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Centre for Security Governance—Notice
On July 17, 2014, the Centre for Security Governance will be hosting its third eSeminar, focusing on new technology-driven threats and the security sector.
The international donor community has launched a series of initiatives to help prepare developing countries to identify, counteract, and contain cyber-threats. However, effective security sector assistance against cyber threats will require a coordinated multi-stakeholder effort involving military, law enforcement, private sector and academic contributions. In the Centre for Security Governance’s third eSeminar, a panel of experts will outline the cyber threats facing developing countries and discuss best practices for international assistance.
This is a free event. But we would like to direct participants interested and able to support our organization’s activities to make a donation.
Security Sector Reform Resource Centre
Dysfunctional Power-Sharing and the Security Sector in Bosnia
Power-sharing has gained prominence throughout the last two decades as a means of mitigating intractable conflicts. While seemingly virtuous in theory, however, in practice power-sharing structures can become plagued by dysfunction and deadlock if groups feel unfairly represented, lack genuine political will to cooperate, or remain fixated on lingering hostilities from the conflict. –Chelsea Winn
Kosovo’s Home-Grown SSR: The Strategic Security Sector Review—Part One
The UN Development Programme published Kosovo’s Internal Security Sector Review (ISSR) in 2006. In the following six years, the international community supported the development and professionalization of the fledgling entity’s security sector. –Anthony Welch
Kosovo’s Home-Grown SSR: The Strategic Security Sector Review—Part Two
Kosovo’s security sector reform (SSR) process – the Strategic Security Sector Review (SSSR) – began in April 2012, updating the international community’s Internal Security Sector Review that was completed in 2006. The SSSR was heralded as being conducted in accordance with the principles of openness, transparency, and accountability, with a wide spectrum of institutions and bodies being consulted. However, from the start of the process, the United States had a close association with the decisions taken. –Anthony Welch
Indonesia’s Presidential Elections in 2014: The Question of Military Professionalism
Currently Indonesia faces a crucial political event in its upcoming presidential elections, scheduled for July 2014. Indonesia’s outgoing President Susilo B. Yudhoyono recently reprimanded the role and position of the army/police with regards to the political issue of military professionalism. In a strongly worded statement directed at the high-rank military officers, Yudhoyono stressed the need for the army and national police to remain neutral in politics. –Beni Sukadis
Centre for Security Governance
CSG Executive Director Mark Sedra has a new paper titled “A Job Half Done: SSR and the Afghan Transition: with the Instituto Per Gli Studi Di Politica Internazionale. Read the paper here.
The CSG is pleased to welcome two new Senior Fellows: Dr. Stephen Baranyi and Dr. Anthony Cleland Welch, OBE.
The CSG has formed an Editorial Board composed of distinguished SSR experts in support of its two forthcoming peer-reviewed publications, the SSR 2.0 Briefs and CSG Papers.
News
Kenyan police disperse protest over security concerns
Police dispersed a group of protestors who had gathered in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa to protest poor security. The protests came days after gunmen, potentially linked to Al-Shabaab, killed approximately 65 people in attacks across the country last week. –Reuters
UN Says Unmanned Drones Will Be Deployed in Mali
In a new development, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali will begin using drones as part of its activities in the country. The UN already uses drones in its operations in the Congo, and wants to expand their use to Central African Republic and South Sudan, as well as Mali. –Edith Lederer, The Associated Press
Fear and trauma prevent displaced South Sudanese from returning home
Those forced from their homes by recent fighting in South Sudan are ignoring pleas from their government to return home. Instead refugees are enduring the poor conditions of UN bases in exchange for guaranteed safety, as many fear that the country will return to widespread violence. –Stephen Graham, IRIN News
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) held a seminar last week, in conjunction with Armenian security and parliamentary officials and the Geneva Centre of the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces, to discuss police oversight and accountability. The two-day long conference also included participants from the Armenian police and civil society. –Times.am
Thai Junta Sets up Reconciliation, Reform Committee
Thailand’s recently established military junta has set up a committee for reconciliation and reform, which will be responsible for suggesting a way forward for the country. According to statements from leaders of the junta, the reconciliation process could take up to a year, at which point elections will once again be held. –FARS News Agency
OSCE Mission to Serbia promotes research on Roma perceptions of security sector
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) recently completed a study on perceptions of the security sector held by the Roma community in Serbia. The study was intended to contribute to a healthier relationship between the Roma community and security institutions, and it offered a set of policy recommendations for Serbia’s Ministries of Interior and Defence. –OSCE
Business groups urge Zumba not to sign disputed bill on private security
