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Abstract: This report deals with a series of Indonesian military documents that were
passed to the West Papua Project -WPP- in early 2011.1 The documents
provide remarkable insights into how the Indonesian military (Tentara
Nasional Indonesia – TNI), operates within the disputed territory of West
Papua (disputed, that is, between the vast majority of Papuans and the
Indonesian government), and how they view West Papuan civil society. The
documents reveal the names and activities of Indonesian intelligence agents;
describe how traditional Papuan communities are monitored; and include a
detailed analysis of both the West Papuan armed guerrilla groups and the
non-violent civil society organisations which promote self-determination.
Identifying so many West Papuan leaders and others as ―separatists‖, these
documents effectively show that support for independence is widespread and
surprisingly well organised. West Papuans have long complained of living
under an Indonesian military ―occupation‖ and these documents go a long
way to substantiating this claim.
Abstract: After the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, Cambodia set about the difficult process of state-building. Despite violent clashes in 1997-98, the Cambodian government has been largely successful in establishing full control of military forces, into which former Khmer Rouge soldiers have been reintegrated. The Cambodian government, with support of donors, successfully improved infrastructure throughout the country, built up capacity in key state institutions, and provided basic public services to the people. Behind these achievements was assistance from a grassroots network built by the Cambodian People‟s Party in the 1980s. This network is characterized by patronage connections between the government and village chiefs, and between the latter and villagers. Consequently, the legitimacy of the state has been strengthened. In contrast, social empowerment has been delayed, and people's political rights and freedoms have been restricted by the state. As shown by the recent increase of corruption charges and land tenure disputes, the imbalance between the powerful state and a stunted civil society is a potential factor of instability.
Abstract: The Philippine government is experimenting with a creative
but risky strategy to bring peace to Mindanao. It has three
goals: demonstrate that good governance in the Autonomous
Region of Muslim Mindanao is possible through
a two-year reform program; bring separate discussions
with two insurgencies, the Moro National Liberation Front and the much larger, better-armed Moro Islamic
Liberation Front together; and hammer out the
territory and powers of a future Moro “sub-state” in peace
talks with the MILF. Until now, the government has not
made clear how the three components fit together, but it
may reveal its hand – at least in part – in mid-August 2011,
when it is widely expected to present a new proposal to
the MILF. After President Benigno S. “Noynoy” Aquino III
took office in June 2010, he said that resolving the conflict
in Mindanao was a priority, and the current occupants of
the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process are determined to find the formula for peace that
eluded their predecessors. The idea of “convergence” is
the result.
While many aspects are unclear, the thinking may run something
like this: A 2008 agreement with the MILF broke
down just before the final signing because of concerns in
Manila about Philippine sovereignty and among non-MILF
groups – both Christian and Muslim – in Mindanao about
protecting their political and economic interests. The Aquino
government knows the same could happen again unless the
sceptics are on board. It has postponed scheduled elections
in the ARMM and seems to believe that if it handpicks who
will run the region for the next two years, it could be possible
to clean it up in a way that proves autonomy need not
be synonymous with corruption, poverty and private armies.
At the same time, positions within the ARMM could
be used as sweeteners to entice members of the MNLF, who
are unhappy that their own 1996 peace agreement was never
fully implemented, to cooperate. The government also hopes
that Muslim civil society organisations can help push the
MILF and MNLF onto one negotiating track.
Abstract: The Asia Foundation commissioned a study in August 2010 to examine the dynamics of gender and conflict
in Mindanao. Leslie Dwyer and Rufa Guiam conducted field-based research and a literature review
to identify challenges and opportunities for women and men in community and national peacebuilding.
Their report argues that programming is more effective when comprehensive gender analysis is utilized,
and that such an approach can be transformative in societies trying to emerge from conflict.
