Want to keep up to date on the SSR field? Once a week, the CSG’s Security Sector Reform Resource Centre project posts pertinent news articles, reports, projects, and event updates on SSR over the past week. Click here to sign-up and have the SSR Weekly News Roundup delivered straight to your inbox every week!
SSR Resource Centre
Security Sector Reform and the Paradoxical Tension between Local Ownership and Gender Equality
Based on research published in Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, this Academic Spotlight blog contribution analyzes the tension that can exist between the principles of local ownership and gender equality that guide Security Sector Reform (SSR) programmes when gender discrimination and patriarchal values characterize the local environment.
Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration: Does ownership actually matter?
In the twelfth contribution to the Academic Spotlight blog series, Walt Kilroy discusses how the outcomes of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs are affected by the way in which they are implemented. More participatory approaches, where ex-combatants feel they have had more say and greater ownership, lead to better results. This is important for how DDR can contribute to the wider peace process and to peacebuilding itself. Establishing trust during DDR – or undermining it when promises are felt to have been broken – is significant for political reconstruction.
Centre for Security Governance
Event video - Refugees, IDPs and Peacebuilding in the Contemporary Middle East
The Centre for Security Governance (CSG), Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA), and Wilfrid Laurier University Global Studies department (WLU) are hosting a series of eight online seminars focusing on the theme of “Contemporary Debates on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding.” The third event in this series - ‘Refugees, IDPs and peacebuilding in the Contemporary Middle East’ - took place on Wednesday November 25.
The video of the event is now available here. | A Storify version of this event is also available here.
News
UN Security Council adopts first-ever resolution on youth, peace and security
The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on youth, peace and security that urges greater representation by youth in the prevention and resolution of conflict. It encourages all those involved in the planning for disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration to consider the needs of youth affected by armed conflict. - UN News Centre
El Salvador Security Forces Behind 90% of Reported Abuses: Official
El Salvador’s human rights ombudsman has presented findings on abuses reportedly committed by state security forces, noting an increase in police misconduct. He petitioned the government to take on the exercise of internal control and discipline over the security forces. - Michael Lohmuller, Insight Crime
Colombia Rocked by Major Police Corruption Scandal
President Santos announced the creation of a new commission to investigate the institution of the police and to propose ways to improve the entity. The announcement came in the midst of an ongoing corruption investigation into illegal surveillance on journalists. - Telesur
Britain signs deal to extend military training in Kenya
After half a decade of protracted negotiations, Kenya and Britain signed a deal to allow British troops to continue military training in Kenya for five more years. In addition to using the land to train for hot-weather warfare, British soldiers also help train and equip Kenya’s security forces. - Defence Web
Kenya Police Shootings Kill Hundreds Since 2009, Rights Group Says
A Kenyan rights group said that police and security forces are responsible for nearly 300 gun-related killings in the past two years, including cases of summary execution. While the police say the numbers are exaggerated, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority has also raised concerns about the killings. - Mohammed Yusuf, Voice of America
Bosnian Serb Party Demands Top Court’s Reform
The Serbian Democratic Party will present a proposal for a new law on the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The proposal would remove the three international judges currently sitting on the Constitutional Court, but would keep the total number of judges at nine. - Rodolfo Toe, Balkan Insight
Bosnian Serbs halt cooperation with national police and court
Following a war crimes raid, the government of Bosnia’s autonomous Serb region announced that it will break off cooperation with the Bosnian court, prosecutors, and police. The government accused the court of demonstrating a lack of trust in the regional police by not giving advance warning of the raid. - Gordana Katana, Euro News
Transparency International is running a contest where citizens can vote for the most symbolic corruption case from a list selected by experts on the subject. The aim of the initiative is for decision-makers to understand the urgency to act and stop the corrupt from getting away with their crimes. - Transparency International
Analysis
In this blog, the author analyzes how the implementation of the rule of law and judiciary reforms relates to Ukraine’s economic potential. He cites the reforms as critical to the program advocated by the International Monetary Fund and to the effort to break from past corrupt practices and poor economic performance. - Robert Kahn, Council on Foreign Relations
Winning the peace in Northern Ireland
