• INTERNATIONAL LAW: The Effects of Transitional Justice Mechanisms • CONFLICT RESOLUTION: Peace Without Justice? The Helsinki Peace Process In Aceh • ARMED GROUPS: Informal Networks and Insurgency in Iraq • GENDER: The State of Female Youth in Northern Uganda • HEALTH: Health and Civil War in Rural Burundi • RESOURCES: Sudan's Oil Industry: Facts and Analysis • SMALL ARMS: Report of the United Nations Secretary General on Small Arms • INTERNATIONAL LAW: Handbook on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon • DISPLACEMENT: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2007 • DATA: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators of Violence • CHILDREN: Children and the Escalating Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka • INT'L ORGANIZATIONS: A Strategic Review of the Peacebuilding Commission INTERNATIONAL LAW The Effects of Transitional Justice Mechanisms: A Summary of Empirical Research Findings and Implications for Analysts and Practitioners Centre for International Policy Studies The last two decades have witnessed a remarkable proliferation of “transitional justice” (TJ) processes in post-conflict and post-authoritarian societies. TJ mechanisms include trials and other judicial proceedings against individuals alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights; truth commissions designed to establish a factual historical record of past wrongdoing; reparations to victims of past abuses; and vetting of individuals to determine if their past activities or affiliations render them ineligible for public office, law enforcement or other key roles. There is also a mounting debate over the desirability and effectiveness of TJ as a means of consolidating peace, promoting human rights and democracy, and healing the effects of past wrongs. TJ proponents, on the one hand, argue that some form of transitional justice is beneficial for a transitioning society’s emergence from war or authoritarianism. TJ sceptics, by contrast, argue that the pursuit of TJ can itself undermine prospects for peace or negotiated transitions from authoritarianism. These debates are now particularly contentious with regard to Afghanistan, Northern Uganda, and East Timor. Continue Reading More on International Law, Justice and Accountability CONFLICT RESOLUTION Peace Without Justice? The Helsinki Peace Process In Aceh Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue The peace process in Aceh has been lauded as a great success, both internationally and within Indonesia. And so it is. Coming in the wake of the cataclysmic Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, the mediators and the conflict parties pulled off what many observers had previously considered to be a virtual impossibility: a sustained end to armed hostilities. In just over six months, former President Ahtisaari of Finland succeeded in convincing the two sides to agree to a comprehensive peace settlement, the Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed in August 2005. At the heart of the agreement was acceptance by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), of expanded autonomy for Aceh within Indonesia. For its part, theGovernment of Indonesia (GoI) made concessions on matters including the formation of local political parties and security arrangements in Aceh. In short order, an Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) sponsored by the European Union (EU), with support from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), deployed to Aceh, former GAM fighters disarmed, their weapons were destroyed, and government troop levels in the territory were reduced. Continue reading More on Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking ARMED GROUPS Informal Networks and Insurgency in Iraq Conflict Studies Research Centre Informal networks are present at all levels in Iraq and they also exert their influence internationally. Stopping the activities of various militias would not put an end to the activity of informal networks in the country. Informal political and religious networks are deeply embedded within the fabric of Iraqi society. Despite the influence of sectarianism on Iraqi politics, various informal networks have employed sectarianism as a means of furthering their political and policy interests. Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that even drastic solutions such as partitioning the country will bring the insurgency to an end. Cross-sectarian political alliances and intra-sectarian conflicts indicate that politics takes precedence over ideology. Continue reading More on Armies, Paramilitaries and Non-state Armed Groups GENDER The State of Female Youth in Northern Uganda: Findings from the Survey of War Affected Youth Feinstein International Center Youth have been both the primary victims and the primary actors in the twenty-two year war between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army. It was not clear, however, exactly who is suffering, how much, and in what ways. For instance, researchers knew little about the experience of youth: what is the magnitude, incidence, and nature of the violence, trauma, and suffering of youth in northern Uganda? An understanding of the effects of war on women and girls was particularly lacking, whether they were abducted or affected by the violence in other ways. Government, UN, and NGO officials admit a lack of field-based information on the scale of the problems facing young women or the proportion of females facing specific vulnerabilities. As a result, programming is based on rough measures of well-being, immediate and observable needs, and possibly erroneous assumptions about the types of assistance required and the appropriate beneficiary population. Not surprisingly, the targeting of services has been crude. Continue reading More on Gender and Security HEALTH Health and Civil War in Rural Burundi MICROCON The authors combine household survey data with event data on the timing and location of armed conflicts to examine the impact of Burundi’s civil war on children’s health status. The identification strategy exploits exogenous variation in the war’s timing across provinces and the exposure of children’s birth cohorts to the fighting. The empirical results show that exposure to war during early childhood significantly affects children’s health outcomes and the longer the exposure, the larger the impact. The negatively impacted health status of Burundian children could lead to adverse welfare effects in the longrun. Recent research has shown that chronic malnutrition during childhood (measured by height for age) is associated with substantially less schooling during adolescence, worse adult health, and lower adult productivity. Hence, it is likely that the civil war, by negatively affecting child health, will reduce the future welfare levels of these children. Foregone schooling due to the Burundi civil war will translate into a 20.5 percent reduction in expected adult wages. Continue reading More on Health and Security RESOURCES Sudan's Oil Industry: Facts and Analysis, April 2008 Fatal Transactions In January 2005 the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan ended Africa’s longest civil war. This is a tremendous achievement. But the peace is fragile and doesn’t encompass the entire country. Politically, the country remains divided and violence is still part of daily life in many areas, foremost in Darfur, but also in Kordofan. Deadly incidents continue to occur regularly in the South. Oil is a principal factor in Sudanese politics. It is the government’s main source of income and the oil sector is driving economic growth. Meanwhile, the oil industry is poorly managed and highly politicized. Rather than contributing to an environment of peace and equitable development, it remains a source of strife and division. This dossier takes stock of Sudan’s economy, its oil industry, and the status of oil-related CPA provisions. It is written by IKV Pax Christi, as part of the Fatal