Abstract: Enthusiasts of human security argue that what is needed in the post-Cold-War period is a
foreign policy agenda that is more ‘people-centred’ than the state-centred focus of security
policy during the Cold War period. Among the most enthusiastic proponents of the human
security paradigm in the 1990s was the Canadian government, which, in partnership with
a number of other like-minded governments, sought to press the human security agenda,
taking a number of human security initiatives. However, since the late 1990s, we have seen
a paradox: the concept has attracted increased attention from scholars while its salience
among policy-makers appears to be declining. Using the case of the Canadian government’s
policy towards the crisis in Timor in September 1999, we explore the difficulty that
policy-makers have had in moving human security from the rhetorical realm to the level of
concrete policy that makes a difference to the safety of people whose security is threatened.
We conclude that there was a significant gap between Canada’s human security rhetoric
and Ottawa’s actual policy in Timor. While the Canadian government did eventually
contribute troops to the International Force, East Timor (INTERFET), we show that
Canada’s response was slow, cautious, and minimalist. There was neither the willingness
nor the capacity to be at the forefront of the efforts to send a robust force to East Timor.
This case demonstrates some important limits of the human security agenda, and why this
agenda remained so firmly in the realm of the rhetorical in the 1990s.
Efforts
Abstract: Over 300,000 children are estimated to be conscripted participants in conflicts
throughout the world. Depending on the particular armed group that
employs child soldiers, girls represent 6 to 50% of child soldiers. Despite this
prevalence of involvement, the experience of girls as soldiers in war and political
conflict has rarely been investigated. In order to build a foundation for more
focused study on girl soldier experiences, this literature review aims to provide
a comprehensive report of girl soldiers throughout the world. The analysis focused
on three aspects of conflict experience: (1) how girls become affiliated
with armed groups; (2) their experiences while associated with armed groups;
and (3) the effects of participation in war. Particular attention was given to
whether girls’ experiences vary across geographic area. Generally, in African
conflicts (e.g., Sierra Leone and northern Uganda) girls become affiliated with
armed groups through abduction. Often, they experience sexual abuse and,
as a result, are stigmatized by their families and communities when they return
home. In contrast, in the Americas (e.g., Colombia and El Salvador) and
in Indonesia/South Pacific (e.g., Philippines and Sri Lanka) girls become involved
as an escape from unpleasant home lives. These girls are less likely to
experience sexual abuse, and do not experience the same stigmatization from
families and communities. Often these girls are taught a skill, such as nursing,
while with an armed group but are unable to find job opportunities post-war
using their newly acquired skill. The apparent variations in girls’ experiences in
armed conflict have implications for both research and application in helping
focus attention on the conflict-specific aspects of girls’ experiences. In some
regions both research and applied efforts need to focus on the effects and treatment
of sexual abuse, whereas in other conflicts, time and resources would be
better spent at understanding and promoting female integration into the postconflict
occupational sphere.
Abstract: The civil war that had debilitated Myanmar from 1947, had a break since the early 90’s consequent to a series of cease fire agreements entered into by the military junta with 17 ethnic armed groups between 1989-1997. The hopes of the ethnic groups for a political solution faded when the military started pressurising the ethnic groups from April 2009 onwards in an attempt to disarm and transform them into border guards under the Myanmar army.
They were also allowed to form political parties for contesting the elections in November 2010 to pursue their aspirations. Save for a few minor groups, most ethnic groups refused to disarm or become border guards. Some ethnic political parties did however contest the elections and were successful in getting some of their representatives elected especially at the state level.
The new “civilian” government formed in March 2011 now seems to be seeking a military solution, in total disregard of cease-fire agreements, by attacking the ethnic groups in selected areas especially in Kachin and Shan States in recent months. In going for military operations, the Government perhaps wants to safeguard the interests of its neighbours China and Thailand who have invested heavily in the areas occupied by ethnic groups and thereby have their concurrence for initiating military action against these groups. The ethnic groups are getting together by forming an alliance and gearing themselves up for a revived civil war.