In this blog post, the author discusses the remaining challenges to peace in Northern Ireland. Noting the presence of paramilitary groupings and a political crisis within the national legislate, he analyzes the continued focus on ethnic and religious identities, and how they have been affected by the peace agreement and binary political configuration. - Alec Forss, Insight on Conflict
Keep your eyes open, speak out: we can fight the menace of corruption in Nigeria
Transparency International and Afrobarometer recently published People and Corruption: Africa Survey 2015, in which three-quarters of Nigerians surveyed said they felt corruption had increased in the past year. The author highlights some of the initiatives being undertaken at the local level to combat the prevalence of corruption and bribery. - Temitope Fashola, The Guardian
Horrific attacks prompt South Sudan’s communities to form armed groups
In this analytical piece, the author highlights how the violence in South Sudan has led young men from some communities to form armed groups for protection. The country’s waning faith in the army has led these groups to gain support, especially in ethnic groups that feel marginalized. - Simona Foltyn, The Guardian
Nurturing political consensus – advances against the odds in Zimbabwe
In this blog post, the author analyzes how political space for dialogue on security sector reform (SSR) can be created when the term is rejected as a regime-change tool by the political elite. Based on the experience of the Zimbabwe Peace and Security Programme, he cites four elements for building meaningful political consensus: legitimacy, timing, tools, and substance. - Pedro Mendes, The International Security Sector Advisory Team
Mapping the Network Effects of a Militarized Policy in Mexico
The authors discuss their forthcoming research on the effects U.S.- Mexican policy on the dynamics of violence between government actors and drug-trafficking organizations. Their findings confirm claims that the Mexican government’s military strategy, including the nationwide employment of federal police, was ineffective. - Lee Cotton and Cassy Dorff, Political Violence at a Glance
Venezuela’s Historic Elections Means Little for Security
The author analyzes the recent elections in Venezuela and notes that they are unlikely to lead to new security strategies or alter the dynamics of organized crime. The outgoing party took a hardline approach towards crime, which was often linked to human rights abuses, but defunding the current programs would not satisfy voters. - Arron Daugherty, Insight Crime
Central America’s Violent Northern Triangle
The author outlines the sources of violence within the so-called Northern Triangle in Central America and what the Salvadoran, Guatemalan, and Honduran governments are trying to do about it. The major factors contributing to insecurity in the region are the proliferation of gangs, the region’s use as a transshipment point for U.S. –bound narcotics, and high rates of impunity. - Danielle Renwick, The International Relations and Security Network
The author discusses his research on how military networks are upheld in post-conflict countries. In a recent article where he compared two different ex-mid-level commanders and the networks of ex-combatants that they controlled, he addressed the question of why some demobilized command structures are remobilized during times of armed conflict, while others are not.- Anders Themner, Mats Utas Blog
Defense Experts Highlight Effectiveness of Human Rights Conditioning
The authors discuss the debate over suspending U.S. military aid to foreign security forces with poor human rights records. While the contention that doing so can cause an improvement in forces’ behavior contradicts military views, the point has been raised in recent Congressional hearings and think tank research. - Alexis Kedo and Colby Goodman, Security Assistance Monitor
Publications
Local Ownership in Security: Case Studies of Peacebuilding Approaches
This report explores ways to achieve meaningful local ownership in the security sector. It provides nearly forty case studies of civil society and security actors using the principles of peacebuilding to work together towards human security. Three roundtable conferences created opportunities for civil society and security sector leaders to share their case studies and identify patterns in their lessons. It includes chapters on local ownership, DDR, capacity building for human security, gender mainstreaming and security, and more. This is a fantastic tools for civil society organizations as well as SSR and security governance experts and practitioners. - Lisa Schirch, with Deborah Mancini-Griffoli, Alliance for Peacebuilding, GPPAC, Kroc Institute
Global Militarisation Index 2015
The Global Militarisation Index from the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) presents on an annual basis the relative weight and importance of a country’s military apparatus in relation to its society as a whole. Covering 152 states, the index also examines the relationships between militarization and human development. In 2015, the Middle East remains the region with the highest level of militarization.
Matching needs with resources: National Police Reserve and community security in Kenya’s frontiers
This new Saferworld report analyzes the needs of the Kenyan National Police Reserve to determine what level of investment would be appropriate to make the NPR a more effective outfit for community security in the country’s arid and semi-arid lands. The report focuses on the problems faced by the NPR, particularly in relation to their ability to respond to public demand for effective security provision. It highlights the challenges faced by the NPR and identifies lessons and opportunities for improving its professionalism and accountability.
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