December 14, 2012
Refugees International

Abstract:

Since hard-line Islamist groups took control of northern Mali earlier this year, regional and international attention has focused on plans for an African-led military force to drive out the insurgents. But this focus has distracted from the unmet and growing needs of displaced Malians, the majority of whom have fled to the country's south. Although easily accessible, they have received only limited assistance to date. With both the civilian government and the Malian army in a state of disarray, it will take time to get the political process on track and the army in shape to retake the north. In the meantime, meeting the needs of those displaced in the south must be prioritized. In addition, given the likelihood of a further deterioration of humanitarian conditions in both the north and south, coordination of the humanitarian response must be improved and far more emphasis must be placed on ensuring that well-developed and resourced humanitarian contingency plans are in place and ready for implementation....

December 13, 2012
The Institute for National Security Studies

Abstract:

This brief discusses two issues regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the request of the Palestinian Authority to become a non-member state of the UN and a speech by President Abbas at the occasion of the anniversary of Yassir Arafat's death. The authors discuss the possible future consequences of the request, analyze Abbas' remarks and give recommendations as to how Israel should deal with the Palestinian request.

December 13, 2012
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs)

Abstract:

The armed conflict in Syria has accelerated in recent months. Both regime and rebels see themselves in a fight for survival that leaves no room for compromise. External supporters of both sides treat the conflict as a zero-sum game with far-reaching and, for some actors existential, consequences for their own strategic positions, and are therefore determined to prevent any outcome they would regard as disadvantageous. Their diplomatic, financial and in some cases military support fans the flames of conflict and strengthens the hand of hardliners on both sides. For the foreseeable future, there is good reason to expect that the conflict will be neither resolved politically nor won militarily. The priority for Europeans should be to stem the violence and support inclusive civilian structures; the latter could contribute to improving living conditions at the local level and counteracting radical and centrifugal tendencies....

December 13, 2012
The Enough Project

Abstract:

The situation in eastern Congo continues to deteriorate, threatening to spiral out of control into an all-out war involving several neighboring countries. Throughout the latest explosion and previous cycles of conflict, the root causes of war are not being and have not been addressed, leaving “peace processes” to focus on flimsy power-sharing arrangements that have undermined the sovereignty of the Congolese state and the professionalism of its armed forces.

Against this bleak backdrop, the momentum for a broader peace initiative should be building. Sadly, however, it is not. Global leaders from U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to U. N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have met with Congolese President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in recent months urging constructive negotiations. Talks chaired by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni now involve direct dialogue between the Congolese government and the M23 rebels, but the process has not been productive. To date, regionally mediated talks have only focused on short-term security issues such as border verification and the composition of a “neutral force” to eliminate rebel groups.

With a very tense restart, the latest round of talks in Kampala will likely only focus on restoring the provisions of the March 23, 2009 agreements, instead of the wider underlying issues. The bottom line is that no vision has been advanced or even conceived for a lasting solution that would keep neighboring countries from invading again and address core concerns of the broader population of eastern Congo. In short, as politics have become completely militarized, peace initiatives have become yet another forum for regional combatants with the biggest guns to secure short-term interests and manipulate international sentiment....

December 12, 2012
Human Rights Watch

Abstract:

This 39-page report is based on five research missions to the hard-to-access rebel-held areas in the two states and to refugee camps in South Sudan. It documents the government’s indiscriminate bombing and other attacks on civilians since conflict between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) broke out in June 2011 in Southern Kordofan following disputed state elections. The report also describes the effect of Sudan’s refusal to allow humanitarian assistance into rebel-held areas. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced inside the two states, surviving on very little, while more than 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 18, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Since 2001, violence has erupted in Jos city, capital of Plateau state, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region. The ostensible dispute is over the “rights” of the indigene Berom/Anaguta/Afizere (BAA) group and the rival claims of the Hausa-Fulani settlers to land, power and resources. Indigene-settler conflicts are not new to Nigeria, but the country is currently experiencing widespread intercommunal strife, which particularly affects the Middle Belt. The Jos crisis is the result of failure to amend the constitution to privilege broad-based citizenship over exclusive indigene status and ensure that residency rather than indigeneity determines citizens’ rights. Constitutional change is an important step to defuse indigene-settler rivalries that continue to undermine security. It must be accompanied by immediate steps to identify and prosecute perpetrators of violence, in Jos and other parts of the country. Elites at local, state and federal level must also consistently implement policies aimed at reducing the dangerous link between ethnic belonging and access to resources, power and security if intercommunal violence is to end.

The indigene principle, or indigeneity (that is, local origin), means that some groups control power and resources in states or local government areas (LGAs) while others – who have migrated for different reasons – are excluded. This gives rise both to grievances and fierce political competition, which too often lead to violence. Indigeneity was given constitutional force at independence in 1960 to protect the ethnic minorities from being submerged by the larger Hausa-Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba groups and preserve their cultural and political identity and traditional institutions of governance. Religion is a pertinent, albeit secondary factor, which reinforces underlying tension and, over the years, has assumed greater importance, especially since the return of democracy in May 1999. Fierce and unregulated political competition characterised by ethnic mobilisation and violence, coupled with poor governance, economic deregulation and rampant corruption, have severely exacerbated ethnic, religious and regional fault lines. The notion of national citizenship appears to have been abrogated by both ethnicity and ancestry....

December 18, 2012
STRATFOR

Abstract:

On Nov. 25, Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group from northern Nigeria, attacked a church in Jaji, Kaduna state, using two suicide bombers during the church's weekly religious service. The first bomb detonated in a vehicle driven into the church, and the second detonated approximately 10 minutes later, when a crowd of first responders gathered at the scene. About 30 people were killed in the attacks; the second blast caused the majority of the deaths. The incident was particularly symbolic because Jaji is the home of Nigeria's Armed Forces Command and Staff College, and many of the churchgoers were senior military officers.

In the wake of the Jaji attacks, media reports quoted human rights groups saying that Boko Haram has killed more people in 2012 than ever before. The group has killed roughly 770 people this year, leading many to conclude that Boko Haram has become more dangerous....

December 14, 2012
Amnesty International

Abstract:

After a decade of insurgency, Pakistan’s Tribal areas remain in a state of crisis. In these areas, the courts are barred from upholding the fundamental rights protections guaranteed under Pakistan’s constitution. This has allowed state and non-state actors to commit violations and abuses with impunity. As shown in this report, rather than investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of these abuses, the authorities have given sweeping powers of arrest and detention to the armed forces, cementing the culture of impunity....

December 14, 2012
Human Rights Watch

Abstract:

The 60-page report documents the experiences of dozens of rights defenders, journalists and bloggers, and lawyers whom security and intelligence forces targeted because they spoke out against the government. Some who took part in anti-government protests after the 2009 election had never been politically active before, but suddenly found themselves in the crosshairs of security and intelligence forces. Many Iranian refugees and asylum seekers interviewed by Human Rights Watch described difficult conditions and long processing times for their asylum applications during their stay in Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan....

December 7, 2012
Feinstein International Center // Tufts University

Abstract:

The Afghan crisis, now well into its fourth decade, has many layers. The military and political dimensions of the crisis grab the headlines. But the structural violence and poor governance that underpin it—grinding poverty, rampant abuse of power, criminalized economy, parlous condition of women and girls, poor access to health and other services—receives much less attention.

This report focuses on the lives and vulnerabilities of those affected by the crisis and on the attempts by local and international agencies to mitigate these vulnerabilities within the fraught and volatile Afghan context. It presents an analysis of the humanitarian situation on the ground and of the challenges and constraints faced by the humanitarian community in a fast-moving environment. Its conclusions point to urgent changes required to improve the response to a severe and deepening humanitarian crisis and to protect humanitarian agencies, to the extent possible, from overt politicization and manipulation.

In the context of the so-called “transition”— that is, the significant reduction of foreign troops and probable decrease in aid and international engagement in Afghanistan—it is important to take stock of the humanitarian situation and to review how humanitarian agencies are preparing for a future that is bound to be of great uncertainty and that might well result in an escalation of conflict, lawlessness, displacement, and humanitarian need....

December 7, 2012
Save the Children

Abstract:

Social and economic development policies in Africa are ignoring the demographic realities of an increasing number of children living in poverty in urban slums with devastating impacts. The report is based on interviews, focus groups and other research with more than 1,000 children, parents and other community and national stakeholders in seven cities in six African countries including Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

"Already about 200 million children live in Africa’s urban areas, and an increasing number are left vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and disease as populations move from rural to urban areas with little or no access to basic services," said Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children. "We are calling for increased commitment and targeted investment in partnerships and programs aimed at African children living in urban areas, particularly those most vulnerable."...

December 6, 2012
EURAC // African Association for the defence of Human Rights // Invisible Children // Enough Project // Resolve // Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect // IKV Pax Christi

Abstract:

On June 29th 2012, the United Nations Security Council welcomed the Secretary General’s ‘Regional Strategy to address the threat and impact of the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army’ (‘UN Regional Strategy’ or ‘Strategy’).1 The Strategy was well received by local and international civil society organizations as an ambitious framework with the elements of a comprehensive response. Then, as now, the message was clear – if fully implemented, the Strategy could resolve this devastating 26-year conflict and pave the way for the long-term recovery of the affected region and its people.

The governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic (CAR), and Sudan bear the primary responsibility for defeating the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and protecting their populations. However, under the Strategy, United Nations (UN) departments, agencies, and offices have committed to augment their efforts, and those of the African Union (AU), by taking specific action to address the threat of the LRA. While there is a limit to how much progress can have been made in the five months since the Strategy was adopted, this report seeks to assess progress made by UN actors against the benchmarks outlined in the UN Regional Strategy....

December 5, 2012
Institute of Development Studies

Abstract:

Despite broad consensus that children are an especially vulnerable group, an adequate response to their multiple and complex needs is currently lacking in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAR). There is a need for a more comprehensive and systematic response in which referral mechanisms and case management play a crucial role; they are essential in ensuring that vulnerable children are identified, their needs correctly assessed and that they receive cross-sectoral support.

This policy brief recommends a number of ways to improve current efforts to expand referral mechanisms and case management in the region. These include achieving national policy consensus and creating accountability, establishing mandates and protocols for all actors, developing a monitoring and evaluation framework and mobilising resources....

December 4, 2012
Danish Refugee Council

Abstract:

Since December 2011, approximately 100,000 refugees have fled the State of Blue Nile (BNS) in Sudan and sought shelter in Maban County – Upper Nile State (UNS) – South Sudan as a result of aerial bombardments and armed clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudanese People Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N).

There are four main locations where the refugees are sheltered in the county: (1) in Doro camp (near the village of Bunj) there are 41,7871 individuals, (2) in Jamam camp (near the village of Jamam) there are 25,176 registered refugees, (3) in Yusuf Batil camp there are 34,112 registered refugees and (4) in the recently opened Gendrassa camp there are 4,484 individuals as of beginning of August 2012.

Sudanese refugees started to settle spontaneously in the area later to become Doro refugee camp as early as October 2011. Since then, new influxes of refugees continued to arrive up to May-June 2012 causing the camp to become more and more congested. As a result, some of these communities settled outside the camp boundaries. In May 2012 approximately 3.000 refugees were relocated from Jamam refugee camp to Doro due to increasingly precarious living conditions in Jamam - water provision much below standards, flooding and a hazardous health situation prompted UNHCR and aid agencies to decide for the relocation of part of Jamam camp....

October 12, 2012
Université de Liège // Centre d'Etude de l'Ethnicité et des Migrations

Abstract:

The aim of the presented paper is to demonstrate environmentally-induced displacement as an increasingly important category of population movement that represents a new set of challenges to the international community and to public international law as well1. There are three basic objectives that this work intends to achieve: 1) to argue in favour of distinguishing environmentally-induced displacement from the broader category of migratory movements and thereby making it a fully autonomous concept within the existing taxonomies, 2) to illustrate the diversity and inconsistency of environmentally displaced people (EDPs) theoretical concept, 3) to provide references to earlier theoretical achievements in this particular field of study. For these purposes, the paper tries to capture both the phenomenon of environmental displacement itself, and the problems of people affected by its consequences. Apart from theoretical considerations, it also examines which main factors force people to abandon their homes. Both long-term environmental hazards and short-lived natural disasters are investigated here, and it is shown how they entail significant implications for the dynamics of population mobility.