Abstract: Burma has extensive biodiversity and abundant natural resources, which have in recent
years been threatened by militarization, large-scale resource extraction, and infrastructure
development. Burma has some laws and policies related to protecting people and the
environment, but the country lacks the necessary administrative and legal structures,
standards, safeguards and political will to enforce such provisions. The country is also a
party to several international treaties relating to the environment, including those on
protection of biodiversity and indigenous peoples, wildlife, and countering climate change.
It is unclear, however, how the contents of those treaties that have been ratified have been
incorporated into domestic law.
Control over natural resources is a major cause of conflict in ethnic areas, where the majority
of Burma’s natural resources remain. Foreign direct investment in Burma is concentrated
in energy and extractive sectors and often results in militarization and displacement. Recently there has been heightened interest from countries in the region for more investment
opportunities. Given the lack of sound economic policy and unwillingness of the state to
reconcile with ethnic armed groups, an increase in foreign investment could have a major
impact on the environment and communities living in these areas.
In order to take steps towards ecologically and socially responsible development in Burma,
Burma must have a sound policy framework for environmental protection and sustainable
development that enables citizens to take part in decision making about their own
development, and ensures responsible private sector investment. Until then, new foreign
investors investing in energy, extractive and plantation sectors should refrain from investing.
Existing investors should immediately cease all project-related work - particularly in sensitive
areas throughout Burma - until adequate safeguards are in place to ensure investment does
not lead to unnecessary destruction of the natural environment and local livelihoods. At
the same time, International NGOs and UN agencies should ensure people are recognized
as key actors in their own development, rather than passive recipients of commodities and
services; and civil society organizations should empower communities throughout Burma
to understand their rights.
Abstract: In November 2009, the massacre of 57 people in the
province of Maguindanao in Mindanao garnered
global attention. Directed by the politically powerful
Ampatuan clan, against the family members of
their political rivals, the Mangudadatu, many of the
individuals accused of participating in the massacre
belonged to Civilian Volunteer Organizations - CVOs -
controlled by the Ampatuans. Such CVOs
were recruited and funded by the local government
units - LGUs - which form a core part of the country’s
national security policy. Despite the fact that
they were under the control of the LGUs they had
come to effectively serve as the private army of the
Ampatuans.
This was a graphic example of an everyday
phenomenon in Mindanao where private armies,
militia, "civilian defense forces" and vigilante forces
have become indistinguishable. The Philippines is
marked by weak and fragmented public security
which is dominated by lethal clan rivalries, dynastic
politics and underdevelopment. Weak and poorly
implemented gun laws mean weapons are readily
available and often used. Militia have evolved to be
actors in armed violence and violent conflict across
Mindanao, particularly Muslim Mindanao which
is predominantly the focus of this report.
Abstract: This report is the culmination of a six-month project commissioned
by the Women’s Refugee Commission and co-funded by the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to address the
rights and needs of displaced persons with disabilities, with a
particular focus on women (including older women), children and
youth. Based on field research in five refugee situations, as well as
global desk research, the Women’s Refugee Commission sought to
map existing services for displaced persons with disabilities, identify
gaps and good practices and make recommendations on how to
improve services, protection and participation for displaced persons
with disabilities. The objective of the project was to gather initial
empirical data and produce a Resource Kit that would be of
practical use to UN and nongovernmental organization (NGO) field
staff working with displaced persons with disabilities.
Abstract: This report details strong evidence of military involvement in seven killings and three enforced disappearances of leftist activists since President Benigno Aquino III took office on June 30, 2010.
Abstract: Three decades of civil war and cold war powers interference have resulted in an extremely painful
situation for children in Cambodia. They suffer from the physical and psychological scars of conflict, from
displacement and exploitation, from insufficient health care and environmental insecurity, from a political
culture of corruption which diverts funds from their educational and health objectives and from a brutalisation of
the society which endangers their freedom from fear. This study attempts to review the vast range of threats to
which Cambodian children may be subject and to use the Human Security approach to highlight how
interdependent these threats are, thus using the academic revolution introduced by this paradigm in threat
assessment. But it has also attempts to exploit the more controversial “operational” side of HS in sketching
personal insights on how the dealing with these respective threats may be improved, notably through more
coordinated responses.
