Mine action is at the nexus of peace, security and development UN official

The latter figure was the highest number of casualties registered since While casualties due to anti-personnel mines decreased, the overall increase was driven by casualties from victim-activated improvised explosive devices, anti-vehicle mines and explosive remnants of war. The countries with the highest casualty numbers were Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, the Syrian Arab Republic and Ukraine; in response, the United Nations prioritized assistance to those five countries during the reporting period. A service provided by. ReliefWeb has been the leading online source for reliable and timely humanitarian information on global crises and disasters since Learn more about ReliefWeb.

As another ReliefWeb Labs project - ReliefWeb Lite - is 'decommissioned', this post explains why that can happen, even with successful projects, and the benefits of abandoning prototypes that don't …. Skip to main content. Published on 31 Jul — View Original. Global trends in conflict 5. Drought Other Vulnerable groups: ReliefWeb Informing humanitarians worldwide. A service provided by ReliefWeb has been the leading online source for reliable and timely humanitarian information on global crises and disasters since Learning lessons from ReliefWeb Labs As another ReliefWeb Labs project - ReliefWeb Lite - is 'decommissioned', this post explains why that can happen, even with successful projects, and the benefits of abandoning prototypes that don't … Visit the blog.

Connect With ReliefWeb Receive news about us. Submit Content Share information through ReliefWeb to better inform humanitarians worldwide. How to submit content. Peacebuilding essentially implies the consolidation and promotion of peace and the building of trust in the aftermath of a conflict to prevent a relapse into conflict or war.


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More broadly outlined, it relates to integrated approaches to address violent conflict at different phases of the conflict cycle. To this end, this article sets out to examine to what extent peacebuilding programming in the area of conflict resolution and peacekeeping has been developed and is being implemented and integrated with other dimensions of peacekeeping endeavours on the African continent and further afield.

In the following analysis, the link is described between security and development with a view to clarifying the security-development nexus from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. Against this background, peacebuilding as a theoretical and practical tool in strengthening and solidifying peace processes is analysed.

Furthermore, the challenges that confront the international peace-building agenda, as well as measures, instruments and programmes to address armed conflicts from a peacebuilding perspective with specific emphasis on the African experience, are assessed and reflected upon. Finally, the South African view on conflict resolution and peacebuilding is explored. The link between conflict insecurity and development is a complex, but indisputable one. Because the nature of conflicts has changed fundamentally in the post-Cold War era, contemporary conflicts are now increasingly internal, intense and protracted, and their social, economic and environmental consequences are considerable and long lasting UNDP undated.

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The principles advocated by the Commission on Global Governance in clearly pointed towards changing perceptions of what constitutes security. Will they and their families have enough to eat?

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Will they lose their jobs? Will their streets and neighbourhoods be safe from crime? Will they be tortured by a repressive state? Since , a host of role-players considered, proposed and reflected on appropriate human security definitions and conceptualisations. Upon closer scrutiny it appears that some middle-powers e.

Canada base their approach to human security mainly on human rights and an extended arms control nexus; thus a combination of the first and second dimensions. The Asian approach e. The economic crisis confronting the Asian countries today has been a direct blow to the socially vulnerable — the poor, women and children, and the elderly — threatening their survival and dignity. The above-mentioned clearly points towards a security-development nexus and should be viewed against the background of linkages between security and development that formed a central focus of research during the latter half of the s.

From a more political policy point of view, Sending In view of the above, Tschirgi Not all development impacts the security environment. Conversely, not all security concerns have ramifications for development.

Assistance in mine action - Report of the Secretary-General (A/72/) [EN/AR] - World | ReliefWeb

Where peace and security are affected by factors that may cause, perpetuate, reduce, prevent or manage violent conflicts, peacebuilding comes into play. Lying at the nexus of development and security, peacebuilding requires a readiness to make a difference on the ground in preventing conflicts or establishing the conditions for a return to sustainable peace Tschirgi Since the early s peacekeeping operations have become charged, for example, with the task of enforcing peace, and of assuming de facto sovereignty over a territory, as in the case of East Timor and Kosovo.

As a consequence of developments, security policy and peacekeeping operations have increasingly assumed responsibility for managing large-scale socio-economic and political change. It has also been realised and recognised that investments in both conflict prevention and post-conflict resolution form an integral and central element of security policy.

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To this end, it is today accepted that to provide peace and security, policy instruments outside the toolbox of traditional security policy need to be mobilised. Importantly, the policy tools of development were never employed specifically to reduce the potential for violent conflict Sending In other words, the end of the Cold War offered an opportunity for international role-players to revisit dominant conceptions of security, and to devise integrated and coherent policy instruments and programmes to address violent conflict from a peacebuilding perspective.