The social consequences of the environmental processes under scrutiny are one of the greatest challenges the international community will face in the coming years. Today, the effects of long-standing environmental changes seem obvious to many citizens of our planet. Desertification, increasing soil salinity, wasteful deforestation, and rising sea levels are just a few of the issues discussed below which influence everyday life for at least two hundred million people worldwide....

August 3, 2012
Foreign Military Studies Office

Abstract:

Global warming - whether anthropogenic in nature or not - according to many scientists is no longer a prediction...it's here. The forecast is for even hotter temperatures, but what is the forecast for where global warming will have its greatest impact, a continent without the resources to mitigate the effects of the temperature rise, a continent with a long history of conflict, and a continent with valuable resources including some which are critical to electronics, jet engines, and other advanced technologies of the modern world? With some predicting global warming will result in even more conflict, another important question is being asked, what are the implications of military operations as the mercury climbs in that part of the world only a few hours by plane from the United States? In other words, with global warming bumping up the temperature, what will be the potential causes of the conflicts, and if the US intervenes, what will it be like to fight there, far away...in Africa?...

July 25, 2012
Center for Strategic Leadership // United States Army War College

Abstract:

In a world that has finite resources and is increasingly experiencing high competition for these resources, the military has embraced sustainability as both a vital strategic security element and as a mission enabler. This book addresses how security organizations throughout the world are or could be approaching sustainability. Military forces must have the land, air, water, and energy/fuel to train and operate today, and into the future. How can these resources be assured, how can conflict over scarce resources be avoided and when can cooperation over resources issues be used to promote peace? Sustainability is a powerful concept being readily applied by both the business and international affairs communities. Many of the sustainable practices the military is either currently applying or seeking to institutionalize are modeled after a growing number of corporations that aim for continual improvement, to gain a competitive edge in globalized markets, and ultimately long term success. Sustainability is further providing a platform for multi-state cooperation on transnational resource issues....

July 25, 2012
Indian National Interest

Abstract:

The global debate on whether there is indeed a process of anthropogenic climate change in progress has been for the most part settled by the international scientific consensus surrounding the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] report1. The trajectory of global warming is expected to have a major impact on human society as a whole: calling for a co-ordinated international response towards mitigation and adaptation to a warmer planet.

This policy brief analyses how climate change will affect regional security in the Indian subcontinent and implications for India’s national security. It argues that glacial melt, rising sea levels and extreme weather will exacerbate ongoing conflicts and will require India to develop military capabilities to address a range of new strategic scenarios: from supporting international co-operation, to managing a ‘hot peace’, to outright military conflict....

July 24, 2012
Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research

Abstract:

In current debates about climate change, the environment is often seen as a potential cause of violent conflicts. According to this view, environmental degradation will significantly increase the stress put on various societies, particularly in so-called weak and fragile states, and thereby cause political destabilisation and violence while jeopardising national and international security. Drawing on research conducted within the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South programme, this article shows that establishing such direct causal links is simplistic and reductionist. While recognising that climate change, and especially resource scarcity, can lead to violent conflict, we argue that, when trying to understand the relationships between changes in the environment and violent conflict, it is crucial to put social and human dimensions at the centre of the analysis. Climate change may render human interaction and social regulation more difficult, but it will hardly ever directly affect the probability of violence. Climate policy will not bring about peace any more than peace policy will improve the climate. In other words, the missing link in current debates about environmental conflicts is the key role played by political, social, and cultural institutions in mediating between the two terms of the equation....

December 11, 2012
Fund for Peace

Abstract:

Not every explosion in northern Nigeria stems from the radicalism of Boko Haram. Nor is every outbreak of violence in the Niger Delta the result of militants fighting over oil revenues. Rather, violence in its different forms is an expression of a broader and deeper fabric of social, economic, political, and security challenges. Given the wrong set of underlying conditions, collective violence can spark seemingly out of nowhere, whether or not there is a formal paramilitary group active in the region. Even when such organizations do not exist, in an area with past and current episodes of insecurity, latent structures may still be there, to be crystallized at a moments notice--in the event of a political contest, land dispute, turf warfare, or chieftaincy tussle. Violence can sometimes be self-organizing. Just add water....

December 7, 2012
Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses

Abstract:

The Pakistan Project of IDSA has come up with a second report titled Pakistan on the Edge. This Report takes into account various political developments in Pakistan focusing more on the events of the last two years and analyses its impact on the nation’s nascent democracy. The Report takes a broad view of the politics, emerging political alliances, economy, foreign policy, India-Pakistan relations and civil-military relations. Two chapters of this report focus on Pakistan’s English and Urdu language print media and how it looks at the critical issues of domestic and foreign policy....

December 7, 2012
Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses

Abstract:

Since the revolution that toppled Mubarak, Sinai has become a no man's land where jihadists from Egypt and Gaza as well as local Bedouins have begun to engage in militant activities. Some Bedouin, especially those professing an extremist Islamist ideology, are well armed and have recruited other local tribesmen to co-operate with terrorists in several attacks since January 2011. The peninsula is becoming a major resistance base and may be in the process of becoming the next hotspot in an already volatile Arab world. Even in the recent conflict in Gaza, which commenced after Israel assassinated the Hamas military chief on 14 November, the role of the Sinai as a conduit for the supply of arms, rockets and missiles to fighters in Gaza has been highlighted. As Egypt and Israel are attempting to grapple with this emerging challenge, the unfolding situation is threatening to disrupt the fragile peace in the region that has prevailed since the full withdrawal of Israeli forces in 1982....

November 29, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Last week’s arrests of senior security figures for allegedly plotting a coup showed how close Sudan is to even greater violence and disintegration. Only managed but fundamental governance reform can help it escape chronic conflict and humanitarian misery. This Report explains why the “Sudan Problem” did not go away with the South’s secession last year. Civil war, driven by concentration of power and resources in the centre, continues to plague the country. The report analyses why the only solution is a more inclusive government that addresses the peripheries’ main grievances....

November 27, 2012
International Food Policy Research Institute

Abstract:

Although food security measurement has been substantially expanded in recent decades, there persists significant dissatisfaction with existing measurement systems, especially in the wake of the global food and financial crisis. In this paper we first set out a list of criteria that an ideal food security measurement system should satisfy. We then benchmark existing indicators and measurement systems against those criteria as a means of systematically identifying their relative strengths and weaknesses. Our concluding section outlines possible steps for improving food security measurement through a mixture of extension, coordination, and innovation....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 13, 2012
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs)

Abstract:

The armed conflict in Syria has accelerated in recent months. Both regime and rebels see themselves in a fight for survival that leaves no room for compromise. External supporters of both sides treat the conflict as a zero-sum game with far-reaching and, for some actors existential, consequences for their own strategic positions, and are therefore determined to prevent any outcome they would regard as disadvantageous. Their diplomatic, financial and in some cases military support fans the flames of conflict and strengthens the hand of hardliners on both sides. For the foreseeable future, there is good reason to expect that the conflict will be neither resolved politically nor won militarily. The priority for Europeans should be to stem the violence and support inclusive civilian structures; the latter could contribute to improving living conditions at the local level and counteracting radical and centrifugal tendencies....

December 13, 2012
Insight on Conflict

Abstract:

Local organisations are increasingly seen as key stakeholders in peacebuilding, but their role is a contested one, not least because of the complexities of different conflict situations around the world. One of the latest attempts to probe deeper into the peacebuilding potential of civil society is Peacebuilding Through Community-based NGOs – Paradoxes and Possibilities by Max Stephenson Jr. and Laura Zanotti of Virginia Tech. Laura and Max spoke with Insight on Conflict to share their findings. We here share a transcription of some of what they told us, and you can also listen to an audio file of the full interview....

December 13, 2012
The Enough Project

Abstract:

The situation in eastern Congo continues to deteriorate, threatening to spiral out of control into an all-out war involving several neighboring countries. Throughout the latest explosion and previous cycles of conflict, the root causes of war are not being and have not been addressed, leaving “peace processes” to focus on flimsy power-sharing arrangements that have undermined the sovereignty of the Congolese state and the professionalism of its armed forces.

Against this bleak backdrop, the momentum for a broader peace initiative should be building. Sadly, however, it is not. Global leaders from U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to U. N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have met with Congolese President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in recent months urging constructive negotiations. Talks chaired by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni now involve direct dialogue between the Congolese government and the M23 rebels, but the process has not been productive. To date, regionally mediated talks have only focused on short-term security issues such as border verification and the composition of a “neutral force” to eliminate rebel groups.

With a very tense restart, the latest round of talks in Kampala will likely only focus on restoring the provisions of the March 23, 2009 agreements, instead of the wider underlying issues. The bottom line is that no vision has been advanced or even conceived for a lasting solution that would keep neighboring countries from invading again and address core concerns of the broader population of eastern Congo. In short, as politics have become completely militarized, peace initiatives have become yet another forum for regional combatants with the biggest guns to secure short-term interests and manipulate international sentiment....

December 11, 2012
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs)

Abstract:

Peacebuilding – understood as a broad range of activities to solidify peace and avoid the relapse into violent conflict – has become central to the self-conception of the EU as a foreign policy actor. The concept has been making inroads into different EU policy areas such as security and defence, development cooperation, enlargement and the European Neighbourhood Policy. At the same time, the dominant approach to peace-building has increasingly come under fire because of its failure to produce durable peace in many countries. The European Union has reacted to these challenges by adapt-ing its concepts, but translation of these into practice – as currently witnessed in the Sahel and the two Sudans – is proving more difficult....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 3, 2012
Chatham House

Abstract:

Farai Maguwu, Director, Zimbabwe Center for Natural Resource Governance, presented his views of the current situation in Zimbabwe and the complex political and economic landscape that has led to the predicament in the country's diamond fields.

November 29, 2012
Transnational Institute

Abstract:

Since the start of Mexican president Felipe Calderón's military crackdown on drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) in 2006, Mexico has occupied the limelight when it comes to media attention focusing on drug related violence in Latin America. However, while this 'Mexican focus' continues to be prevalent, it is actually Central America's Northern Triangle – consisting of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – which is currently experiencing much higher rates of violence and increasing DTO activity, thus providing an illustration of the 'balloon effect' previously experienced by Mexico itself after the implementation of Plan Colombia which was conceived at the end of the 90's. Together, the countries of the Northern Triangle now form one of the most violent regions on earth.

Both El Salvador and Guatemala have been experiencing murder rates higher than those recorded during the countries' civil wars. But it is Honduras – though having been spared the kind of bloody civil wars as experienced by its neighbours – which currently occupies first place on worldwide homicide rate rankings....

November 27, 2012
Open Society Justice Initiative

Abstract:

East Africa has emerged in recent years as a focus of both transnational terrorism and Western-backed counter terrorism efforts. Governments have a responsibility to combat terrorism in a lawful manner. But as this report documents, counter terrorism tactics and operations in East Africa have led to a variety of human rights violations. Governments in the region have cited the need to fight terrorism as a pretext to crack down on political opposition, human rights defenders, and lawful expressions of dissent.

This report looks at how the governments of Kenya, Uganda, the United States, and the United Kingdom responded to the 2010 World Cup bombing in Kampala, Uganda. The counter terrorism actions that followed the bombing were characterized by human rights violations, including allegations of arbitrary detention, unlawful renditions, physical abuse, and denial of due process rights.

In examining these abuses and the parties responsible for them, the report argues that Kenya, Uganda, and the Western countries that support them must thoroughly investigate the alleged abuses, and must pursue counter terrorism activities that do not entail human rights violations....

November 26, 2012
Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute

Abstract:

Canadians and their security infrastructure have been primarily focused and occupied for much of the first decade of the 21st century with countering the threat posed by the phenomenon of international terrorism. Now with that threat receding as a result of a decade-long effort by the west that has involved both success and failure, and regional sociopolitical upheavals such as the Arab spring, Canadians should reconsider and possibly reprioritize their security concerns for the next decade.

One result of this process of re-prioritization could be a focus on several threats posed by the anarchical environment that is increasingly dominating Mexico, a nation that has sometimes been characterized as a “failed” state and where regional politics is dominated by local entrenched strongmen who often represent families who have been powerful since colonial times. Clientilism is rife and corruption is a way of life, as shown by the effective way the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) kept power for so long.

Mexico has also been described as a state that is rapidly becoming the next Columbia.