A growing group of important stakeholders in South Africa’s security industry are pleading with President Jacob Zuma not to sign a recently passed bill that would regulate the private security industry. Groups opposed to the bill believe it would have significant implications for South African security companies hoping to do business in America, and international companies who want to work in South Africa. –Khulekan Magubane, Business Day
Think tank vows ‘real solutions’
A new think-tank was formed in Northern Ireland last week by Irish parliamentarians and civil leaders. The Centre for Democracy and Peace Building will work on researching alternative political structures for Northern Ireland. –Belfast Telegraph
Analysis
Rust Belt Rising: The Economics Behind Eastern Ukraine’s Upheaval
The conflict in Ukraine has entered a new phase with President Petro Poroshenko upping his government’s counterinsurgency efforts in the east, and more generally taking a more aggressive approach to deal with separatist elements. While many observers have interpreted the conflict as an ethic dispute, a more accurate reading of the conflict would diagnose its origins as economic. –Yuri Zhukov, Foreign Affairs
Global Governance Monitor: Crime
The Council on Foreign Relations’ Global Governance Monitor has expanded its coverage and now tracks, describes, and evaluates international efforts to combat transnational organized crime. –Council on Foreign Relations
Women in Northern Ireland—sharing the learning
Over 600 women who have been active in peacebuilding in Northern Ireland have been meeting over the past two years to share their experiences and generate a series of best-practices and lessons that can be applied to other conflicts in other contexts. This article presents an overview of the process of bringing together a diverse group of peacebuilding practitioners, and some of the lessons that have been generated. –Lynn Carvill, TransConflict
Africa needs more than just the silencing of guns
Conflict across the continent continues to undermine Africa’s ability to sustain and scale its efforts at human development and economic progress. This article explores the links between conflict and economic development in Africa, set across the backdrop of the African Union’s goal of ending all wars in Africa by 2020. –Julia Schünemann, Institute for Security Studies
Publications
Independent Progress Review on the UN Global Focal Point for Police, Justice and Corrections
Based on an extensive literature review and more than 150 interviews, this report discusses the progress made by the UN Global Focal Point on Police, Justice and Corrections (GFP). Overall results indicate that the GFP has achieved partial success in achieving its objectives and has the potential to be a useful and effective tool for UN missions across the world. –Luc van de Goor, Megan Price, Erwin van Veen, William J. Durch, Sofía Sebastián, Clingendael Institute and the Stimson Centre
Farewell to Arms: Political Approaches to Ending Insurgencies
Even in cases where an agreement is reached between a government and insurgent group, sustaining a stable and lasting peace requires ensuring that former combatants do not return to the battlefield. This report examines the evolution of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration programs and the emergence of new approaches to DDR. –Robert Muggah, World Politics Review
Renewed Conflict in Lebanon: Contingency Planning Memorandum No. 22
Regional conflicts, most notably years of civil war in Syria, have placed Lebanon at renewed risk of relapsing into armed conflict. This paper explores a series of options to mitigate the potential, or at least potential effects, of conflict in Lebanon, focusing especially on how to insulate the country from the fighting in Syria. –Mona Yaccoubian, Council on Foreign Relations
A Job Half Done: SSR and the Afghan Transition
Afghanistan will face a sensitive and dangerous period of transition when American troops complete their planned withdrawal in 2016. This policy brief argues that the currently proposed short-term and rigid withdrawal plan, which would result in zero international troops by 2016, could pose serious risks for Afghanistan’s transition. Even in their smaller numbers international forces still play an important role as a buffer between armed groups competing for political power in Afghanistan. –Mark Sedra, ISPI
Women and Girls in the Afghanistan Transition
As international forces continue to drawdown their presence in Afghanistan, now is the time to consolidate the gains that have been made in gender-equality and close the remaining gaps between men and women. Although there have been serious strides and genuine improvements made for girls and women in politics, the economy, and education, these advances remain tenuous. –Catherine Powell, Council on Foreign Relations
Limiting Armed Drone Proliferation
This new report, released by the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that the Obama administration should implement a policy that places transparent and clear limits on the use and sales of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), to avoid their proliferation beyond what has already occurred. The report also argues that drones are unique in the ways that they can destabilize relations between countries and intensify armed conflict. —Michah Zenko and Sarah Kreps, Council on Foreign Relations
Security Sector Reform Action Plans for the South Caucasus countries
A new edited book by the Centre for European and North Atlantic Affairs offers recommendations for security sector reform in South Caucasus countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The SSR experience of Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovak Republic were explored to assess their relevance in the South Caucasus. – Barbora Padrtová, ed., Centre for European and North Atlantic Affairs
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