As far as a proper understanding of peacebuilding is concerned, Tschirgi Proceeding beyond the traditional security military approaches of the Cold War era, peacebuilding seeks to address the proximate and root causes of contemporary conflicts, which include structural, political, socio-cultural, economic and environmental factors. An Agenda for Peace, introduced in by the UN Secretary-General, Boutros-Boutros Ghali, presented a concept of peacebuilding that has gained widespread acceptance in academic and political circles.

1. Introduction

However, Haugerudbraaten argues that the measures listed in An Agenda for Peace, namely disarming, restoring order, destroying weapons, repatriating refugees, training security forces, monitoring elections, advancing the protection of human rights, reforming institutions and promoting political participation, did not carry the notion of being sustained efforts that addressed the underlying or root causes of problems.

In addition, a host of questions and issues were also raised as a matter of discourse with regard to peacebuilding as a notion. Some of the most pressing questions were inter alia Haugerudbraaten those about:. After considerable debating and disagreements regarding the exact meaning of peacebuilding, the Secretary-General modified his position in the Supplement to An Agenda for Peace and suggested that peacebuilding could also be preventive UN Secretary-General This coincides with a some-what broader view that peacebuilding is essentially about removing or weakening factors that breed or sustain conflict, and reinforcing factors that build positive relations and sustain peace Hitchcock Hence it could be stated that peacebuilding has evolved from a strictly post-conflict undertaking to a concept with a broader meaning, and the general consensus would seem that peacebuilding efforts should ideally speaking already be attempted during the earliest indication of tension in a situation of potential conflict.

Against this background, Tschirgi To this end, conflict prevention and peacebuilding are often considered two sides of the same coin. However, it should be noted that the exact concept of peacebuilding remains an issue of conceptual confusion, disagreement and discourse Haugerudbraaten ; Shannon Disagreements especially revolve around the point that some international role-players or functionaries view peacebuilding as short- to medium-term undertakings aimed at preventing a resumption of violence, and not as long-term developmental and nation-building endeavours.

Others clearly view the purpose of peacebuilding as to avoid a return to conflict and argue that in some cases it may require ambitious long-term nation-building efforts by international actors. As far as this article is concerned, the view is taken that the role of peacebuilders could be salient when civil wars have ended not in the conquest of one of the parties, but rather in a peace settlement between two parties typically as in Mozambique. However, where civil war was the consequence of resource scarcity as earlier in the Horn of Africa or skewed land property structures as in Central America , one could only hope to accomplish limited objectives by promoting good governance.

In such cases, undertakings have to involve long-term processes, and a number of indigenous role-players must be involved Haugerudbraaten In other words, the aim, duration and actors involved should depend on specific peacebuilding challenges and would differ from one case to another. On a more practical note, the challenge for the UN — as the pre-eminent organisation responsible for international peace and security — was how to transform the short-term presence of peacekeepers into efforts aimed at societal transformation.

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Efforts aimed at building peace, as opposed to providing security, brought security thinking and practice into closer collaboration with development policy. Experiences from El Salvador and Mozambique, from Angola and Cambodia, all suggested that a central challenge for the UN would be to formulate policies and strategies that focused on the foundations necessary for the rebuilding and restoration of war-torn societies Sending Against this background, a range of international reforms throughout the international system has taken place to facilitate peacebuilding endeavours.

There were numerous proposals for a fundamental overhaul of the UN system, inter alia by the Report of the Panel of UN Peacekeeping Operations otherwise known as the Brahimi report. Furthermore, major aid agencies established conflict prevention and peacebuilding units. There was also an effort on the part of some Western governments to align their foreign, security and development policies and programmes to respond to the evolving conflict prevention and peacebuilding agenda of the contemporary international community Tschirgi Areas in the nexus of peace and security where, for instance, UNDP is most active are the demobilisation of former combatants, comprehensive demining action, sustainable return and reintegration of refugees and internally displaced persons, and the restoration of governance institutions to support the rule of law and build just and democratic societies.

Thus, the role that UNDP normally plays in a peace process is essentially a supplementary one — a role geared to coaxing the parties towards further accommodation in a peace negotiation that has already been triggered by a fundamental shift in the military and political balance. These questions will be examined in the section below. In addition to the above, there are especially three sectors where international actors have started to design and develop new programmes and activities to respond to peacebuilding challenges.

These are programming in the fields of governance, security sector reform and rule of law Tschirgi Traditionally neither development nor security agencies concerned themselves directly with governance programming. Today, with a series of weak, failing or vulnerable states, both development and security agencies have started with governance programming.

The UN, therefore, became increasingly aware of the need to integrate governance issues through the provision of technical assistance with regard to constitution making, election monitoring and public sector reform. In addition, other international organisations became involved in democratisation projects, civil society support, transparency and anti-corruption initiatives, as well as conflict resolution projects. In addition, it also involves the addressing of security issues through a fundamental restructuring of security institutions, such as the police and defence forces, as well as instituting civilian oversight to advance democratic control and accountability.