Mexico has moved increasingly into the North American economic sphere since the 1990s and within the security sphere since 9/11, yet to a significant degree, it remains highly distinct from its two North American partners in terms of security issues, levels of economic and social development, and political stability.2 It is a nation where one’s origins and familial connections determine one’s place in the society and where the opportunities for someone to make something of oneself are severely limited by a rigid caste system.3 For centuries, Mexico has been ruled by a series of corrupt regimes, many of whom originated within the aristocratic “upper crust” of approximately 300 families that between them have traditionally dominated and controlled much of Mexico’s political and economic course through history....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 18, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Georgia’s peaceful change of government after the October 2012 parliamentary elections was an encouraging and rare example of a democratic post-Soviet power transfer. President Mikheil Saakashvili and the new Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, each received well-deserved praise – Saakashvili for quickly accepting the defeat of his United National Movement (UNM), and Ivanishvili, who led his Georgian Dream (GD) coalition to victory after a bitter campaign, for saying he was ready to work with his arch-rival during a delicate year-long “cohabitation”. The new government now needs to use the ten months before the 2013 presidential elections to prioritise reforms that strengthen the independence and accountability of state institutions.

Saakashvili, who is term-limited from standing again, is due to remain in office until October 2013, when presidential elections will be held and a new constitution will come into force. During this period, he should continue to honour his pledge to refrain from exercising the extensive powers still legally available to him under the old constitution, lest that lead, as it almost inevitably would, to a confrontation with unpredictable consequences. Given Georgia’s chronic, often violent disorder especially during its first decade of independence in the 1990s, any destabilisation of this still delicate situation could entail serious risks....

December 18, 2012
Center for International Media Assistance

Abstract:

CIMA announces the release of its latest report, Working in Concert: Coordination and Collaboration in International Media Development, by Walter Dean, a veteran broadcast journalist and news director and an international journalism trainer. Over the last two decades, as the international media development field has grown, one goal has remained elusive: a culture of coordination and collaboration among those in the media development community. Coordination and cooperation continues at the international level to be a search for common ground between those who view the media primarily as a tool to project national or organizational interests and those who believe embedding a journalistic process–verification, independence, comprehensiveness, and monitoring power–should be the foremost goal of media development. This report examines how fundamental changes in the development marketplace and a revolution in communication caused by digital technologies have created a moment–whether of opportunity or necessity–to address this issue....

December 12, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Within a decade, the Gulf of Guinea has become one of the most dangerous maritime areas in the world. Maritime insecurity is a major regional problem that is compromising the development of this strategic economic area and threatening maritime trade in the short term and the stability of coastal states in the long term. Initially taken by surprise, the region’s governments are now aware of the problem and the UN is organising a summit meeting on the issue. In order to avoid violent transnational crime destabilising the maritime economy and coastal states, as it has done on the East African coast, these states must fill the security vacuum in their territorial waters and provide a collective response to this danger. Gulf of Guinea countries must press for dynamic cooperation between the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), take the initiative in promoting security and adopt a new approach based on improving not only security but also economic governance.

The recent discovery of offshore hydrocarbon deposits has increased the geostrategic importance of the Gulf of Guinea. After long neglecting their maritime zones, Gulf of Guinea states are now aware of their weakness. On the international front, renewed Western interest in the region is accompanied by similar interest from emerging nations. In this context, the rise in maritime crime has increased collective concern in a region where, for decades, the problems of sovereignty and territorial control have only been posed on dry land....

December 7, 2012
Save the Children

Abstract:

Social and economic development policies in Africa are ignoring the demographic realities of an increasing number of children living in poverty in urban slums with devastating impacts. The report is based on interviews, focus groups and other research with more than 1,000 children, parents and other community and national stakeholders in seven cities in six African countries including Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

"Already about 200 million children live in Africa’s urban areas, and an increasing number are left vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and disease as populations move from rural to urban areas with little or no access to basic services," said Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children. "We are calling for increased commitment and targeted investment in partnerships and programs aimed at African children living in urban areas, particularly those most vulnerable."...

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

November 22, 2012
Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack

Abstract:

The use of schools and other education institutions for military purposes by armed forces and non-state armed groups during wartime endangers students and their education around the world. This report examines the use of schools and other education institutions for military purposes by government armed forces and opposition or pro-government armed groups during times of armed conflict or insecurity. Schools are used for barracks, logistics bases, operational headquarters, weapons and ammunition caches, detention and interrogation centers, firing and observation positions, and recruitment grounds....

November 2, 2012
Overseas Development Institute

Abstract:

How broad should a post-2015 agenda be, and how deeply should it go into the different factors which drive poverty and development? This is the heart of the current stage of the debate on post-2015.

This paper looks first at progress on the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to draw some lessons on how a new agreement should aim to finish the job started in 2000. Expanding the poverty agenda beyond the current MDGs, to include new areas of equal concern to poor people is a second option discussed, followed by the implications of expanding the agenda beyond extreme poverty to include some new global objectives such as environmental sustainability.

There is considerable agreement that ending poverty as defined by the current MDGs should form part of the post-2015 agreement, though the precise targets and indicators required are by no means agreed. Information about those households who remain in extreme poverty, from household surveys, participatory research and opinion polling, provide useful insights into how that could be done and how a new agreement could be constructed to tackle the problem of extreme poverty as defined in the original goals.

More ambitiously, the scope of an agreement could also be expanded to include other dimensions of extreme poverty that poor people consider to be important in defining their situation, such as their sense of personal security, or their ability to participate in making the decisions that affect their lives. These questions are more politically difficult, but are central aspirations of poor people which should not be ignored in an agreement focused on improving their lives.

Even more ambitiously, other objectives, beyond addressing extreme poverty, could be added to this list. There is already a decision, following the Rio conference, to include some environmental goals or targets in a new post-2015 agreement – which could be linked to poverty reduction or form stand alone goals focused on protecting the environment as an objective in its own right. To this, some propose adding goals on governance or security issues, as aspects of life which are of concern to all inhabitants of the planet, including but not restricted to the very poorest people. How this debate is resolved depends ultimately on how the political consensus develops and what turns out to be possible, but this paper offers a road map to inform those discussions....

November 2, 2012
Overseas Development Institute

Abstract:

The negotiation of the post-Millennium Development Goal (MDG) framework offers the opportunity to develop targets that reflect a more nuanced understanding of the challenge of development. A number of areas are being considered for inclusion in the post-2015 framework, on the basis of their causal or correlated relationship with development. One area in which significant work has been undertaken since the MDGs were agreed in 2000 has been in relation to the role that insecurity or violence plays in constraining development and, concomitantly, the enabling role that peace and stability play in promoting it. This paper examines the arguments and proposals for including a security-related target in the post-MDG framework. First, the basis for the proposals will be examined, setting out how security and development are correlated. Second, the proposals within the policy literature on how security could be included in the post-2015 framework will be set out, highlighting at least five schools of thought on how this might be done. Third, some of the key constituencies either pushing for or likely to support a security-related target are examined, before finally addressing some of the challenges around developing such a goal, with its attendant targets and indicators. While there appears to be a growing community of support for the inclusion of security as part of the new development framework, the manner in which this is to be done remains varied and inconsistent across this community. As a result, it is as yet unclear whether security is a credible potential goal for inclusion in the new framework....

November 1, 2012
Human Rights Watch

Abstract:

In conflicts around the world, schools, students, and teachers are under attack. When schools are destroyed or students and teachers are threatened, children often drop out of school and don't come back. Other continue amid violence and fear. Sometimes lives are lost; education is always a casualty.

This audio-visual resource contains an India case study, a Thailand case study, and a list of written resources on education during conflict.

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 18, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Georgia’s peaceful change of government after the October 2012 parliamentary elections was an encouraging and rare example of a democratic post-Soviet power transfer. President Mikheil Saakashvili and the new Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, each received well-deserved praise – Saakashvili for quickly accepting the defeat of his United National Movement (UNM), and Ivanishvili, who led his Georgian Dream (GD) coalition to victory after a bitter campaign, for saying he was ready to work with his arch-rival during a delicate year-long “cohabitation”. The new government now needs to use the ten months before the 2013 presidential elections to prioritise reforms that strengthen the independence and accountability of state institutions.

Saakashvili, who is term-limited from standing again, is due to remain in office until October 2013, when presidential elections will be held and a new constitution will come into force. During this period, he should continue to honour his pledge to refrain from exercising the extensive powers still legally available to him under the old constitution, lest that lead, as it almost inevitably would, to a confrontation with unpredictable consequences. Given Georgia’s chronic, often violent disorder especially during its first decade of independence in the 1990s, any destabilisation of this still delicate situation could entail serious risks....

December 18, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Since 2001, violence has erupted in Jos city, capital of Plateau state, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region. The ostensible dispute is over the “rights” of the indigene Berom/Anaguta/Afizere (BAA) group and the rival claims of the Hausa-Fulani settlers to land, power and resources. Indigene-settler conflicts are not new to Nigeria, but the country is currently experiencing widespread intercommunal strife, which particularly affects the Middle Belt. The Jos crisis is the result of failure to amend the constitution to privilege broad-based citizenship over exclusive indigene status and ensure that residency rather than indigeneity determines citizens’ rights. Constitutional change is an important step to defuse indigene-settler rivalries that continue to undermine security. It must be accompanied by immediate steps to identify and prosecute perpetrators of violence, in Jos and other parts of the country. Elites at local, state and federal level must also consistently implement policies aimed at reducing the dangerous link between ethnic belonging and access to resources, power and security if intercommunal violence is to end.

The indigene principle, or indigeneity (that is, local origin), means that some groups control power and resources in states or local government areas (LGAs) while others – who have migrated for different reasons – are excluded. This gives rise both to grievances and fierce political competition, which too often lead to violence. Indigeneity was given constitutional force at independence in 1960 to protect the ethnic minorities from being submerged by the larger Hausa-Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba groups and preserve their cultural and political identity and traditional institutions of governance. Religion is a pertinent, albeit secondary factor, which reinforces underlying tension and, over the years, has assumed greater importance, especially since the return of democracy in May 1999. Fierce and unregulated political competition characterised by ethnic mobilisation and violence, coupled with poor governance, economic deregulation and rampant corruption, have severely exacerbated ethnic, religious and regional fault lines. The notion of national citizenship appears to have been abrogated by both ethnicity and ancestry....

November 22, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

The Sri Lankan government’s refusal to negotiate seriously with Tamil political leaders or consider reasonable forms of power sharing is heightening ethnic tensions and damaging prospects for sustainable peace.

This report examines political opportunities and challenges in finding a realistic strategy for the Tamil community to claim its rights against a government that remains opposed to power sharing. The administration of President Rajapaksa has failed to honour agreements with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), broke promises to world leaders and refused to implement constitutional provisions for minimal devolution of power to Tamil-speaking areas of the north and east. Instead, the government is pursuing a policy of militarisation and biased economic development in Tamil and Muslim areas....

November 20, 2012
Catholic Angency for Overseas Development // ActionAid // ABColombia // Oxfam

Abstract:

Mining in Colombia has been singled out to be one of the major drivers of economic growth for the Colombian economy, and yet this report reveals that in the case of coal, the Colombia Government was actually giving it away in 2007 and 2009. The lack of an effective and transparent tax system in Colombia has resulted in some multinational corporations making more from tax exemptions than they pay in corporate income taxes and royalties. With the proposed new Tax Bill, rather than raising income tax for mining corporations, the government plans to cut it from 33 per cent to 25 per cent.With the goal of doubling coal exports and tripling mining generally by 2021, Colombia risks giving its natural resources away at immense social, environmental and human rights costs if it does not revise its tax regime. Furthermore, the findings of this report reveal that government policies aimed at rapidly expanding natural resource extraction through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) conflict with policies on the protection of ecologically sensitive areas, the rights of peasant farmers (campesinos), Indigenous and AfroColombian Peoples, land restitution and the protection of areas for agricultural use.

This report is written in the context of a rapidly expanding Colombian mining industry and increasing European investment in mining in Colombia. Furthermore, it is being launched at a time when the United Kingdom (UK) has been promoting the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Given the UK has taken the positive step of piloting the development of a Colombian Strategy on these principles with the Colombian Government, it is hoped that this report and its recommendations can feed into both Colombian and UK strategies.

Colombian economic policy is based on the extractives industry being one of the major locomotives pushing economic growth over the next decade. However, this policy has been promoted in the context of an ongoing internal conflict and human rights abuses, including forced displacement. Despite the ongoing nature of the conflict, the government has passed a transitional justice law to restore approximately 2.2 million hectares of approximately 6.6 million that has been usurped or abandoned during the conflict.The drive to have Colombia known regionally as a ‘mining country’ is being undertaken before land restitution policies have been implemented, increasing the difficulty of returning stolen lands to those who have been forcibly displaced....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 11, 2012
Amnesty International

Abstract:

Human rights defenders in the Americas have made fundamental contributions to the advancement of human rights. However, as the clamour for human rights has grown in strength throughout the region, those at the forefront of these demands continue to be met with threats and violence. Those responsible are rarely brought to justice. Amnesty International urges governments throughout the region to fulfill their obligation to protect human rights defenders and to respect, protect and fulfill human rights for all....

