Security

Acknowledging that the rehabilitation of ex-combatants is critical to sustainable peace in Nepal, which is in turn crucial for long-term economic development, a recent workshop of private sector leaders in Kathmandu resulted in a display of willingness and openness towards providing support to ex-combatants, when and as required by the government and political parties.

International Alert is proud to present our new publication on "International Engagement in the Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict Resolution Process", a collection of papers from Georgian and Abkhaz researchers analysing the effectiveness of international engagement in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict resolution process, with a specific focus on the post-August 2008 period.

In the lead-up to the next global summit on climate change in Cancun, Mexico, International Alert along with the Delegation of the European Union in Nepal held a dialogue on climate change, security and governance on 3rd September 2010 in Kathmandu.

International Alert is seeking to build on previous initiatives to inform and advance EU thinking on the reintegration of ex-combatants into post-conflict societies and economies. This is the second of two briefing papers produced as part of a year-long initiative aimed at reinvigorating the debate on reintegration. Based on research in Burundi, Liberia and Nepal, it discusses why the lessons of past reintegration programmes are not being learned and what implications this has for future EU disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programming.

Full report

Africahas suffered a total of one third of global armed conflicts over the past decade. The bottom 27 countries in the UNDP’s human development index are African and there are an estimated 6.1 million refugees and 20 million internally displaced persons across the continent. Now, more than ever, an effective EU-Africa partnership is required to address the underlying and proximate causes of conflict, insecurity, instability and underdevelopment to effect a demonstrative, positive and sustainable impact on the ground.

Briefing

This report aims to map the small arms control practices in five countries of the Black Sea region (which, for the purposes of the report, include Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine). This is the area which has been serving as one of the hubs for arms proliferation, with both legal and illegal arms transfers taking place.

Full report

El presente informe documenta los mecanismos e instituciones relevantes al control de armas pequeñas en MERCOSUR incluyendo los dos países asociados, Bolivia y Chile. Con la excepción de Brasil, donde la cuestión de armas pequeñas es una prioridad en el ámbito de políticas públicas, está en el centro del debate político y es un tema asumido como urgente por una sociedad civil activa y movilizada, en el resto de la región MERCOSUR el control de las armas pequeñas es una cuestión que está todavía subsumida dentro de la preocupación general de la seguridad pública o seguridad ciudadana.

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The European Security Strategy (ESS) commits the EU to using a wide range of instruments in order to prevent violent conflict. Its comprehensive nature is one of its strengths, however, greater analysis of how the EU’s “hard” and “soft” instruments will be applied during the implementation of the Strategy is needed. There is the risk that Member States will pay increasing attention to developing military aspects of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, rather than civilian, and preventive responses, without which, military engagement is counter-productive.

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Over the last ten years the states in the region have had different capacities and different motivations to deal with the SALW issues, and understandably have made different levels of progress in addressing them. As post-Soviet transition states have stabilised, their ability to enforce their international obligations with relation to the export of SALW has improved. The restructuring processes in the defence industries of these states as a result of the end of the Cold War have meant that the number of weapons being produced in this area has reduced.

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Conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the continued threat posed by terrorist organisations, have presented significant security challenges to the international community.

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This report seeks to document governmental and civil society activity in Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal with regard to the control of SALW. The case studies provide an overview of the main sources of SALW proliferation. The report also aims to assess the current national legislation on SALW, the implementation of SALW control policies, as well as the role of national governmental and nongovernmental structures in addressing the issue of SALW proliferation in the three countries.

Full report

This report is a mapping of the situation regarding the control of small arms and light weapons (SALW) in three Central Asian Republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Despite a number of potentially escalating factors, such as authoritarian governance, poverty, ethnic tensions, corruption and resource competition (especially over land and water), Central Asia has remained largely peaceful, with the exception of the 1992-97 civil war in Tajikistan and a number of small-scale clashes, mostly in the Ferghana Valley and the bordering areas.

Small_Amrs_Control_Central_.pdf

In the post-Cold War period, the nature of conflicts has changed, with conflict moving closer to civilians as combatants, victims or (perceived) supporters of one or the other faction. International development and humanitarian NGOs that seek to address the needs of civilians have become operational in more war zones than ever before and, while conflict has always been a pervasive feature of their work in many areas of the world, they have become more aware of the inevitable two-way relationship between conflict and their programmes, staff and partners.

Full report

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is immensely rich in natural resources but its people are among the poorest in the world. This paradox is both cause and effect of the brutal exploitation of the country’s resources that has taken place since King Leopold, and that has fuelled such violent and devastating conflict.

Full report

The informal Small Arms Consultative Group Process on Developing Understandings on Guidelines for National Controls and Transfers to Non-State Actors was established in January 2003, convened by the Biting the Bullet Project. The Consultative Group consists of representatives of some 30 governments from most regions, the UN and regional organisations, and selected civil society experts. It has so far met four times, in London (January 2003), Prague (June 2003), New York (July 2003) and Lake Naivasha, Kenya (September 2003), and has now completed the first phase of its work.

Interim report