Abstract: Over the last two decades, KHRG has documented the abuse of convicts taken by the thousands from prisons across Burma and forced to serve as porters for frontline units of Burma's state army, the Tatmadaw. In the last two years alone, Tatmadaw units have used at least 1,700 convict porters during two distinct, ongoing combat operations in Karen State and eastern Bago Division; this report presents full transcripts and analysis of interviews with 59 who escaped. In interviews with KHRG, every convict porter described being forced to carry unmanageable loads over hazardous terrain with minimal rest, food and water. Most told of being used deliberately as human shields during combat; forced to walk before troops in landmine-contaminated areas; and being refused medical attention when wounded or ill. Many saw porters executed when they were unable to continue marching or when desperation drove them to attempt escape. Abuses consistently described by porters violate Burma's domestic and international legal obligations. If such abusive practices are to be halted, existing legal provisions must be enforced by measures that ensure accountability for the individuals that violate them. This report is intended to augment Dead Men Walking: Convict Porters on the Front Lines in Eastern Burma, a joint report released by KHRG and Human Rights Watch in July 2011.
Abstract: This 70-page report details abuses against convict porters including summary executions, torture, and the use of the convicts as “human shields.” The military should stop forcibly recruiting prisoners as porters and mistreating them, and those responsible for ordering or participating in such treatment should be prosecuted, Human Rights Watch and the Karen Human Rights Group said.
Abstract: Reforming land tenure is an integral part of the process of post-conflict development which is
currently underway in Cambodia. However, the land tenure reforms have remained focused on the
desire to achieve primarily economic gains, seeking improved access for citizens to formal credit,
higher land values, higher rates of investment in land, and increases in income. Though such
outcomes can be attributed to a process of reducing income-based poverty, the social and equity
impacts of tenure reform must be addressed more directly if well-being is to improve and the
potential for future conflict is to be reduced.
This paper examines the interface between land tenure and human security in post-conflict
Cambodia in order to help reveal ways in which tenure reform can make a more coherent
contribution toward broad-based and sustainable development. Efforts to improve human security
are premised on the understanding that, in order for the development process to be effective,
individuals must first be empowered to participate in primarily economic opportunities while at the
same time be protected from threats that may compromise their physical, social, or psychological
well-being. In this context, a functional system of tenure reform must address the underlying
conditions or factors that provide people with constructive coping mechanisms to deal with threats
to their security.
Abstract: The post-Soeharto era in Indonesia has been marked by the eruption of several violent internal conflicts throughout the country. This combined with the transition to democracy begun by Soeharto's successor, Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, have had direct impacts on the ways in which conflicts are managed in the country. This report takes a practical look at the management of internal conflicts in Indonesia, focussing its attention on three affected regions - Poso, Maluku, and Papua . It attempts to fill the gap in existing comparative research and analysis in this area in order to inform future peacemaking efforts in the country. The publication is one of three produced as part of the HD Centre's project
Abstract: The decades-old conflict in Mindanao, southern Philippines, is often framed as a Muslim–
Christian conflict and reinterpreted as such within the US-led global war on terror, with the
Muslim secessionist movement standing accused of providing a hub for international jihad.
In the meantime, global economic integration has made it easier to ignore the agrarian roots
of violent conflict in Mindanao, enabling national and sub-national actors, including the
international community and the Muslim or Moro separatists, to dismiss the issue of
agrarian justice. We counter these arguments by using an agrarian political economy
framework to uncover the roots of resilient violence in Mindanao, using historical narratives
of the region from the end of the nineteenth century that accentuate the links between
state-making, control of land and labour, and processes of agrarian modernization. We
emphasize the critical role played by the Muslim landed elites who shaped processes of
state-making by brokering the interests of their clans with exogenous actors at the national
and international level.We shed light on emerging state policies and competing interests
among other landed and agribusiness elites that resulted in the spread of a parallel
underground economy, renewing opportunities for violence and crime within semiautonomous
social worlds.