December 10, 2012
Afghanistan Rights Monitor

Abstract:

Taliban fighters, unknown armed groups and foreign forces in Afghanistan have killed, wounded and violated the rights of Afghan women but have not been held accountable.

The number of civilian casualties of war in Afghanistan has consistently hiked over the past decade but the victims have only remained in numbers. Figures compiled by Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) indicate that over 10,000 Afghan civilians have lost their lives in armed hostilities since 2008. The number of those maimed and wounded is unknown but estimated at over 20,000 people.

Women have made big part of the civilian casualties. Many of the women victims were killed by improvised blasts, suicide attacks and aerial bombardments. Some were specifically targeted for their work and ideals.

Most civilian casualties and other war-related crimes have been attributed to Taliban insurgents. However, as this report evinces other armed actors are also increasingly involved in atrocities against noncombatants in general and women in particular.

This report highlights 10 cases of prominent Afghan women assassinated by different known and unknown actors. Among these martyred women were women’s development activists, a doctor, two journalists, a provincial lawmaker, a teacher, and a police officer. None of them had a direct role in the war and other factional fighting in Afghanistan....

December 10, 2012
Southern African Defense and Security Managment Network // The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces

Abstract:

On 2-4 May 2012, the Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Botswana hosted a SADSEM/DCAF Security, Defence and Gender Training and Education Workshop. The workshop brought together seven Southern African Defence and Security Management (SADSEM) network institutions, DCAF and several local gender resource persons. The eighteen workshop participants initiated a process to review and adjust SADSEM’s training curriculum for their executive short courses on security and defence issues in order to ensure that it incorporates gender issues.

The objectives of the workshop were:

- to provide a forum to gain and share knowledge on gender and SST training and education;
- to present SADSEM members’ SST training and education initiatives as well as resources and gaps/needs on gender;
- and to jointly identify and prioritise steps to be taken to strengthen the incorporation of gender issues within the SADSEM network, including within training and education.

The workshop was held as part of an ongoing Gender Training and Education Capacity Development Project agreed to under the SADSEM–DCAF Memorandum of Understanding. The report includes a summary of each workshop session and a Gender Review Checklist for SADSEM Executive Courses, as well as the list of participants and workshop agenda....

December 10, 2012
Asian Human Rights Commission

Abstract:

For Indonesia, 2012 has been the year of the ratification of international human rights instruments. Two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers were ratified by the government, which invited compliments from the international community. In addition to the ratifications, the government and Parliament managed to pass a new law on the juvenile court system that is more in accordance with the international standards on the protection of children’s rights. Progress on the enhancement of human rights can also be seen in the judiciary, with Supreme Court judges declaring that the death penalty is a violation to the right to life.

It is a terribly difficult task to point out the positive progress in human rights that the Indonesian government has achieved in 2012, other than the three developments mentioned. The reason is simple; it is human rights violations – and not protection or progress – that has been trending throughout the year. In this report, the AHRC has noted with concern three significant issues dominating the human rights discourse in the country from the end of 2011 till the end of 2012....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 18, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Georgia’s peaceful change of government after the October 2012 parliamentary elections was an encouraging and rare example of a democratic post-Soviet power transfer. President Mikheil Saakashvili and the new Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, each received well-deserved praise – Saakashvili for quickly accepting the defeat of his United National Movement (UNM), and Ivanishvili, who led his Georgian Dream (GD) coalition to victory after a bitter campaign, for saying he was ready to work with his arch-rival during a delicate year-long “cohabitation”. The new government now needs to use the ten months before the 2013 presidential elections to prioritise reforms that strengthen the independence and accountability of state institutions.

Saakashvili, who is term-limited from standing again, is due to remain in office until October 2013, when presidential elections will be held and a new constitution will come into force. During this period, he should continue to honour his pledge to refrain from exercising the extensive powers still legally available to him under the old constitution, lest that lead, as it almost inevitably would, to a confrontation with unpredictable consequences. Given Georgia’s chronic, often violent disorder especially during its first decade of independence in the 1990s, any destabilisation of this still delicate situation could entail serious risks....

December 18, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Since 2001, violence has erupted in Jos city, capital of Plateau state, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region. The ostensible dispute is over the “rights” of the indigene Berom/Anaguta/Afizere (BAA) group and the rival claims of the Hausa-Fulani settlers to land, power and resources. Indigene-settler conflicts are not new to Nigeria, but the country is currently experiencing widespread intercommunal strife, which particularly affects the Middle Belt. The Jos crisis is the result of failure to amend the constitution to privilege broad-based citizenship over exclusive indigene status and ensure that residency rather than indigeneity determines citizens’ rights. Constitutional change is an important step to defuse indigene-settler rivalries that continue to undermine security. It must be accompanied by immediate steps to identify and prosecute perpetrators of violence, in Jos and other parts of the country. Elites at local, state and federal level must also consistently implement policies aimed at reducing the dangerous link between ethnic belonging and access to resources, power and security if intercommunal violence is to end.

The indigene principle, or indigeneity (that is, local origin), means that some groups control power and resources in states or local government areas (LGAs) while others – who have migrated for different reasons – are excluded. This gives rise both to grievances and fierce political competition, which too often lead to violence. Indigeneity was given constitutional force at independence in 1960 to protect the ethnic minorities from being submerged by the larger Hausa-Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba groups and preserve their cultural and political identity and traditional institutions of governance. Religion is a pertinent, albeit secondary factor, which reinforces underlying tension and, over the years, has assumed greater importance, especially since the return of democracy in May 1999. Fierce and unregulated political competition characterised by ethnic mobilisation and violence, coupled with poor governance, economic deregulation and rampant corruption, have severely exacerbated ethnic, religious and regional fault lines. The notion of national citizenship appears to have been abrogated by both ethnicity and ancestry....

December 18, 2012
Center for International Cooperation // New York University

Abstract:

Over the last year, multilateral political missions have played a central role in international crisis management. United Nations missions have supported elections in Libya, tackled coups in West Africa and attempted to find a solution to Syria’s civil war. In a year in which the overall numbers of troops deployed in UN and non-UN peace operations declined, the pressure on political missions to manage complex peace processes increased. This trend is likely to continue in the year ahead. However, many political missions continue to face financial constraints and security concerns that limit their impact.

In the last twelve months the number of political missions fielded by international organizations has increased slightly from 66 to 67. While the number of missions deployed by the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Organization of American States (OAS) have largely stayed static, in the same period the African Union (AU) increased its liaison offices by seventeen percent (from 12 in 2011 to 14 offices in 2012). While organizations have dedicated increasing focus to the utility of political missions for crisis management, these missions are operating under increasing budgetary and staffing pressures....

December 18, 2012
STRATFOR

Abstract:

On Nov. 25, Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group from northern Nigeria, attacked a church in Jaji, Kaduna state, using two suicide bombers during the church's weekly religious service. The first bomb detonated in a vehicle driven into the church, and the second detonated approximately 10 minutes later, when a crowd of first responders gathered at the scene. About 30 people were killed in the attacks; the second blast caused the majority of the deaths. The incident was particularly symbolic because Jaji is the home of Nigeria's Armed Forces Command and Staff College, and many of the churchgoers were senior military officers.

In the wake of the Jaji attacks, media reports quoted human rights groups saying that Boko Haram has killed more people in 2012 than ever before. The group has killed roughly 770 people this year, leading many to conclude that Boko Haram has become more dangerous....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 12, 2012
Human Rights Watch

Abstract:

This 39-page report is based on five research missions to the hard-to-access rebel-held areas in the two states and to refugee camps in South Sudan. It documents the government’s indiscriminate bombing and other attacks on civilians since conflict between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) broke out in June 2011 in Southern Kordofan following disputed state elections. The report also describes the effect of Sudan’s refusal to allow humanitarian assistance into rebel-held areas. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced inside the two states, surviving on very little, while more than 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia....

December 7, 2012
Humanitarian Policy Group // Overseas Development Institute

Abstract:

This Working Paper provides a review of the French experience of humanitarian action over the twentieth century, and of the Francophone literature about this history. It illustrates the importance of national contexts in shaping ideas and discourses about humanitarian affairs, while also reflecting upon their place in a global history.

The importance of the French contribution to international humanitarian action has been clearly and consciously asserted since the emergence of the ‘French doctors’ or sans-frontiériste movement, spearheaded by Médecins sans frontières (MSF), in the 1970s and especially 1980s. Yet at the same time scholars of French humanitarian action have sought to offset the tendency to focus on sans-frontiériste engagement at the expense of earlier examples of French humanitarian action.

Placing interpretations of the past in their contemporary context, the Working Paper argues that some of the narratives about humanitarian history produced since 1980 reflect the context of their own production almost as much as the events they purport to describe. A greater awareness of this dynamic may help to promote reflection on the ways in which understandings of humanitarian action are influenced by the historical, cultural and political context out of which they arise. A stronger appreciation of the way that humanitarian history has been characterised and interpreted in French debates will also be of use to those seeking to understand the forces that have shaped today’s aid architecture and practice....

December 5, 2012
Institute of Development Studies

Abstract:

Despite broad consensus that children are an especially vulnerable group, an adequate response to their multiple and complex needs is currently lacking in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAR). There is a need for a more comprehensive and systematic response in which referral mechanisms and case management play a crucial role; they are essential in ensuring that vulnerable children are identified, their needs correctly assessed and that they receive cross-sectoral support.

This policy brief recommends a number of ways to improve current efforts to expand referral mechanisms and case management in the region. These include achieving national policy consensus and creating accountability, establishing mandates and protocols for all actors, developing a monitoring and evaluation framework and mobilising resources....

December 4, 2012
Danish Refugee Council

Abstract:

Since December 2011, approximately 100,000 refugees have fled the State of Blue Nile (BNS) in Sudan and sought shelter in Maban County – Upper Nile State (UNS) – South Sudan as a result of aerial bombardments and armed clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudanese People Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N).

There are four main locations where the refugees are sheltered in the county: (1) in Doro camp (near the village of Bunj) there are 41,7871 individuals, (2) in Jamam camp (near the village of Jamam) there are 25,176 registered refugees, (3) in Yusuf Batil camp there are 34,112 registered refugees and (4) in the recently opened Gendrassa camp there are 4,484 individuals as of beginning of August 2012.

Sudanese refugees started to settle spontaneously in the area later to become Doro refugee camp as early as October 2011. Since then, new influxes of refugees continued to arrive up to May-June 2012 causing the camp to become more and more congested. As a result, some of these communities settled outside the camp boundaries. In May 2012 approximately 3.000 refugees were relocated from Jamam refugee camp to Doro due to increasingly precarious living conditions in Jamam - water provision much below standards, flooding and a hazardous health situation prompted UNHCR and aid agencies to decide for the relocation of part of Jamam camp....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 18, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Georgia’s peaceful change of government after the October 2012 parliamentary elections was an encouraging and rare example of a democratic post-Soviet power transfer. President Mikheil Saakashvili and the new Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, each received well-deserved praise – Saakashvili for quickly accepting the defeat of his United National Movement (UNM), and Ivanishvili, who led his Georgian Dream (GD) coalition to victory after a bitter campaign, for saying he was ready to work with his arch-rival during a delicate year-long “cohabitation”. The new government now needs to use the ten months before the 2013 presidential elections to prioritise reforms that strengthen the independence and accountability of state institutions.

Saakashvili, who is term-limited from standing again, is due to remain in office until October 2013, when presidential elections will be held and a new constitution will come into force. During this period, he should continue to honour his pledge to refrain from exercising the extensive powers still legally available to him under the old constitution, lest that lead, as it almost inevitably would, to a confrontation with unpredictable consequences. Given Georgia’s chronic, often violent disorder especially during its first decade of independence in the 1990s, any destabilisation of this still delicate situation could entail serious risks....