Traditionally, the security sector fell within the exclusive domain of political and security institutions. Nowadays it is recognised as central to peacebuilding and a great deal of work has been undertaken in this sector in recent times. Rule of law programming basically embraces multiple aspects, such as the promotion of human rights, constitution making, traditional justice mechanisms, and legal and penal reform.

Given its centrality to peacebuilding, there has been a proliferation of rule of law initiatives and activities in peacekeeping operations, post-conflict reconstruction, and in supporting governments to strengthen their legal institutions within a longer-term peacebuilding agenda. In addition, the focus will be directed on recent experiences on the African continent in the said sectors.

Finally, the South African approach to peace-building will specifically receive attention. The case of Kosovo is perhaps the most significant and outstanding case of a methodical and extensive peacebuilding undertaking in the contemporary era, as the UN for all practical purposes took charge of all the executive, legal and judicial competencies of this province. Since , the UN structures faced some daunting peacekeeping and peacebuilding challenges in Kosovo.

Although many of the northern parts of the province remained virtually untouched by the hostilities, towns such as Pec, Djakovica and Mitrovica sustained massive damage. Generally speaking, the public service structures in Kosovo were largely inoperative after the war with many municipalities functioning inadequately or not at all. On 10 June , the UN Security Council adopted Resolution which authorised the creation of an international presence, comprising a military and civilian branch.

Importantly, Resolution gave UNMIK the task of supporting the reconstruction of key infrastructure and other economic reconstruction. It also provided for extensive governance and rule of law programming.

Mine action is at 'the nexus' of peace, security and development: UN official

Its task was to eradicate the violence from Kosovo, which had become so much a part of Kosovan life. Its aim was to take the gun and the grenade off the streets, and to do so impartially Fursdon It also included the organising of elections. As an immediate priority, it was decided that UNMIK would work in the field of democratisation and institution building. This would relate to collaborating with other international organisations to identify the needs of local civil administrators and provide them with the required training.


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UNMIK was also tasked to undertake programmes to facilitate conditions that would support pluralistic political party structures, political diversity and a healthy democratic political climate. Concerning elections, UNMIK would organise and oversee the development of provisional institutions for democratic and autonomous self-government pending a political settlement. This included the holding of elections and the creation of an environment where free, fair and multi-ethnic elections would be possible.

In the field of human rights it was decided that UNMIK would strengthen the rule of law in Kosovo and develop mechanisms to ensure that the police, courts, administrative tribunals and other judicial structures could operate in accordance with international standards of criminal justice and human rights UN Secretary-General Two special tasks were identified, namely humanitarian assistance and demining action. The aim of humanitarian assistance was to ensure that adequate shelter, food, clean water, medical assistance and employment would be available to meet the protection needs of internally displaced persons and the growing number of returnees into Kosovo.

Humanitarian programmes would also target urgent and essential infrastructure repairs and short-term rebuilding efforts. It was decided that demining action would focus on humanitarian relief. This included the setting up of an information management system regarding a demining action database, defining the scope of the mine threat, mobilising demining action resources, and conducting demining action liaison and planning with other role-players, including KFOR.

In the longer term, the focus would be to co-ordinate demining action support for the reconstruction of Kosovo UN Secretary-General The fourth component of UNMIK, the reconstruction component, was tasked to promote peace and prosperity in Kosovo and to facilitate the development of an economic life that would bring better prospects for the future. It was decided that this component of the mission would be managed by the European Union.

The main functions of the reconstruction component would be to plan and monitor the reconstruction of Kosovo; prepare and evaluate policies in the economic, social and financial fields; and to co-ordinate between various donors and international financial institutions in order to ensure that all financial assistance was directed towards the relevant priorities UN Secretary-General The third phase would then be to build upon the second and would be the finalisation of preparations for and the conduct of elections. In the fourth phase, UNMIK would oversee and assist elected Kosovo representatives in their efforts to organise and establish provisional institutions for democratic and autonomous self-government.

It is, therefore, clear that the peace process for Kosovo has been considered in terms of the achievement of a desirable political end-state. In view of the above, Chapaux In fact, in Kosovo, UNDP participated actively in the assessment and planning of the peace process and worked closely with the rest of the international community to develop programmes to enable Kosovars to rebuild their lives and futures for a sustainable and stable Kosovo UNDP undated. However, what is needed — and presently lacking — is concrete action on the part of the leaders and people of Kosovo to implement measures to ensure that renewed conflict would not erupt UN Secretary-General Finally, it should be noted that the political strength and economic capacity of the Developing World have been instrumental in ensuring that peacebuilding has featured prominently as an integral part of peacekeeping in Kosovo.