Security

Friends for Peace and International Alert undertook research in Morang, Makawanpur, Kailali and Jumla to assess the existing community security situation, people’s perceptions towards it and prospects for the future. The research was based on individual and group interviews and wider community interactions and was led by the communities themselves.

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. The paper looks first at the community security issues affecting youth in the two districts, then moves on to explore ways in which respondents felt that the current situation of unrest and insecurity could be changed.

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.

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 upto policy and decision makers at the national level.

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.

This tool provides an introduction to the benefits 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. Ensuring that gender issues are integrated into security policies may increase participation and local ownership, and create policies and institutions that are more likely to effectively and sustainably provide security and justice to men, women, girls and boys on an equitable basis. The tool is designed to be a resource for staff responsible for initiating security policy-making processes within the executive branch of government, including those responsible for drafting, implementing and evaluating security policies. In addition, the tool may be useful to a variety of other actors involved in security policy-making processes, including parliamentarians and parliamentary staffers, ministerial staff, civil society organisations, municipallevel government, international and regional organisations, and donor countries supporting the development of security policies.

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. Examples or cases from Sierrra Leone, Uganda, the DRC, Kosovo and Burundi are included as well as thematic cases on sexual and gender based violence, local advocates for accountability on WAC, national action plans associated with WAC and regional approaches to WAC.

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.

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. However, given the sensitivities that SSR terminology evokes, thought needs to be given to what can be done in the short term under the banner of public security to lay the groundwork for SSR. If something is not done to address the current public security situation, then any longer-term SSR initiatives will be jeopardised. This briefing forms part of the EU-financed Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP) It aims to connect the public security and SSR agendas in Nepal in order to inform ongoing discussions amongst donors and to explore the role that the EU could play in future security-enhancing activities in Nepal.

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. International Alert is an active member Gender Action for Peace and Security UK (GAPS) and also hosts the working group at the London offices. GAPS is a research and advocacy group working to bridge the gap between the realities of women (activists and non-activists) at the local level in conflict and post-conflict regions with UK decision makers and practitioners working on peace and security.

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

A major challenge to improving human security and establishing sustainable peace in countries emerging from violent conflict is how to reintegrate ex-combatants into a peacetime society and economy. This is the first of two briefing papers produced as part of a year-long initiative aimed at reinvigorating the debate on reintegration. It aims to provide a platform for linking a broader range of actors who could be involved in ensuring the related aspects of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) concept move beyond policy to practice, and to explore what role the EU can play in reintegration. It discusses why socio-economic reintegration is important, what challenges it faces, what approaches are being pursued, and what factors constrain successful implementation. It was used in draft form to inform discussions at an Alert Roundtable held in Brussels in September 2009.

The ‘Snapshot’ briefings are part of a longer-term initiative by International Alert to help address the current gaps in knowledge and understanding between those actors at the district level and those in Kathmandu. Each briefing aims to outline current security and justice needs and challenges in a particular district, and advance constructive recommendations for ways in which national and international actors could address these challenges. The briefings are based on research undertaken as part of Alert’s work for the Initiative for Peacebuilding project. Snapshot 1.3 focuses on Jumla a remote hill district where the vast majority of the population lacks access to formal security and justice mechanisms.

The ‘Snapshot’ briefings are part of a longer-term initiative by International Alert to help address the current gaps in knowledge and understanding between those actors at the district level and those in Kathmandu. Each briefing aims to outline current security and justice needs and challenges in a particular district, and advance constructive recommendations for ways in which national and international actors could address these challenges. The briefings are based on research undertaken as part of Alert’s work for the Initiative for Peacebulding project. Snapshot 1.2 focuses on Morang an industrial hub hit hard by unrest in the eastern Terai region.

The ‘Snapshot’ briefings are part of a longer-term initiative by International Alert to help address the current gaps in knowledge and understanding between those actors at the district level and those in Kathmandu. Each briefing aims to outline current security and justice needs and challenges in a particular district, and advance constructive recommendations for ways in which national and international actors could address these challenges. The briefings are based on research undertaken as part of Alert’s work for the Initiative for Peacebulding project. Snapshot 1.1 focuses on Kailali a rural Terai district where ethnic tensions threaten to escalate.