December 18, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Since 2001, violence has erupted in Jos city, capital of Plateau state, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region. The ostensible dispute is over the “rights” of the indigene Berom/Anaguta/Afizere (BAA) group and the rival claims of the Hausa-Fulani settlers to land, power and resources. Indigene-settler conflicts are not new to Nigeria, but the country is currently experiencing widespread intercommunal strife, which particularly affects the Middle Belt. The Jos crisis is the result of failure to amend the constitution to privilege broad-based citizenship over exclusive indigene status and ensure that residency rather than indigeneity determines citizens’ rights. Constitutional change is an important step to defuse indigene-settler rivalries that continue to undermine security. It must be accompanied by immediate steps to identify and prosecute perpetrators of violence, in Jos and other parts of the country. Elites at local, state and federal level must also consistently implement policies aimed at reducing the dangerous link between ethnic belonging and access to resources, power and security if intercommunal violence is to end.

The indigene principle, or indigeneity (that is, local origin), means that some groups control power and resources in states or local government areas (LGAs) while others – who have migrated for different reasons – are excluded. This gives rise both to grievances and fierce political competition, which too often lead to violence. Indigeneity was given constitutional force at independence in 1960 to protect the ethnic minorities from being submerged by the larger Hausa-Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba groups and preserve their cultural and political identity and traditional institutions of governance. Religion is a pertinent, albeit secondary factor, which reinforces underlying tension and, over the years, has assumed greater importance, especially since the return of democracy in May 1999. Fierce and unregulated political competition characterised by ethnic mobilisation and violence, coupled with poor governance, economic deregulation and rampant corruption, have severely exacerbated ethnic, religious and regional fault lines. The notion of national citizenship appears to have been abrogated by both ethnicity and ancestry....

December 18, 2012
STRATFOR

Abstract:

On Nov. 25, Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group from northern Nigeria, attacked a church in Jaji, Kaduna state, using two suicide bombers during the church's weekly religious service. The first bomb detonated in a vehicle driven into the church, and the second detonated approximately 10 minutes later, when a crowd of first responders gathered at the scene. About 30 people were killed in the attacks; the second blast caused the majority of the deaths. The incident was particularly symbolic because Jaji is the home of Nigeria's Armed Forces Command and Staff College, and many of the churchgoers were senior military officers.

In the wake of the Jaji attacks, media reports quoted human rights groups saying that Boko Haram has killed more people in 2012 than ever before. The group has killed roughly 770 people this year, leading many to conclude that Boko Haram has become more dangerous....

December 14, 2012
Amnesty International

Abstract:

After a decade of insurgency, Pakistan’s Tribal areas remain in a state of crisis. In these areas, the courts are barred from upholding the fundamental rights protections guaranteed under Pakistan’s constitution. This has allowed state and non-state actors to commit violations and abuses with impunity. As shown in this report, rather than investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of these abuses, the authorities have given sweeping powers of arrest and detention to the armed forces, cementing the culture of impunity....

November 27, 2012
University of Geneva

Abstract:

The consequences of development-induced displacement are the subject of research undertaken by experts from many disciplines. In addition to the specialist theoretical concepts (IRR Model; Colson-Scudder Four Stage Model), and useful general approaches (human rights, sociology, anthropology) an analysis on the basis of human security and development plays an increasingly important role. The classification of seven categories of human security, included in the UNDP Human Development Report, published in 1994, may be a valuable research tool for all specialists dealing with displacement studies. This fact is reflected by the growing scale of publications analyzing the intersection of environmental changes, conflict, and displacement (Suhrke, Westing, Myers). At least a few authors (Caspary, Bharali, Ozerdem & Jacoby) pointed out the usefulness of the concept of human security in the analysis of development-induced displacement and resettlement. Despite a stagnation of research in human security, observed in recent years, its application in the research of very dynamic global problems (such as famine and displacement) is still worthy of consideration.

The aim of this article is to consider the application of the most influential human security concepts to DIDR research. Taking into account the most influential human security classifications, I try to analyze the major problems facing displaced people. This analysis helps to determine what actions can help to improve the situation of displaced persons and to minimize the risks that affect them. Its connection to established models of analysis (IRR) can be helpful in specific development decisions in avoiding the problems typical for previous resettlement....

November 27, 2012
University of Geneva

Abstract:

According to a report published in recent years, developments in the mining industry are the cause of about 10.3 percent of all displacements in the world. This means that more than a million people per year may be resettled as a result of resource extraction in various parts of the globe. Countries displaying the greatest growth rate of this phenomenon include India, China, Ghana, and many other African counties. The most burning issue is the establishment of large open-pit mines in developing countries, such as the Tarkwa Mine in Ghana, and the Tedi and Porgera Mines in Papua Island. The impact of mining on the dynamics of internal displacements remains a topic rarely analyzed in the literature. Authors are more concerned with displacements induced by the construction of large dams and the creation of national parks or by ongoing urbanization processes. Instead of contributing to the well-being of local communities, the extraction of resources leads to a growing number of resettlements, environmental destruction, and a deterioration of the situation of marginalized groups. The consequences of the aforementioned problem do not diverge significantly from other categories of development-induced displacements such as oil-induced displacement, dam-induced displacement, or conservation-induced displacement.

The analysis of internal displacement has become the focus of different fields of study. Sociology, social anthropology, human rights and development studies, and even philosophy are amongst disciplines particularly useful in the exploration of the consequences of development induced displacement.

Research into this category of displacements, now under development for more than 40 years, has prompted the creation of specific theoretical concepts (i.e. the IRR model). The notion of human security also appears to be a useful scientific tool for more in-depth social analyses. Classification included in the Human Development Report published in 1994 distinguishes seven basic aspects of human security: economic security, food security, personal security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, and political security. Extraction of mineral resources leads to substantial threats to each of these aspects. An application of the aforementioned classifications to the research on the consequences of mining-induced displacement and resettlement helps to understand the broader context of problems encountered by the displacees. However, it should also be supplemented by two specific categories: gender security and cultural security....

November 4, 2011
Conflict, Security and Development

Abstract:

This article advances a counter-intuitive argument about what are argued to be the links between security and development in human security. The argument is counter-intuitive because the merging of development and security is explicitly part of the human security discourse. However, this paper will argue that human security can better be understood not through its own discourse, but placed in the context of the changing relationship between the developing world and the developed world after the end of the ColdWar. Rather than the merging of security and development it will suggest that human security is representative of a period in international relations in which there is a separation of security and development. The broader international context is one in which the developing world is less of a security concern to the developed than was the case during the Cold War....

October 28, 2011
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

The Human Security Report 2005: War and Peace in the 21st Century documents a dramatic, but largely unknown, decline in the number of wars, genocides, and human rights abuse over the past decade. Published by Oxford University Press, the Report argues that the single most compelling explanation for these changes is found in the unprecedented upsurge of international activism, spearheaded by the UN, which took place in the wake of the Cold War and was designed to stop ongoing wars, help negotiate peace settlements, support post-conflict reconstruction, and prevent old wars from starting again....

October 28, 2011
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

The Human Security Brief 2006 updates the 2005 Human Security Report's conflict trend data and analyzes the findings of two recently released datasets that track trends in war terminations and organized violence against civilians.

The new data indicate that the post-Cold War decline in armed conflicts and related fatalities reported last year has continued, with Sub-Saharan Africa seeing the greatest decrease in political violence.

Other encouraging trends include continuing declines in the number of genocides and other mass slaughters of civilians, and a drop in refugee numbers and military coups.

But some of the other findings are far from positive. Four of the world's six regions have experienced increased numbers of conflicts since 2002, the last five years have seen a huge spike in the estimated death toll from terrorism, while negotiated settlements, which are responsible for an increasing proportion of conflict terminations, have worryingly high failure rates....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 14, 2012
Refugees International

Abstract:

Since hard-line Islamist groups took control of northern Mali earlier this year, regional and international attention has focused on plans for an African-led military force to drive out the insurgents. But this focus has distracted from the unmet and growing needs of displaced Malians, the majority of whom have fled to the country's south. Although easily accessible, they have received only limited assistance to date. With both the civilian government and the Malian army in a state of disarray, it will take time to get the political process on track and the army in shape to retake the north. In the meantime, meeting the needs of those displaced in the south must be prioritized. In addition, given the likelihood of a further deterioration of humanitarian conditions in both the north and south, coordination of the humanitarian response must be improved and far more emphasis must be placed on ensuring that well-developed and resourced humanitarian contingency plans are in place and ready for implementation....

December 12, 2012
Human Rights Watch

Abstract:

This 39-page report is based on five research missions to the hard-to-access rebel-held areas in the two states and to refugee camps in South Sudan. It documents the government’s indiscriminate bombing and other attacks on civilians since conflict between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) broke out in June 2011 in Southern Kordofan following disputed state elections. The report also describes the effect of Sudan’s refusal to allow humanitarian assistance into rebel-held areas. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced inside the two states, surviving on very little, while more than 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia....

December 11, 2012
Humanitarian Policy Group // Overseas Development Institute

Abstract:

In Afghanistan, approaches to negotiating humanitarian access, assistance and protection with the Taliban have been largely inconsistent and ad hoc. After 2001, aid agencies enjoyed access to the majority of the country, but access rapidly declined as security began to deteriorate. As Taliban influence expanded and violence increased, aid workers were caught up in hostilities or explicitly targeted. Few agencies publicly acknowledge engaging with the Taliban to secure access to areas under Taliban influence or control. Even those that are able to access Taliban areas acknowledge the difficulty associated with engagement and the precarious nature of negotiated access.

Taliban attitudes towards and perceptions of aid agencies, their activities and the principles and frameworks that guide their work are poorly understood. Through almost 150 interviews with the Taliban, aid agencies and ordinary Afghans, this Working Paper aims to provide greater understanding of Taliban attitudes and policies. It focuses on two provincial case studies, Faryab and Kandahar, to examine these issues in depth. At the leadership level, the Taliban have a clear policy on aid agency access. Agencies are required to register with the Taliban at senior leadership level and adhere to various conditions, including neutrality, respect for Taliban notions of ‘Afghan culture’ and, occasionally, payment of tax. This policy was fairly well understood by provincial Taliban leaders in the two provinces examined. The Taliban at the local levels also appeared to be capable of monitoring adherence to these conditions and enforcing them. However, research in Faryab and Kandahar indicated that there is significant discretion and flexibility accorded to local commanders, which means that the rules are fluid and vary depending on who is in charge. Increased military pressure, widespread distrust of aid agencies and a lack of adequate command and control have also undermined adherence to established policy....

December 11, 2012
Humanitarian Policy Group // Overseas Development Institute

Abstract:

• Taliban leaders have an established policy on aid access that is relatively well understood by fighters on the ground. However, interpretations of this policy are fluid and adherence is variable.

• While Taliban leaders convey greater openness towards aid agencies, interviews revealed a deep distrust and suspicion of aid agencies. This related to their perceived partiality and to criticisms of their effectiveness and transparency.

• Research with civilians and Taliban highlighted the often coercive Taliban attitudes towards civilians and raised serious questions about the transfer of risk in aid agency approaches focused on gaining ‘community acceptance’.

• The withdrawal of international forces in 2014 will bring even greater uncertainty with regard to humanitarian access. While negotiating with the Taliban presents formidable challenges, it is likely to become increasingly important for aid agencies that wish to...

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 7, 2012
Humanitarian Policy Group // Overseas Development Institute

Abstract:

This Working Paper provides a review of the French experience of humanitarian action over the twentieth century, and of the Francophone literature about this history. It illustrates the importance of national contexts in shaping ideas and discourses about humanitarian affairs, while also reflecting upon their place in a global history.

The importance of the French contribution to international humanitarian action has been clearly and consciously asserted since the emergence of the ‘French doctors’ or sans-frontiériste movement, spearheaded by Médecins sans frontières (MSF), in the 1970s and especially 1980s. Yet at the same time scholars of French humanitarian action have sought to offset the tendency to focus on sans-frontiériste engagement at the expense of earlier examples of French humanitarian action.

Placing interpretations of the past in their contemporary context, the Working Paper argues that some of the narratives about humanitarian history produced since 1980 reflect the context of their own production almost as much as the events they purport to describe. A greater awareness of this dynamic may help to promote reflection on the ways in which understandings of humanitarian action are influenced by the historical, cultural and political context out of which they arise. A stronger appreciation of the way that humanitarian history has been characterised and interpreted in French debates will also be of use to those seeking to understand the forces that have shaped today’s aid architecture and practice....

November 29, 2012
International Campaign to Ban Landmines

Abstract:

Only one government - Syria - has used antipersonnel landmines in 2012, matching the lowest point since the signing of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, according to Landmine Monitor 2012. Four governments used antipersonnel mines in 2011 (Israel, Libya, Myanmar, and Syria).

