Citizenship and Governance

Afghanistan– General Information

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This report provides a comprehensive review of progress towards implementing the important commitments contained in the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects (PoA), drawing on data gathered for over 180 countries and analysing relevant local, national, regional and international processes.

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The European Security Strategy highlights ‘state failure’ as one of the five key threats facing Europe - along with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), terrorism, organised crime and regional conflicts. Yet while the EU has devoted considerable focus to addressing WMD and terrorism, it has paid less attention to state failure, which underpins all of these other threats.

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The first Review Conference for the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects is due to take place in July 2006. This is a major international event. It provides the first formal international opportunity to review and strengthen the UN Programme of Action (PoA) since it was agreed in July 2001.

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This report examines the lessons learned from the three year Monitoring the Implementation of Small Arms Controls (MISAC) project which addressed the barriers to the implementation of international controls on small arms such as the 2001 Programme of Action and the UN Firearms Protocol as well as regional control measures such as the EU Code of Conduct, the OSCE Small Arms Document the OAS Convention and the ECOWAS Moratorium. It assesses the key barriers to implementation as well as drawing lessons learned from those countries and regions which have implemented these controls.

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The adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in October 2000 was the first formal and legal document from the Security Council that requires parties to a conflict and the international community to respect women’s rights and to support their participation at all stages in peace negotiations, conflict prevention and post conflict reconstruction Five years after this adoption, it is timely to question what implementation mechanisms have been created.

Toolkit

The first Review Conference for the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects took place in July 2006. This Report identifies and examines key priorities for the 2006 Review Conference for the PoA. It particularly focuses on identifying realistic and potentially negotiable objectives for the Conference.

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This report by Biting the Bullet (International Alert, Saferworld and University of Bradford) aims to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review and analysis of progress towards implementation of the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons In All Its Aspects (PoA) and of the consequent issues and priorities for the 2006 Review Conference.

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Produced as part of the EU-funded Conflict Prevention Partnership, this paper analyses the context in which the European Union uses its external relations instruments to address security issues, promote legitimate and effective governance, and support economic recovery and regional integration, in the DRC. Consultations in the region and in the EU, as well as meetings held in Kinshasa in September 2006 with local officials, civil society and international diplomats have been used to develop recommendations and suggest possible avenues under each theme.

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This report is the product of field research and subsequent analysis carried out between July 2004 and July 2005 by a team of researchers from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia as well as Nagorny Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia across the South Caucasus, facilitated by International Alert. Based on a series of one-to-one interviews and focus groups with a wide range of stakeholders, it examines the connections between corruption and frozen conflicts in the South Caucasus region, exploring corruption on all sides.

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The problems faced by countries emerging from years of violent conflict are enormous, highly complex and intricately interconnected. Amongst the greatest challenges are the presence of large numbers of ex-combatants and the ongoing violence perpetrated by members of still-active rebel groups. These ex-combatants will ultimately need to be demobilised and reintegrated into civilian life or perhaps into newly constituted security services.

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This collection of papers by researchers from Georgia and Abkhazia offers an analysis of international engagement in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict resolution process since the early 90s, with a specific focus on post-August 2008 and the departure of the UN Observer Mission in 2009. Papers assess the impact of non-governmental peacebuilding initiatives, the effectiveness of the ‘Geneva discussions’ co-facilitated by the UN, EU and OSCE, and explore prospects for Abkhaz engagement with the international community.

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Although Central Asia has remained relatively peaceful in the years since the break-up of the Soviet Union, there is still a considerable potential for conflict in the region. The Strategic Framework for Peacebuilding provides an in-depth analysis of conflict potential in Central Asia, from which it derives a peacebuilding strategy. The report focuses its attention on three states: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

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Set up during 2006 with peacebuilding as its sole objective, the UN Peacebuilding Commission has the potential to use its intergovernmental voice to focus attention on the factors that could drive a renewal of conflict. In this light, Alert submitted recommendations in late 2006 on how the PBC could most effectively orientate its short and long-term support to the process of improving security and sustaining peace, for men and women, in Burundi. More widely, this publication also looks at the main challenges for the PBC and how it should focus its activities.

Recommendations

This report examines the process leading up to and the establishment of the PBC, along with a critical analysis of what this newly formed Commission means, not only for women and the implementation of SCR 1325, but for the coordination of policy and frameworks that will achieve durable peace and development in the countries where the Commission operates.

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