Transactions campaign, in cooperation with the ECOS network. Continue reading More on Natural Resources and Armed Conflict SMALL ARMS Report of the United Nations Secretary General on Small Arms (S/2008/258) United Nations Most present-day conflicts are fought primarily with small arms and light weapons. Such weapons are broadly used in inter-State conflict, and are the weapons of choice in civil wars and for terrorism, organized crime and gang warfare. The dividing lines between underdevelopment, instability, fragility, crisis, conflict and war are becoming increasingly blurred; contemporary conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding therefore require multidimensional responses. The present report discusses various aspects of the issue of small arms, with an emphasis on the negative impact that illicit small arms have on security, human rights and social and economic development, in particular in areas of crisis and in post-conflict situations. It analyses global instruments of relevance in stemming the uncontrolled proliferation of small arms, including the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects. Continue reading More on Small Arms, Light Weapons and Landmines INTERNATIONAL LAW Handbook on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon International Center for Transitional Justice The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is an internationalized court that will sit in the Netherlands and seek accountability for a specific set of crimes in Lebanon. Based on negotiations between Lebanon and the United Nations but ultimately decided by the UN Security Council, the Tribunal’s creation is a major innovation in Lebanese and regional traditions of justice. It is also similar to, but quite different from, many of the international and mixed tribunals that have been established recently, including the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The establishment of the STL raises many questions. What are the similarities and differences to other tribunals? What is their practical importance? How will proceedings work? What role can media and civil society groups play? This handbook is designed to help answer these questions and many more. Based on publicly available information and the expertise of the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) this handbook is intended to be a source of clear and accessible information about the Tribunal for anyone who is interested, in particular civil society and media groups. Continue reading More on International Law, Justice and Accountability DISPLACEMENT Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2007 Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre The Global Overview provides a comprehensive review of the internal displacement situation in 2007, based on the information gathered in the IDMC database. In 2007, the total number of conflict-induced internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide rose by a million to the staggering total of 26 million, the highest figure since the early 1990s. Many new displacements were caused by long-standing conflicts such as in Darfur, Iraq, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sri Lanka and Colombia. These 26 million IDPs were among the most vulnerable people in the world, and their enjoyment of basic human rights was systematically blocked. Even in areas recovering from conflict, such as northern Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire or Aceh in Indonesia, durable solutions to internal displacement still seemed far off. Despite considerable progress made in recent years in raising the awareness of internal displacement and IDPs’ protection and assistance needs, significant information gaps remained on the size, composition and needs of displaced populations. In many countries where such information gaps existed, governments were unwilling either to assist and protect their IDPs themselves, or to let international humanitarian agencies get on with the job. In other words, these IDPs were denied all sources of relief and protection. Continue reading More on Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons DATA Safety and Security: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators of Violence Centre for Research on Inequality Human Security and Ethnicity One of the greatest impediments to human security in the post-Cold War era is not interstate wars resulting in mass destruction fought by the armed forces of nation states, but violence, perpetrated by individuals, groups, and state actors within the internal borders of nations. Violence, resulting from everyday crime, large-scale communal conflicts and insurgencies, or through state repression can and does undo the development gains achieved in education, health, employment, capital generation and infrastructure provision. Violence is a public health problem, a human rights problem, a community problem, and a problem for the state and the international community. It impedes human freedom to live safely and securely and can sustain poverty traps in many communities. However, violence is not always an inevitable part of human interaction. Many multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and poor peoples manage human interaction and channel conflict and the propensity for violence in peaceful ways. Continue reading More on Human Security: Concept and Critique CHILDREN No Safety No Escape: Children and the Escalating Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict Sri Lanka’s children have been embroiled in a brutal armed conflict which has killed more than 67,000 civilians in the last two decades and caused untold suffering among the Sri Lankan population. Gross human rights violations committed by Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) forces, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and armed breakaway groups, like the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP)/ Karuna faction, have created a climate of constant fear and insecurity throughout the country. Children throughout Sri Lanka face a broad spectrum of violations against their security and rights, perpetrated by various armed forces and groups. In this report, Watchlist illustrates this situation and provides practical recommendations for urgent actions needed to protect Sri Lankan children. Continue reading More on Children and Armed Conflict INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Taking Stock, Looking Forward: A Strategic Review of the Peacebuilding Commission International Peace Research Institute // Center on International Cooperation Following the completion of its year as a member of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), and against the backdrop of Denmark's extensive role along with Tanzania in negotiating the establishment of the PBC, the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN commissioned the CIC/IPI Joint Program on Peacebuilding as Statebuilding to undertake a strategic review of the body’s performance. The purpose of this document is to take stock and to look forward. The PBC is a young body still finding its feet. The authors use as a framework for assessment the notion that three years is a credible timespan within which a new intergovernmental body should be fully functional. Thus, this report serves as a stocktaking, assessing progress to date by the PBC and making suggestions about how to continue to enhance its impact. To this end the authors interviewed senior officials of all PBC member countries, as well as UN and other stakeholders in New York, Burundi, and Sierra Leone. Continue reading More on International and Regional Organizations Human Security Research is produced by the Human Security Report Project at the School for International Studies at Simon Fraser University. The Human Security Report Project is funded by the governments of Canada, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. 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