The number of governments rejecting antipersonnel mines continues to grow, with three new countries - Finland, South Sudan, and Somalia – joining the Mine Ban Treaty since July 2011. The succession of South Sudan and accession of Somalia means that all sub-Saharan African countries have joined the Mine Ban Treaty. Globally, 160 countries are party to the treaty, more than 80 percent of all countries....

November 19, 2012
Refugee Studies Centre // Oxford Department of International Development // University of Oxford

Abstract:

Tens of millions of people in nearly every inhabited corner of the planet face the challenge of life as refugees or internally-displaced people. Countries and organisations throughout the world often recognise that such displaced people (and particularly refugees) have legal rights and merit considerable attention. Nonetheless, the complex structures shaping the laws, organisations, and ideas in this domain – what could be called the 'architecture' of refugee protection – often fails to live up to its promise.

In his talk, Professor Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar disaggregated three dimensions of the 'architecture' of refugee protection. Specifically, the talk focussed on some of the architectural features of the humanitarian relief system, on the allocation of power and territory across nation-states, and on the physical architecture of refugee camps. Each of these domains reveals some of the key architectural features driving our response to refugees and internally displaced persons. By understanding the interacting effects of these different architectures, we can better appreciate how a mix of laws, organisations, and ideas help create the combination of neglect and opportunities for action that will shape the lives of displaced persons and the international system that defines our world....

October 23, 2012
The Polish Institute of International Affairs

Abstract:

Despite the raging civil war in Syria, both the opposition groups and the international community are developing plans for a future without Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. However, those initiatives that consume large financial and operational resources are detached from the actual situation in Syria. The Gulf states and Turkey have real influence on the developments, although they favour opposition groups with different religious affiliations and aim to maximise an outcome of the conflict that most favours their individual interests. European–Arab cooperation risks weakening the impact of European activities in favour of these regional countries’ interests....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 18, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Georgia’s peaceful change of government after the October 2012 parliamentary elections was an encouraging and rare example of a democratic post-Soviet power transfer. President Mikheil Saakashvili and the new Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, each received well-deserved praise – Saakashvili for quickly accepting the defeat of his United National Movement (UNM), and Ivanishvili, who led his Georgian Dream (GD) coalition to victory after a bitter campaign, for saying he was ready to work with his arch-rival during a delicate year-long “cohabitation”. The new government now needs to use the ten months before the 2013 presidential elections to prioritise reforms that strengthen the independence and accountability of state institutions.

Saakashvili, who is term-limited from standing again, is due to remain in office until October 2013, when presidential elections will be held and a new constitution will come into force. During this period, he should continue to honour his pledge to refrain from exercising the extensive powers still legally available to him under the old constitution, lest that lead, as it almost inevitably would, to a confrontation with unpredictable consequences. Given Georgia’s chronic, often violent disorder especially during its first decade of independence in the 1990s, any destabilisation of this still delicate situation could entail serious risks....

December 18, 2012
Center for International Cooperation // New York University

Abstract:

Over the last year, multilateral political missions have played a central role in international crisis management. United Nations missions have supported elections in Libya, tackled coups in West Africa and attempted to find a solution to Syria’s civil war. In a year in which the overall numbers of troops deployed in UN and non-UN peace operations declined, the pressure on political missions to manage complex peace processes increased. This trend is likely to continue in the year ahead. However, many political missions continue to face financial constraints and security concerns that limit their impact.

In the last twelve months the number of political missions fielded by international organizations has increased slightly from 66 to 67. While the number of missions deployed by the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Organization of American States (OAS) have largely stayed static, in the same period the African Union (AU) increased its liaison offices by seventeen percent (from 12 in 2011 to 14 offices in 2012). While organizations have dedicated increasing focus to the utility of political missions for crisis management, these missions are operating under increasing budgetary and staffing pressures....

December 13, 2012
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs)

Abstract:

The armed conflict in Syria has accelerated in recent months. Both regime and rebels see themselves in a fight for survival that leaves no room for compromise. External supporters of both sides treat the conflict as a zero-sum game with far-reaching and, for some actors existential, consequences for their own strategic positions, and are therefore determined to prevent any outcome they would regard as disadvantageous. Their diplomatic, financial and in some cases military support fans the flames of conflict and strengthens the hand of hardliners on both sides. For the foreseeable future, there is good reason to expect that the conflict will be neither resolved politically nor won militarily. The priority for Europeans should be to stem the violence and support inclusive civilian structures; the latter could contribute to improving living conditions at the local level and counteracting radical and centrifugal tendencies....

December 13, 2012
International Organization for Migration // Government of Haiti

Abstract:

Almost three years after the devastating earthquake that stuck Haiti in 2010, about 360,000 individuals continue to live in 496 IDP sites across the country. This report aims to provide reconstruction actors in Haiti with an updated overview of the make up of the population remaining in camps and camp like settlements in Haiti. This report reflects the highlights of the analysis carried out by the IOM Data Management Unit in November 2012. A detailed, more comprehensive version is also available for partners with interest in more in depth information....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 14, 2012
Amnesty International

Abstract:

After a decade of insurgency, Pakistan’s Tribal areas remain in a state of crisis. In these areas, the courts are barred from upholding the fundamental rights protections guaranteed under Pakistan’s constitution. This has allowed state and non-state actors to commit violations and abuses with impunity. As shown in this report, rather than investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of these abuses, the authorities have given sweeping powers of arrest and detention to the armed forces, cementing the culture of impunity....

December 11, 2012
Amnesty International

Abstract:

Human rights defenders in the Americas have made fundamental contributions to the advancement of human rights. However, as the clamour for human rights has grown in strength throughout the region, those at the forefront of these demands continue to be met with threats and violence. Those responsible are rarely brought to justice. Amnesty International urges governments throughout the region to fulfill their obligation to protect human rights defenders and to respect, protect and fulfill human rights for all....

December 7, 2012
Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses

Abstract:

Having witnessed a decade-long Maoist insurgency (1996-2005) which ended with the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) signed in 2006, Nepal has since been undergoing a prolonged transition. The political stalemate has held back efforts to investigate atrocities committed during the insurgency and offer justice and reparation to victims. Although Nepal's peace process has been celebrated in some quarters, it has largely failed to address issues of justice and reconciliation, with victims being left without succour and voice. Without significant progress on justice and reconciliation work that takes victims' voices into account and addresses their concerns, the ongoing peace process and any further effort towards state-building are likely to be futile....

December 7, 2012
Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses

Abstract:

Since the revolution that toppled Mubarak, Sinai has become a no man's land where jihadists from Egypt and Gaza as well as local Bedouins have begun to engage in militant activities. Some Bedouin, especially those professing an extremist Islamist ideology, are well armed and have recruited other local tribesmen to co-operate with terrorists in several attacks since January 2011. The peninsula is becoming a major resistance base and may be in the process of becoming the next hotspot in an already volatile Arab world. Even in the recent conflict in Gaza, which commenced after Israel assassinated the Hamas military chief on 14 November, the role of the Sinai as a conduit for the supply of arms, rockets and missiles to fighters in Gaza has been highlighted. As Egypt and Israel are attempting to grapple with this emerging challenge, the unfolding situation is threatening to disrupt the fragile peace in the region that has prevailed since the full withdrawal of Israeli forces in 1982....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 18, 2012
Center for International Media Assistance

Abstract:

CIMA announces the release of its latest report, Working in Concert: Coordination and Collaboration in International Media Development, by Walter Dean, a veteran broadcast journalist and news director and an international journalism trainer. Over the last two decades, as the international media development field has grown, one goal has remained elusive: a culture of coordination and collaboration among those in the media development community. Coordination and cooperation continues at the international level to be a search for common ground between those who view the media primarily as a tool to project national or organizational interests and those who believe embedding a journalistic process–verification, independence, comprehensiveness, and monitoring power–should be the foremost goal of media development. This report examines how fundamental changes in the development marketplace and a revolution in communication caused by digital technologies have created a moment–whether of opportunity or necessity–to address this issue....

December 14, 2012
Human Rights Watch

Abstract:

The 60-page report documents the experiences of dozens of rights defenders, journalists and bloggers, and lawyers whom security and intelligence forces targeted because they spoke out against the government. Some who took part in anti-government protests after the 2009 election had never been politically active before, but suddenly found themselves in the crosshairs of security and intelligence forces. Many Iranian refugees and asylum seekers interviewed by Human Rights Watch described difficult conditions and long processing times for their asylum applications during their stay in Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan....

November 29, 2012
Institute for the Study of Radical Movements

Abstract:

This paper examines in detail the role of the Internet in individual radicalization processes of eight German former right-wing extremists. Applying Grounded Theory methodology the qualitative interviews were analyzed in several coding and re-coding phases. The findings were integrated into the existing literature afterwards. Besides well known factors, such as more effective communication, anonymity and better networking opportunities, the author found support for seeing the Internet as a “Socialization Institution” according to the “Cultural Subversion Theory” (Wagner, 1998). As a venue for information exchange, ideological development and training, the individual radicalization process was characteristically shaped or even made possible through the Internet. This paper also shows the high value of qualitative research regarding the topic in contrast to usually employed quantitative analysis of webpage content....

November 27, 2012
The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence

Abstract:

While the threat that al-Shabaab poses to the West can easily be overstated, its outreach to Muslims living in Europe and the United States has been successful relative to other al-Qaeda-linked groups and warrants exploration. The organisation has recruited dozens of foreign fighters from the West (see Appendix). It also holds the dubious distinction of being the first jihadist organisation to recruit an American citizen to commit an act of suicide terrorism. Its recruitment strategy is therefore worthy of examination as a case study of how jihadist groups formulate strategies to lure Western Muslims.

Through a combination of primary source analysis, background interviews in East Africa and an in-depth quantitative analysis of the group’s Twitter output, this paper aims to go beyond the simple statement of this problem by explaining how al-Shabaab markets itself to Muslims beyond its borders and what methods it employs. It also explores how the group is using social media to engage its followers in ways that other actors in the global jihad movement have not yet mastered....

December 12, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Within a decade, the Gulf of Guinea has become one of the most dangerous maritime areas in the world. Maritime insecurity is a major regional problem that is compromising the development of this strategic economic area and threatening maritime trade in the short term and the stability of coastal states in the long term. Initially taken by surprise, the region’s governments are now aware of the problem and the UN is organising a summit meeting on the issue. In order to avoid violent transnational crime destabilising the maritime economy and coastal states, as it has done on the East African coast, these states must fill the security vacuum in their territorial waters and provide a collective response to this danger. Gulf of Guinea countries must press for dynamic cooperation between the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), take the initiative in promoting security and adopt a new approach based on improving not only security but also economic governance.

The recent discovery of offshore hydrocarbon deposits has increased the geostrategic importance of the Gulf of Guinea. After long neglecting their maritime zones, Gulf of Guinea states are now aware of their weakness. On the international front, renewed Western interest in the region is accompanied by similar interest from emerging nations. In this context, the rise in maritime crime has increased collective concern in a region where, for decades, the problems of sovereignty and territorial control have only been posed on dry land....

December 11, 2012
Amnesty International

Abstract:

Human rights defenders in the Americas have made fundamental contributions to the advancement of human rights. However, as the clamour for human rights has grown in strength throughout the region, those at the forefront of these demands continue to be met with threats and violence. Those responsible are rarely brought to justice. Amnesty International urges governments throughout the region to fulfill their obligation to protect human rights defenders and to respect, protect and fulfill human rights for all....

December 10, 2012
Asian Human Rights Commission

Abstract:

For Indonesia, 2012 has been the year of the ratification of international human rights instruments. Two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers were ratified by the government, which invited compliments from the international community. In addition to the ratifications, the government and Parliament managed to pass a new law on the juvenile court system that is more in accordance with the international standards on the protection of children’s rights. Progress on the enhancement of human rights can also be seen in the judiciary, with Supreme Court judges declaring that the death penalty is a violation to the right to life.

It is a terribly difficult task to point out the positive progress in human rights that the Indonesian government has achieved in 2012, other than the three developments mentioned. The reason is simple; it is human rights violations – and not protection or progress – that has been trending throughout the year. In this report, the AHRC has noted with concern three significant issues dominating the human rights discourse in the country from the end of 2011 till the end of 2012....

December 3, 2012
Chatham House

Abstract:

Farai Maguwu, Director, Zimbabwe Center for Natural Resource Governance, presented his views of the current situation in Zimbabwe and the complex political and economic landscape that has led to the predicament in the country's diamond fields.

