Citizenship and Governance

This publication is one of the chapters of the book 'Human Security and Business' (Ruffer & Rub, 2008) which includes the papers highlighting important considerations concerning business and human rights. This publication points out the interconnectedness of severe human rights abuses in violent conflict with certain corporate practices, drawing on examples from Africa, Asia and Latin America, and shows that voluntary initiatives alone are not enough to ensure that companies, particularly in the extractive sector, act as per the law or best practices.

Chapter

New strategy papers for the EU's engagement with developing countries will soon be agreed. The activities under them will have fundamental impacts on the contexts in which they will be applied, and many of these are prone to, or affected by, violent conflict, or experience some kind of societal or state fragility.

Briefing paper

This report is based on a discussion held in conjunction with GAPS and the High Commission for Canada on involving men in the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325. It focuses on how and why SCR 1325 is relevant to men, as well as broader efforts to build sustainable peace. It explores strategies to increase their engagement with work around SCR 1325 at the UK and international levels.

Full report

International Alert (hereafter Alert) and Friends for Peace (FFP) began focusing on community security in mid-2006 in an effort to understand and address community security as a conflict prevention measure in support of sustainable conditions for peace and development.

Full report

One key weakness of the current peace process in Nepal is the failure to address diverse and complex security needs at the local level, while focusing instead on the issues of national security over community security, and physical security over human security. The peace process has therefore failed to address a fundamental underlying cause of the conflict - the ingrained culture of exclusivity that characterises every arena of public life in Nepal and which perpetuates the insecurity of many vulnerable and marginalised groups.

Full report

This paper aims to summarise the key community security concerns and issues that were voiced by youth and student groups in consultations carried out in Sunsari and Morang districts between the 25th September and the 5th November 2007. Voluntary ‘Youth Steering Committees’, comprising active and knowledgeable youth stakeholders, have played a key role as representatives for their district and in steering the project process. Local level interactions were then held in order to understand the particular issues facing rural youth.

English - Youth Speak out on Community Security in the Eastern Terai

Nepali - Youth Speak out on Community Security in the Eastern Terai

Climate change is upon us and its physical effects have started to unfold. That is the broad scientific consensus expressed in the Fourth Assessment Review of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change. This report takes this finding as its starting point and looks at the social and human consequences that are likely to ensue – particularly the risks of conflict and instability.

Full report

Between September 2007 and January 2008 International Alert and Friends for Peace conducted a research and dialogue process with affected youth in Sunsari and Morang. The overarching aim of this project is to strengthen youth voices on community security needs and perspectives across different identity lines in the eastern Terai. The aim of this paper is to outline the key community security concerns voiced by young people in Morang and Sunsari districts and reflect these voices up to policy and decision makers at the national level.

Briefing paper

This tool is designed to be a resource for civil society organisations (CSOs) engaged in oversight of the security sector, as well as those CSOs that seek to play a more active role in this regard. The tool is also relevant for policymakers and officials in national governments, international and regional organisations, and donor countries around the world that are engaged in designing and implementing security sector reforms and that could play an active role in strengthening and supporting civil society engagement.

Full report

As part of the Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit, this tool provides an introduction to thebenefits and opportunities of integrating gender issues into national-level security policy making.As strategic documents, security policies are critically important in establishing a coordinated response to security threats, and can serve as a platform for security sector reform (SSR) processes. This includes national security policies (NSPs) as well as sector-specificpolicies, such as a white paper on defence.

Full report

This report focuses on the EU’s response to the "Women and Armed Conflict" (WAC) study, in particular on the development cooperation dimension. The report describes international approaches and legal obligations to WAC, identifies and discusses the most salient issues, gives an overview and assessment of the EU response and provides findings and recommendations.

Full report

Voluntary Principles for Security and Human Rights provide a broad framework that can help companies operate in ways that provide security to their facilities while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms. Several companies have developed their own guidelines to implement the principles. In this paper, International Alert, a founding member of the VP process, has developed performance indicators for companies, to help establish benchmarks in the longer term.

Paper

The accessible and accountable provision of security and justice is a key requirement for ensuring sustainable peace and economic and social development. In Nepal, there is an urgent need to address issues related to security provision and the security sector as part of the ongoing peace process. Success in security sector reform (SSR) is vital in ensuring the improvements to governance, without which further violent conflict in Nepal is likely.

Breifing paper

The Global Monitoring Checklist is a pilot research project designed to contribute towards international understanding on women, peace and security efforts. It highlights relevant activities at the local and national level by women, civil society, national governments and the international community. It is not a comprehensive survey of all initiatives relating to women, peace and security; rather, it is a first step in gathering and collating information that links directly to UNSCR 1325 implementation.

Full report

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. It was used in draft form to inform discussions at an Alert Roundtable held in Brussels in November 2009.

Full report