Abstract: This paper is a gendered analysis of peacebuilding capacity in the context of forced migration. Scholars have tended to focus primarily on potential threats from conflict-generated diasporas1 rather than on how they contribute to peace processes in their homelands. Understanding how the millions of refugees affected by armed conflicts may, as non-state actors, help to facilitate peace making and peace building not only addresses some of the needs of refugees, but develops new policy and practices necessary to address contemporary ethno-political conflict. This study of women from Burma in exile reinforces the need to implement UNSCR 1325 in a way that strengthens the peace capacity of diaspora women‟s organizations in host countries as well as those at home.
Abstract: Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) moved into North Sudan's South Kordofan state capital Kadugli at the start of the month, triggering large-scale fighting with Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) units from the region. The UN reported heavy bombardment of villages by the SAF, widespread civilian casualties and at least 73,000 people forced to flee. It also accused the government of blocking aid deliveries and intimidating peacekeepers.
Violence spilled over into South Sudan, with several villages bombed by the North. On 28 June the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (North) signed an agreement on political and security arrangements for South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
In Afghanistan, a standoff between parliament and President Hamid Karzai threatens to deepen the country's political crisis.
Proposals by Senegal's ruling party to amend the constitution were condemned by opposition politicians as undemocratic and sparked unprecedented violent protests.
Myanmar/Burma saw its worst clashes since 2009, as fighting broke out between government forces and the Kachin ceasefire group. Tens of thousands have been displaced and some 20 reportedly killed.
In Mexico, a number of incidents highlighted the deterioration in security around Monterrey, the country's second city, industrial hub and capital of Nuevo León state.
In Venezuela, speculation about President Hugo Chávez's health intensified, leading to infighting within his ruling PSUV party and highlighting the country's lack of alternative leadership.
Abstract: The World Drug Report documents developments in
global drug markets and tries to explain the factors that
drive them. Its analysis of trends and emerging challenges
informs national and international drug and
crime priorities and policies, and provides a solid foundation
of evidence for counternarcotics interventions.
Drug markets and drug use patterns change rapidly, so
measures to stop them must also be quick to adapt. Thus
the more comprehensive the drug data we collect and
the stronger our capacity to analyse the problem, the
better prepared the international community will be to
respond to new challenges.
Abstract: The election for Aceh governor and other local executive posts – now scheduled for 14 November 2011 – has deepened an old rivalry within the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM) between incumbent Governor Irwandi Yusuf, its former propaganda chief, and those around its ex-“prime minister”, Malik Mahmud. The two factions ran against each other in 2006, with Irwandi defeating the ticket backed by Malik. Irwandi is leading in the polls again, but five years later, the context is very different with Malik and his allies controlling the GAM political party, Partai Aceh. Sporadic violence between the rival camps is likely but not on a scale to cause serious concern. The bigger problem for Aceh is how to curb the autocratic tendencies of Partai Aceh without undermining the political gains won in the 2005 Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that brought an end to three decades of conflict.
Abstract: Thailand will hold a long-awaited federal election on July 3, pitting the governing Democrat Party against the opposition Puea Thai party, as well as a group of smaller parties. For some Thai politicians, this poll will be the culmination of a process of national reconciliation that began in the wake of bloody riots in Bangkok last April and May, during which at least eighty people were killed, hundreds were injured, and an unknown numbers of protestors were taken into police custody, often without charges filed.