November 29, 2012
Transnational Institute

Abstract:

Since the start of Mexican president Felipe Calderón's military crackdown on drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) in 2006, Mexico has occupied the limelight when it comes to media attention focusing on drug related violence in Latin America. However, while this 'Mexican focus' continues to be prevalent, it is actually Central America's Northern Triangle – consisting of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – which is currently experiencing much higher rates of violence and increasing DTO activity, thus providing an illustration of the 'balloon effect' previously experienced by Mexico itself after the implementation of Plan Colombia which was conceived at the end of the 90's. Together, the countries of the Northern Triangle now form one of the most violent regions on earth.

Both El Salvador and Guatemala have been experiencing murder rates higher than those recorded during the countries' civil wars. But it is Honduras – though having been spared the kind of bloody civil wars as experienced by its neighbours – which currently occupies first place on worldwide homicide rate rankings....

December 11, 2012
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs)

Abstract:

Peacebuilding – understood as a broad range of activities to solidify peace and avoid the relapse into violent conflict – has become central to the self-conception of the EU as a foreign policy actor. The concept has been making inroads into different EU policy areas such as security and defence, development cooperation, enlargement and the European Neighbourhood Policy. At the same time, the dominant approach to peace-building has increasingly come under fire because of its failure to produce durable peace in many countries. The European Union has reacted to these challenges by adapt-ing its concepts, but translation of these into practice – as currently witnessed in the Sahel and the two Sudans – is proving more difficult....

December 10, 2012
United States Institute of Peace

Abstract:

Afghan and Iraqi women leaders met earlier this year to discuss how women in North African transition countries can play a role in reshaping their societies. Based on their own experiences with transition, these leaders offered advice on what to do and what pitfalls to avoid.

November 23, 2012
Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre

Abstract:

As the presence of Western states in UN peacekeeping operations (PKOs) has gradually decreased, new states have been filling the resultant void, although these operations remain wedded to Western ideas and standards of how such interventions should be carried out. However, as emerging powers like Brazil are now taking the lead on the ground, the question that this report seeks to shed light on is how this is starting to affect the way in which the UN carries out its PKOs. It assesses the Brazilian military lead in MINUSTAH in Haiti against the backdrop of the so-called “pacification” strategy currently employed in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. It shows that rather than being a “transmission belt” for a traditional Western model of military intervention, Brazil’s lead in MINUSTAH has had an added value, building on Brazilian experience with urban conflict, which is an area with which the UN and Western states are unfamiliar. In fact, several states, including the U.S., have started to look to Brazil when developing and adapting concepts for urban and anti-crime operations. This shows that as Brazil has become a more active participant in UN PKOs, it has also gradually begun to set the agenda for how the UN runs such operations....

November 22, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Since Bosco Ntaganda’s mutiny in April 2012 and the subsequent creation of the 23 March rebel movement (M23), violence has returned to the Kivus. However today’s crisis bears the same hallmarks as yesterday’s, a consequence of the failure to implement the 2008 framework for resolution of the conflict. Rather than effectively implementing the 23 March 2009 peace agreement signed by the government and the CNDP (National Council for the Defence of the People), the Congolese authorities have instead only feigned the integration of the CNDP into political institutions, and likewise the group appears to have only pretended to integrate into the Congolese army. Furthermore in the absence of the agreed army reform, military pressure on armed groups had only a temporary effect and, moreover, post-conflict reconstruction has not been accompanied by essential governance reforms and political dialogue. To move away from crisis management and truly resolve this two-decade-old conflict, donors should put pressure on both Kigali and Kinshasa....

November 9, 2012
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

Abstract:

What happens to countries after civil war or other conflict comes to an end? This paper shows that post-war economies can experience a peace dividend involving higher than average growth rates, and that aid can increase this dividend. Since post-war countries face the twin challenges of avoiding further conflict and rebuilding their economies, enhancing the peace dividend is a high priority. While there is evidence that this peace dividend can be increased through aid it is not well understood why this may be the case. The paper considers policy reform and particular types of aid but finds no evidence that they hold the key to understanding why aid increases post-war growth. To prevent such countries reverting into conflict, there are distinct policies that post-war governments should pursue in the short term: high aid, low taxation, independent public service delivery and low inflation. Post-war societies face enormous needs while having very limited revenue. Aid should fill the gap in the short run, but in the long run aid dependence can be avoided by phasing in a cap on aid. This cap should be relative to tax revenue....

October 17, 2012
Human Rights Watch

Abstract:

This report details the final hours of Muammar Gaddafi’s life and the circumstances under which he was killed. It presents evidence that Misrata-based militias captured and disarmed members of the Gaddafi convoy and, after bringing them under their total control, subjected them to brutal beatings. They then executed at least 66 captured members of the convoy at the nearby Mahari Hotel. The evidence indicates that opposition militias took Gaddafi’s wounded son Mutassim from Sirte to Misrata and killed him there.

Under the laws of war, the killing of captured combatants is a war crime, and Libyan civilian and military authorities have an obligation to investigate war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law....

October 16, 2012
Center on International Cooperation // New York University

Abstract:

Over the past decade the United States and the international community have funded an unprecedented private security industry in Afghanistan. As a result, this industry has become entangled with the Afghan political economy, as international spending has been implicated in funding informal armed groups and commanders. Considerable uncertainty remains as Afghanistan approaches the 2014 deadline for assuming national security responsibilities. Matthieu Aikins argues that with the expected decrease in international aid and changes in the national economy, future stability of Afghanistan depends on ensuring a political settlement among the country's diverse powerbrokers and networks....

October 12, 2012
Amnesty International

Abstract:

Dozens of people in Rwanda suspected of threatening national security have been held in a network of secret detention centres run by the military. In these camps, detainees were unlawfully held and were at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Some are still held in secret detention. This report documents cases of unlawful detention and allegations of ill-treatment by Rwandan military intelligence in 2010 and 2011. Amnesty International is urging the government to end these practices, disclose the whereabouts of detainees, investigate torture allegations and bring those responsible to justice....

July 24, 2012
Center for Strategic and International Studies

Abstract:

No one should approach the challenges of creating effective Afghan security forces—and creating the right assessment process—without remembering our failures in Vietnam and Iraq. These were very different wars from Afghanistan, but they had two things in common. We consistently exaggerated the progress being made in developing both sets of forces, and we made constant changes to our goals for force size, structure, and funding. Every year was the first year in Vietnam and Iraq in very important ways.

We have repeated this experience in Afghanistan. We have also repeated our tendency to try to rush force development and focus on progress rather than problems. Our current assessment tools like the CUAT system have taken years to evolve and still focus largely on force generation rather than the broader—and far more important issue—of whether we can create an affordable and sustainable force that can actually take over the security burden.

A detailed analysis of these issues is provided in Dr. Cordesman’s formal statement, Afghan National Security Forces and Security Lead Transition: The Assessment Process, Metrics, and Efforts to Build Capacity....

July 17, 2012
Global Policy Forum

Abstract:

The United Nations is increasingly hiring Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) for a wide array of security services. The UN’s leadership says these services are needed to protect the organization’s staff and worldwide operations from growing threats and unprecedented dangers. But many reports from governments, NGOs and the media have shown how PMSCs have committed serious human rights abuses, killed or injured innocent civilians, engaged in financial malfeasance and committed many other breaches of the law. Given the track record of these companies, serious questions arise as to whether PMSCs are appropriate UN partners for the complex task of creating a secure, just and lawful world. Opacity around the UN’s use of PMSCs has so far prevented a healthy debate.

This report aims to clarify the issue and reflect on its implications for the future of the UN. The report will consider the problems as well as possible solutions – not just through regulatory reform but also through re-thinking the UN’s approach to peace and security frameworks more generally. It is our hope to stimulate debate and discussion, so as to break through the silence and to re-think the role...

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 14, 2012
Refugees International

Abstract:

Since hard-line Islamist groups took control of northern Mali earlier this year, regional and international attention has focused on plans for an African-led military force to drive out the insurgents. But this focus has distracted from the unmet and growing needs of displaced Malians, the majority of whom have fled to the country's south. Although easily accessible, they have received only limited assistance to date. With both the civilian government and the Malian army in a state of disarray, it will take time to get the political process on track and the army in shape to retake the north. In the meantime, meeting the needs of those displaced in the south must be prioritized. In addition, given the likelihood of a further deterioration of humanitarian conditions in both the north and south, coordination of the humanitarian response must be improved and far more emphasis must be placed on ensuring that well-developed and resourced humanitarian contingency plans are in place and ready for implementation....

December 13, 2012
International Organization for Migration // Government of Haiti

Abstract:

Almost three years after the devastating earthquake that stuck Haiti in 2010, about 360,000 individuals continue to live in 496 IDP sites across the country. This report aims to provide reconstruction actors in Haiti with an updated overview of the make up of the population remaining in camps and camp like settlements in Haiti. This report reflects the highlights of the analysis carried out by the IOM Data Management Unit in November 2012. A detailed, more comprehensive version is also available for partners with interest in more in depth information....

December 12, 2012
Human Rights Watch

Abstract:

This 39-page report is based on five research missions to the hard-to-access rebel-held areas in the two states and to refugee camps in South Sudan. It documents the government’s indiscriminate bombing and other attacks on civilians since conflict between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) broke out in June 2011 in Southern Kordofan following disputed state elections. The report also describes the effect of Sudan’s refusal to allow humanitarian assistance into rebel-held areas. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced inside the two states, surviving on very little, while more than 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia....

December 7, 2012
University of Oxford // Refugees Studies Centre

Abstract:

Preventing displacement is obviously a worthwhile objective. Being displaced puts people at a higher risk of being both impoverished and unable to enjoy their human rights. Such a situation is worth preventing – but not at any cost.

People know that displacement brings with it risks and vulnerabilities such as loss of land and work, homelessness, food insecurity, health risks, loss of access to common resources such as education, and possibly destruction of social networks upon which people depend, particularly during a crisis. “The effects of displacement can last a lifetime and beyond, damaging the prospects of future generations,” says Valerie Amos in the opening article. “We can do more to prevent displacement and the suffering it brings.” It is important, however, to preserve the possibility of displacement when that is a choice, or indeed a necessity, and it is also worth remembering that two of the three traditional durable solutions – return and resettlement – both involve further displacement.

Addressing the causes of displacement – such as violent conflict, housing that cannot withstand a natural disaster, or a government that cannot guarantee a sustainable infrastructure – is the focus of some of the articles in this issue of FMR. Others look at how to manage situations that might cause displacement so as to make staying a better option. And yet others look at the legal and institutional context within which all this occurs....

December 18, 2012
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Since 2001, violence has erupted in Jos city, capital of Plateau state, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region. The ostensible dispute is over the “rights” of the indigene Berom/Anaguta/Afizere (BAA) group and the rival claims of the Hausa-Fulani settlers to land, power and resources. Indigene-settler conflicts are not new to Nigeria, but the country is currently experiencing widespread intercommunal strife, which particularly affects the Middle Belt. The Jos crisis is the result of failure to amend the constitution to privilege broad-based citizenship over exclusive indigene status and ensure that residency rather than indigeneity determines citizens’ rights. Constitutional change is an important step to defuse indigene-settler rivalries that continue to undermine security. It must be accompanied by immediate steps to identify and prosecute perpetrators of violence, in Jos and other parts of the country. Elites at local, state and federal level must also consistently implement policies aimed at reducing the dangerous link between ethnic belonging and access to resources, power and security if intercommunal violence is to end.

The indigene principle, or indigeneity (that is, local origin), means that some groups control power and resources in states or local government areas (LGAs) while others – who have migrated for different reasons – are excluded. This gives rise both to grievances and fierce political competition, which too often lead to violence. Indigeneity was given constitutional force at independence in 1960 to protect the ethnic minorities from being submerged by the larger Hausa-Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba groups and preserve their cultural and political identity and traditional institutions of governance. Religion is a pertinent, albeit secondary factor, which reinforces underlying tension and, over the years, has assumed greater importance, especially since the return of democracy in May 1999. Fierce and unregulated political competition characterised by ethnic mobilisation and violence, coupled with poor governance, economic deregulation and rampant corruption, have severely exacerbated ethnic, religious and regional fault lines. The notion of national citizenship appears to have been abrogated by both ethnicity and ancestry....

