violations, protect democratic institutions and resolutely fight corruption, organized crime and terrorism. The ability to provide public security for all population groups is a basic precondition for the socio-economic stabilization of crisis regions. Continue reading More on International and Regional Organizations FOREIGN POLICY A Human Security Agenda for the EU? European Policy Centre This Issue Paper explores some of the most effective UN human security initiatives and some of the more mature human security programmes introduced by the foreign ministries of Canada, Japan and Switzerland. These provide examples of how a well-defined, limited-focus concept of human security could help steer the EU’s external relations policy in future. The hiatus created by the stillborn Constitutional Treaty and the lack of innovative proposals for making progress in its absence has reinforced the need for a new EU initiative to extend and consolidate its foreign policy mechanisms. Human security touches on areas for possible multilateral cooperation where the EU is uniquely placed among international organisations to add value. This paper provides a short history of the concept of human security and attempts to provide a more workable definition of the term for policy purposes. It examines the case for formulating an EU human security agenda, explores existing Union initiatives in this field and considers the institutional constraints the EU faces. Finally, it argues that since the Union is already doing a great deal of fruitful work in this area, it does not need to re-invent the wheel. However, it also demonstrates how a human security agenda could benefit the EU by improving the coordination and focus of its external relations policies. Continue reading More on International and Regional Organizations GENDER Beyond Victimhood: Women’s Peacebuilding in Sudan, Congo and Uganda Crisis Group Peacebuilding cannot succeed if half the population is excluded from the process. Crisis Group’s research in Sudan, Congo (DRC) and Uganda suggests that peace agreements, post-conflict reconstruction, and governance do better when women are involved. The scale of discrimination and violence against women in each armed conflict – and the impunity with which it continues to be committed – remain the central obstacles to expanding the good work being done by women peacebuilders. The international community speaks a great deal about including women in formal peace-making processes and recognising their peacebuilding contributions but fails to do so in a systematic, meaningful way. Advances have been made in understanding the links between gender, development, human rights, peace, security and justice. Women make a difference, in part because they adopt a more inclusive approach toward security and address key social and economic issues that would otherwise be ignored. But in all three countries, as different as each is, they remain marginalised in formal processes and under-represented in the security sector as a whole. Governments and the international community must do much more to support women peace activists. Continue reading More on Gender and Security ARMED GROUPS Engagement of Armed Groups in Peace Processes Wilton Park // Conciliation Resources Non-state armed groups are central figures in many of the world’s conflicts. Their objectives and use of violence spark deep controversy about appropriate responses to their actions, particularly in the context of the ‘war on terror’. Despite this, over the last two decades armed groups have participated in peace processes on every continent. They have engaged with state actors, civil society groups, foreign governments and multi-lateral organisations. The conference considered accumulated experience, examined the complex issues involved and charted challenges to be addressed in current and future efforts towards durable settlements to armed conflict. It is acknowledged that effective engagement with armed groups is not an easy task nor is it guaranteed to result in a positive outcome, however, principled and strategic engagement should be actively considered as an appropriate strategy in situations of armed conflict. There are opportunities and challenges in upholding human rights standards or promoting humanitarian space through engagement with armed groups. The role of international mediators in peace processes involving armed groups, as well as the possibilities created by community-based engagement initiatives, merit attention. Continue reading More on Armies, Paramilitaries, Non-State Armed Groups HEALTH Angola: The Human Impact of War Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters The effects of armed conflicts on mortality fall into one of two categories: direct and indirect. By direct mortality we mean those violent deaths caused by military operations among both soldiers and civilians, often called battle deaths. The loss of life caused by armed conflicts does not stop there. In fact, much more death and misery is inflicted on civil populations by indirect means. Those collateral effects of conflict are commonly known as “indirect” or “excess” mortality. They account for those non-violent deaths among civil populations that would not have occurred without the conflict. Over the last decades, indirect deaths have greatly outnumbered direct battle-deaths in most conflicts. The main causes of those indirect deaths include economic collapse, food shortages and malnutrition, the disruption of health systems, mass population movements to overcrowded settlements, and the stretching of public safety systems due to long conflicts. In this document, we will analyze the human impact that the Angolan conflict has had on the civilian population in terms of mortality and malnutrition. Special attention will be paid to the differences in impact over time and according to the legal status of the population affected; residents, Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees. At the same time, we will assess the extent to which the Angolan conflict has caused an excess mortality and look into the main causes of this excess. Continue reading More on Health and Security DISPLACEMENT 2005 Global Refugee Trends United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees While the number of refugees worldwide has reached a 26-year low, UNHCR's annual global count of uprooted people rose last year to nearly 21 million, according to a report released on Friday. The "2005 Global Refugee Trends" survey attributed the rise to the refugee agency's expanding role in caring for the world's internally displaced people (IDPs). The