But the election could simply accelerate Thailand's political meltdown, underway since a coup in September 2006 deposed then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who fled into exile. Most likely, the poll will not resolve the increasingly deep divisions in Thai society--between the rural poor who have backed Thaksin and the urban middle classes; between archroyalist supporters of the Thai monarchy and those who would like a real constitutional monarchy; and between residents of the north and northeast of Thailand and residents of Bangkok and the south.
Instead, any of the plausible poll scenarios--an opposition victory nullified by another coup, or a Democrat win put together through backroom coalition building--is likely to inflame segments of Thailand, causing more unrest in what was once one of the most stable countries in Asia.
Abstract: The Examples from the Ground are concrete illustrations of ways in which a gender perspective has been integrated in different security sector institutions around the world. They range from measures to counter human trafficking in Kosovo, to women’s organisations’ involvement with security institutions in Nepal, to female parliamentarians’ contribution to post-conflict reconstruction in Rwanda. These examples can help policymakers, trainers and educators better understand and demonstrate the linkages between gender and SSR.
The examples are organised around the following nine themes, for which a short introduction is provided:
• Police Reform and Gender
• Defence Reform and Gender
• Justice Reform and Gender
• Penal Reform and Gender
• Border Management and Gender
• Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector and Gender
• National Security Policy-Making and Gender
• Civil Society Oversight of the Security Sector and Gender
• SSR Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation and Gender
Individual examples can also be downloaded individually, in English or in French, at: http://gssrtraining.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view;=article&id;=4&Itemid;=131⟨=en
Abstract: Russia and Mexico, two of the world’s most murderous countries for the press, are heading in different directions in combating deadly anti-press violence, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in its newly updated Impunity Index. The index, which calculates unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population, found improvement in Russia as journalist murders ebbed and prosecutors obtained two high-profile convictions. But deadly anti-press violence continued to climb in Mexico, where authorities appear powerless in bringing killers to justice.
Colombia continued a years-long pattern of improvement, CPJ’s index found, while conditions in Bangladesh reflected a slight upturn. But the countries at the top of the index—Iraq, Somalia, and the Philippines—showed either no improvement or even worsening records. Iraq, with an impunity rating three times worse than that of any other nation, is ranked first for the fourth straight year. Although crossfire and other conflict-related deaths have dropped in Iraq in recent years, the targeted killings of journalists spiked in 2010.
“The findings of the 2011 Impunity Index lay bare the stark choices that governments face: Either address the issue of violence against journalists head-on or see murders continue and self-censorship spread,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “Convictions in Russia are a hopeful sign after years of indifference and denial. But Mexico’s situation is deeply troubling, with violence spiking as the government promises action but fails to deliver.”
CPJ’s annual Impunity Index, first published in 2008, identifies countries where journalists are murdered regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes. For this latest index, CPJ examined journalist murders that occurred between January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2010, and that remain unsolved. Only the 13 nations with five or more unsolved cases are included on the index. Cases are considered unsolved when no convictions have been obtained.
Impunity is a key indicator in assessing levels of press freedom and free expression in nations worldwide. CPJ research shows that deadly, unpunished violence against journalists often leads to vast self-censorship in the rest of the press corps. From Somalia to Mexico, CPJ has found that journalists avoid sensitive topics, leave the profession, or flee their homeland to escape violent retribution.
Abstract: This report examines the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Viet Nam by evaluating some of the successes and challenges the country has faced for implementing the R2P mandate. Viet Nam’s history of violence, war, social upheaval and economic hardship make the prevention of future mass atrocities critical for the country itself and for the region. The aim of this report is to present a background of relevant issues that have restrained the country’s capacity to implement the R2P and to offer recommendations for principle implementations and capacity improvement. The report provides specific insight into the weaknesses of Viet Nam’s human rights status, the vulnerabilities of ethnic minorities to human rights abuses and the potential for these abuses to escalate into the commission of mass atrocities. The overall purpose of this report is to provide useful information for professionals and practitioners with an interest in Viet Nam who may be unfamiliar with the country’s current political developments and human rights status that are relevant to the implementation of the R2P.