December 10, 2012
Asian Human Rights Commission

Abstract:

For Indonesia, 2012 has been the year of the ratification of international human rights instruments. Two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers were ratified by the government, which invited compliments from the international community. In addition to the ratifications, the government and Parliament managed to pass a new law on the juvenile court system that is more in accordance with the international standards on the protection of children’s rights. Progress on the enhancement of human rights can also be seen in the judiciary, with Supreme Court judges declaring that the death penalty is a violation to the right to life.

It is a terribly difficult task to point out the positive progress in human rights that the Indonesian government has achieved in 2012, other than the three developments mentioned. The reason is simple; it is human rights violations – and not protection or progress – that has been trending throughout the year. In this report, the AHRC has noted with concern three significant issues dominating the human rights discourse in the country from the end of 2011 till the end of 2012....

November 27, 2012
The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence

Abstract:

While the threat that al-Shabaab poses to the West can easily be overstated, its outreach to Muslims living in Europe and the United States has been successful relative to other al-Qaeda-linked groups and warrants exploration. The organisation has recruited dozens of foreign fighters from the West (see Appendix). It also holds the dubious distinction of being the first jihadist organisation to recruit an American citizen to commit an act of suicide terrorism. Its recruitment strategy is therefore worthy of examination as a case study of how jihadist groups formulate strategies to lure Western Muslims.

Through a combination of primary source analysis, background interviews in East Africa and an in-depth quantitative analysis of the group’s Twitter output, this paper aims to go beyond the simple statement of this problem by explaining how al-Shabaab markets itself to Muslims beyond its borders and what methods it employs. It also explores how the group is using social media to engage its followers in ways that other actors in the global jihad movement have not yet mastered....

November 6, 2012
Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Abstract:

The rise of Islamic militancy in parts of the Sahel and Horn of Africa poses growing threats to regional stability. The appeal of these militants stems from their ability to tap into and persuade marginalized communities, particularly youth, that their grievances can be rectified by the establishment of a more pure Islamist culture.

Despite breakthroughs, Islamic militants in Africa typically do not possess great military power and may not seek to govern at the state level. Rather, they tend to be homegrown phenomena, focused on local concerns.

Islamic militant organizations in Africa generally only command the support of small minorities within Muslim communities. However, ill-considered interventions, especially those involving Western forces, can reinforce the militants’ narrative, thereby strengthening their credibility and recruitment....

November 1, 2012
Amnesty International

Abstract:

There is a vicious cycle of violence currently taking place in Nigeria. The Nigerian people are trapped in the middle. Since 2009 devastating acts of violence have been carried out by the Islamist armed group known as Boko Haram and security forces have responded with serious human rights violations. This report urges the government of Nigeria to fulfil its duty to take measures to prevent and protect civilians from attack and to investigate all such crimes, and to bring to justice those responsible....

December 5, 2012
Human Rights Watch // International Human Rights Clinic

Abstract:

This 50-page report outlines concerns about these fully autonomous weapons, which would inherently lack human qualities that provide legal and non-legal checks on the killing of civilians. In addition, the obstacles to holding anyone accountable for harm caused by the weapons would weaken the law’s power to deter future violations.

December 3, 2012
Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre

Abstract:

This policy brief explores the conditions under which non-state armed groups generate and maintain the political will to restore the state’s monopoly over the use of force. The author then offers practical recommendations for mediators and peacebuilding agencies.

November 30, 2012
Rupantaran (Nepal Armed Violence Reduction Working Group and IDS Knowledge Services)

Abstract:

This first issue of Rupantaran, (‘transformation’ in Nepalese), highlights key issues surrounding armed violence in Nepal and considers current development solutions. Rupantaran, produced by the Nepal Armed Violence Reduction Working Group and IDS Knowledge Services, explores the impact that armed violence has on development in Nepal.

While awareness of armed violence in Nepal is limited, recent data indicates that armed violence has increased across the country after the peace agreement was signed in 2006. For example, government figures highlight a 163 percent increase in violent incidents (murder, attempted murder and rape) in the period 2006-2010. Since 2006, armed violence in Nepal has included: killings, attempted murder, extortion, theft and robbery, abduction, bombings, intimidation, clashes between youth groups, revenge attacks, domestic violence and violence against women and children....

November 29, 2012
International Campaign to Ban Landmines

Abstract:

Only one government - Syria - has used antipersonnel landmines in 2012, matching the lowest point since the signing of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, according to Landmine Monitor 2012. Four governments used antipersonnel mines in 2011 (Israel, Libya, Myanmar, and Syria).

The number of governments rejecting antipersonnel mines continues to grow, with three new countries - Finland, South Sudan, and Somalia – joining the Mine Ban Treaty since July 2011. The succession of South Sudan and accession of Somalia means that all sub-Saharan African countries have joined the Mine Ban Treaty. Globally, 160 countries are party to the treaty, more than 80 percent of all countries....

November 22, 2012
Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre

Abstract:

Disarmament and demobilisation (DD) programmes are vital components of strategic peacebuilding. DD provisions govern the collection and disposal of arms and ammunition, and oversee the discharge of active-duty combatants from the state’s armed forces, rebel groups, or both. Using data from the Peace Accords Matrix database, this report compares the five most recent cases of DD implementation: Nepal (2006), Liberia (2003), Macedonia (2001), Indonesia-Aceh (2005) and South Sudan (2005). A comparative analysis reveals several common patterns in the kinds of provisional and operational choices associated with efficient DD implementation.

Having a definite timeline and largely completing the process prior to the first elections creates an incentivised environment for a timely DD process while diminishing the risks of election-related violence. Economic incentives associated with the process of cantonment can increase the duration of DD programmes. External actors with a strong mandate can solve problems faster and have been instrumental in achieving a swift DD progression. Disarmament programmes must be realistically matched to conflict settings. This can include the use of mobile collection units, which have proved to be successful in cases where a primary centralised site is not sufficient....

December 21, 2012
Human Security Report Project

Abstract:

Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.

Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times...

December 18, 2012
STRATFOR

Abstract:

On Nov. 25, Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group from northern Nigeria, attacked a church in Jaji, Kaduna state, using two suicide bombers during the church's weekly religious service. The first bomb detonated in a vehicle driven into the church, and the second detonated approximately 10 minutes later, when a crowd of first responders gathered at the scene. About 30 people were killed in the attacks; the second blast caused the majority of the deaths. The incident was particularly symbolic because Jaji is the home of Nigeria's Armed Forces Command and Staff College, and many of the churchgoers were senior military officers.

In the wake of the Jaji attacks, media reports quoted human rights groups saying that Boko Haram has killed more people in 2012 than ever before. The group has killed roughly 770 people this year, leading many to conclude that Boko Haram has become more dangerous....

December 12, 2012
The International Centre for the Study of Racialisation and Political Violence

Abstract:

Since the mid-2000s, European countries have developed counter-radicalisation strategies, seeking to de-radicalize committed militants and preventing the radicalization of vulnerable populations. What do these strategies entail? Where do they differ, and what do they have in common? How successful have they been?

Based on extensive fieldwork in Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, ICSR’s latest report – Countering Radicalization in Europe – describes the genesis, main characteristics, aims, underlying philosophies and challenges experienced by counter-radicalization policies in Europe.

Authored by ICSR Associate Fellows Lorenzo Vidino and James Brandon, Countering Radicalization in Europe is the most comprehensive and systematic report to date about counter-radicalization policy and practice. It sums up the experiences of four European countries, outlines key challenges and areas of convergence, and describes the lessons that have been learned in this new area of policymaking....

December 4, 2012
Institute for Economics and Peace

Abstract:

The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is a comprehensive body of work which systematically ranks the nations of the world according to their terrorist activity.

The index combines a number of factors associated with terrorist attacks to build a thorough picture of the impact of terrorism over a 10-year period, illustrating trends, and providing a useful data series for further analysis by researchers and policymakers. Produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), the GTI is based on data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) which is collected and collated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). The GTD is considered to be the most comprehensive dataset on terrorist activity and has codified over 104,000 cases of terrorism. This report summarizes changing trends in terrorism over time, as well as analyzing its different dimensions in terms of geographic activity, methods of attack, organizations involved, and its national context in terms of economic development and governance. The index has also been compared to other socioeconomic indicators to determine what factors are commonly associated with terrorism.

The definition of what constitutes a terrorist attack is “the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation”. This definition excludes perceived acts of state terror, such as drone attacks resulting in civilian casualties. As the vast literature on terrorism shows, there are many competing definitions, but for consistency this report adopts the GTD definition which is elaborated in more detail in the next section of this report. The data shows the global impact of terrorism has increased significantly from 2002 to 2011, peaking in 2007 and then slightly falling to approximately 2006 levels in 2011. The current global trend of terrorism can best be described as plateauing rather than decreasing. This is somewhat offset by terrorist activity increasing in more countries than it decreased in, with 72 countries experiencing increased activity and 63 experiencing decreased activity over the last decade....

November 29, 2012
Institute for the Study of Radical Movements

Abstract:

This paper examines in detail the role of the Internet in individual radicalization processes of eight German former right-wing extremists. Applying Grounded Theory methodology the qualitative interviews were analyzed in several coding and re-coding phases. The findings were integrated into the existing literature afterwards. Besides well known factors, such as more effective communication, anonymity and better networking opportunities, the author found support for seeing the Internet as a “Socialization Institution” according to the “Cultural Subversion Theory” (Wagner, 1998). As a venue for information exchange, ideological development and training, the individual radicalization process was characteristically shaped or even made possible through the Internet. This paper also shows the high value of qualitative research regarding the topic in contrast to usually employed quantitative analysis of webpage content....

December 5, 2012
Human Rights Watch // International Human Rights Clinic

Abstract:

This 50-page report outlines concerns about these fully autonomous weapons, which would inherently lack human qualities that provide legal and non-legal checks on the killing of civilians. In addition, the obstacles to holding anyone accountable for harm caused by the weapons would weaken the law’s power to deter future violations.

November 30, 2012
Politorbis

Abstract:

This edition of Politorbis is published at the occasion of the 10-­‐‑year anniversary of the International Criminal Court The Task Force for Dealing with the Past and Prevention of Atrocities wanted to celebrate this anniversary, by delivering a reflection on the progress made to date under the Rome Statute and by the International Criminal Court, as well as an interdisciplinary conversation on the exercise and impact of international justice. This latter requires an ‘on the ground’ treatment, as this is where, in complement to the efforts of international justice, national justice is struggling to become reality.

This collection of articles is therefore simultaneously a tribute to the work accomplished so far, a reflection upon the practical issues and a testimony to the complexity of the exercise. The creation of the International Criminal Court launched a new era in the fight for jusstice and against impunity; it indeed marked a point of no return. The first part of this Politorbis refers first and foremost to issues specific to this development of the ICC which is responsible for judging crimes of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, the crime of aggression, and to the issues of complementarity and universal jurisdiction....

November 2, 2012
REDRESS

Abstract:

An estimated one million Tutsis, and numerous moderate Hutus were killed in the genocide, and the lives of survivors were destroyed. Survivors interviewed by organisations over the past five years have repeatedly stressed the critical roles that justice and reparation play in addressing the consequences of the genocide. This includes holding to account the perpetrators and providing adequate reparation, also with a view to contributing to reconciliation and enabling survivors to rebuild their lives.

Ensuring adequate reparation, including rehabilitation, compensation and restitution, for survivors in Rwanda is a daunting task. Over the past eighteen years since the genocide in 1994, the Government of Rwanda, as well as survivors’ organisations and human rights advocates have grappled to find solutions as to how best to ensure that survivors’ rights and needs to adequate reparation can be met. As of today, such solutions have yet to be found....

August 30, 2012
Amnesty Internationalq

Abstract:

Some 14,000 people remain unaccounted for in the countries that make up the former Yugoslavia – nearly half of the total number who disappeared in the decade since war broke out in 1991.

Between 1991 and 2001, a total of 34,700 people were reported missing due to enforced disappearances or abductions in the region. The majority of their relatives are still waiting for justice.

In a briefing published today on the International Day of the Disappeared, The right to know: Families still left in the dark in the Balkans, Amnesty International calls on the authorities in the Balkans to investigate enforced disappearances – crimes under international law – and to ensure the victims and their families receive access to justice and reparations....

August 28, 2012
Chatham House

Abstract:

This is a summary of an event held at Chatham House on 5 July 2012. Professors Charles Garraway and Sean Watts discussed the war crimes investigation practices of the UK and US, highlighting and contrasting comparative reporting requirements as well as the extent of international influences in each system.