annual report said that while the number of refugees dropped from 9.5 million in 2004 to 8.4 million last year, the overall number of concern to the agency increased by 1.3 million – from 19.5 million to 20.8 million. Much of the increase is due to a rise in the number of people living in refugee-like situations within their own countries. UNHCR now counts 6.6 million conflict-generated internally displaced people in 16 countries as being "of concern," compared to 5.4 million in 13 countries at the end of 2004. The report said 2005 was the fifth straight year in which the global population of refugees declined. The largest drops (19 percent) were recorded in West Africa and in the so-called CASWANAME region (Central Asia, South-West Asia, North Africa, Middle East). But the two regions still host about two-thirds of the world's refugees. Continue reading More on Refugees and Internally Displaced People DEVELOPMENT The Reality of Aid 2006: Focus on Conflict, Security and Development Cooperation Reality of Aid Aid and diplomatic and military interventions today are deeply influenced by their strategic value in the “war on terrorism”. Donor interest in many of the so-called “failed and fragile states” is seen through the prism of the potential threat of the latter to Northern security interests. With the declaration of “a war on terror” by the United States and its allies in 2001, peace operations have been sidelined by aggressive military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq. These wars have been accompanied by a global effort to strengthen security sectors, sometimes with aid resources, whose purpose is to seek out and eliminate the threat of “terrorists” - with profound consequences for the rights of poor and marginalized people. The Reality of Aid 2006 Global Report takes on the issues of security, conflict and the war on terror and present life-and-death challenges vis-à-vis development cooperation. With reports from 20 OECD countries, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific, and graphs illustrating major trends in global aid, the Reality of Aid 2006 Global Report provides a unique commentary on the state of development cooperation. Continue reading More on Development and Security PEACE OPERATIONS Canada in Kandahar: No Peace to Keep - A Case Study of the Military Coalitions in Southern Afghanistan Senlis Council Canadian troops and Afghan civilians are paying with their lives for Canada's adherence to the US government's failing military and counter-narcotics policies in Kandahar. The US-led counter-terrorist operations and militaristic poppy eradication strategies have triggered a new war with the Taliban and other insurgent groups, and are causing countless civilian deaths. To a large extent, it can be said that Operation Enduring Freedom and the related militaristic counter-narcotics policies are significant contributors to the current state of war in Kandahar and the other southern provinces. Canada and the international community continue to unquestioningly accept America's fundamentally flawed policy approach in southern Afghanistan, thereby jeopardising the success of military operations in the region and the stabilisation, reconstruction and development mission objectives. Continue reading More on Peace Operations and Post-Conflict Reconstruction CHILDREN After the 'Storm': Economic Activities Among Returning Youths-The Case of Voinjama Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies Fourteen years of nearly relentless war in Liberai came to an end in August 2003 when President Charles Taylor left Monrovia for exile in Nigeria. The consequences of the war have been devastating. Both the economy and infrastructure were destroyed. Those not part of a military faction became prey to the various militias and rebel armies that roamed the country. Many were forced to leave their home communities, ending up as either internally displaced persons (IDPs) or refugess in neighbouring countries. During the second part of the Liberian civil war (1999-2003), when the rebel groups Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) marched towards Monrovia from, respectively, the northern and the southern parts of the country, they pushed a good part of the civilian population in front of them. Huge IDP camps were therefore established around Monrovia, Buchanan, Gbargna, Zwedru, and other larger towns. At the time, around 315,000 people were officially recognized as IDPs, in addition to the approximately 105,000 registered as refugees in neighbouring countries. The actual numbers were probably much higher. Many have returned, but others have not, and still live as refugess or IDPs. Continue reading More on Children and Armed Conflict RESOURCES The Western Sahara Conflict: The Role Of Natural Resources In Decolonization Nordic Africa Institute This book gives a comprehensive background to the long running conflict on the status of Western Sahara and particularly highlights the question of the territory’s natural resources, such as fish, oil and phosphates. The book analyses why this territory, mainly covered by desert and only sparsely populated has since 1976 when the former colonial power Spain left the territory, engaged governments and people, both regionally and internationally, and the implications of its natural resources. The book includes: - a summary of the Western Saharan conflict, by Pedro Pinte Leite, specialist in international law in the Netherlands; - an up-to-date picture of the situation in Western Sahara with regard to natural resources, and the way in which exploitation is taking place, by Toby Shelley, a British journalist; - the UN’s legal opinion from 2002 on exploitation of the natural resources of a Non-Self-Governing Territory written by Hans Corell, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, the Legal Counsel. Two political views of the conflict are also included. Magnus Schöldtz and Pål Wrange from the Swedish Foreign Ministry elucidate the Swedish Foreign Policy on the Western Sahara Conflict. A statement by Karin Scheele, MEP and President of the Intergroup on Western Sahara in the European Parliament focuses on the economic interests of the parties involved in the conflict. Continue reading More on Natural Resources and 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. To subscribe to Human Security Research , send an email to hsc.list@ubc.ca with 'subscribe HS Research' in the subject field or click here. To unsubscribe, please reply to this message with 'unsubscribe HS Research' in the subject heading. |
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