Written by Ian Davis, Chapter 21 of DCAF and NATO’s Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption in Defence: A Compendium of Best Practices, explores the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) and the media in the implementation of SSR initiatives. Davis argues that parliamentarians are insufficient to “guarantee effective oversight and hold the government accountable for 
SSR Blog
Monthly Archive
July | 2010
Building integrity through SSR: the role of media and civil society
By: Laura Holland | Wednesday, July 28th, 2010Voting is the easy part: towards the referendum in Southern Sudan (Part 3)
By: Aly Verjee | Saturday, July 24th, 2010That a liberation movement attempting an uneasy transition to becoming a contemporary, effective, sleek and professional military organization faces issues of discipline and insubordination is unsurprising. I say this with a degree of sympathy, despite having been at the wrong end of an SPLA-issued AK-47 rather more frequently than I consider desirable. Any former guerrilla
New Report, “Innovations in Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Policy and Research”
By: Jesse Hembruff | Thursday, July 22nd, 2010The Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) process has been a staple of post-conflict projects implemented over the last decade, with over 60 DDR initiatives taking place since the early 1990s. A recent literature review, Innovations in Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Policy and Research written by Robert Muggah and published by the Norwegian Institute for International
Follow Up: Security Council debates Rule of Law
By: Jessica Teeple | Wednesday, July 21st, 2010The United Nations Security Council met on June 29, 2010, to debate the promotion and strengthening of the rule of law. From 11am until just after 5:30pm the fifteen member countries of the Security Council, along with nineteen other country representatives that requested to participate in the debate, discussed the forward progression of the rule
Reports highlights pitfalls of rationalist approach to SSR
By: David Isern | Monday, July 19th, 2010Contemporary debates on security sector reform (SSR) have increasingly focused on technical approaches to improving the capacity of security institutions and organizations, while ideas regarding the formation and operational aspects of local ownership are underdeveloped and often ignored. In their paper Security Sector Evolution: Understanding & Influencing How Security Institutions Change, authors Volha Piotukh and
Violence and impunity persist in Guatemala, nearly 15 years after end of civil war
By: Jesse Hembruff | Thursday, July 15th, 2010Although its civil war ended in 1996, Guatemala has remained one of Latin America’s most dangerous countries, with levels of violent crime even higher than during the war itself. Drug Traffickers, gangs, and corrupt security forces have benefitted from a pervasive culture of impunity that has resulted from governance failures and widespread fear among the
New documentary, “Camp Victory, Afghanistan,” gives rare look at ANA training
By: Geoff Burt | Wednesday, July 14th, 2010This documentary, shot between 2005 and 2008, follows several US National Guardsmen stationed in Herat, and captures their story as they attempt to train and mentor members of the Afghan National Army (ANA). The website describes the film as the first “to examine the reality of building a functioning Afghan military—the initial critical step toward
Working paper: “The Privatisation of Security in Latin America”
By: Geoff Burt | Tuesday, July 13th, 2010The Global Consortium on Security Transformation (GCST), a partnership of six institutions located in different regions of the world which aims to encourage “existing south-south and south-north security and development debates,” recently released a series of working papers. One of the papers, “The Privatisation of Security in Latin America,” provides an excellent literature review of
A chorus of complaints about police reform in Indonesia
By: Laura Holland | Saturday, July 10th, 2010Imparsial, an Indonesian human rights watchdog , led a chorus of complaints from NGOs over the last month about the state of police reform in Indonesia. While the failure of reforms has been blamed on “weak supervision and lenient punishment for members involved in crimes”, Imparsial also singled out the police’s Internal Affairs Division and
Appointment of mutiny leader as army chief deals serious blow to SSR efforts in Guinea-Bissau
By: Pedro Lopez | Wednesday, July 7th, 2010Responsible for an attempted mutiny on April 1 2010, General Antonio Indjai has been made Chief of Staff of the armed forces in Guinea-Bissau. This appointment comes despite international protests, including warnings by the United States, which urged that the new army chief not be involved in any way with the mutinous events of April
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