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Abstract: An increase in asylum applications and refugee populations from conflict zones since
the late 1980s has led to considerable public, political and policy concern within the
European Union. Somalia has been one of the top refugee-producing countries in the
world for more than twenty years given the protracted nature of its conflict. Around
245,000 Somali asylum applications have been lodged in Europe since 1990, after
civil war began affecting large parts of country. Estimates of the remaining
population vary, but one World Bank estimate put this at 8.9m in 2008. There were
approximately 1.5m internally displaced persons in 2009, in addition to a total
estimated refugee population of nearly 700,000.
Based upon qualitative research with Somali refugees in two European host
countries – the UK and the Netherlands - this paper explores the micro-level
experiences and ongoing effects of the Somali conflict on their lives in exile.
Challenging predominant macro-level framings of refugees in these settings, it
supports a micro-level analysis of their experiences and lives. It analyses their
ongoing connections with the conflict in Somalia, and reveals how this can affect
aspects of their integration and emotional health while in exile, alongside social
problems such as poverty, drug use and divorce.
Abstract: This handbook is intended to serve as a document that provides relevant information on issues that external actors who interact with diasporas in development and peacebuilding will encounter. It does not present simple replicable techniques, tools or instruments; rather, the authors aim to explain the underlying philosophy and aspects of process involved in facilitating participation of diasporas in development and peacebuilding (Pretty et al., 1995: ii). How to best apply these principles will vary from context to context. The document is based on experiences with various diaspora communities in the five European countries (Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway), though many of the examples cited focus on the Somali diaspora and, more generally, on diasporas originating from Africa. A number of those experiences are described in detail in separate text boxes.
Abstract: Deradicalizing Islamist extremists may be even more important than getting them to simply disengage from terrorist activities, according to a new RAND Corporation study that examines counter-radicalization programs in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
Although there has been much research about the radicalization and recruitment of Islamist extremists, there has been little study until recently about how one deradicalizes those who have been recruited into the Islamist extremist movement.
A key question is whether the objective of counter-radicalization programs should be disengagement (a change in behavior) or deradicalization (a change in beliefs) of militants. A unique challenge posed by militant Islamist groups is that their ideology is rooted in a major world religion, Islam.
The RAND study indentifies and analyzes the processes through which militants leave Islamist extreme groups, assesses the effectiveness of deradicalization programs and summarizes the policies that could help to promote and accelerate the processes of deradicalization.
Abstract: This policy paper outlines the organisation and composition
of the Dutch armed forces with the aim to improve
– within the framework of its core activities – its capacity
to protect civilians in areas of armed conflict. As civil organisations,
IKV Pax Christi and Cordaid can make a
meaningful contribution to the discussion regarding the
future of the Dutch armed forces. The Ministry of Defence
(MoD) recently reopened this discussion with the
publication of an exploratory document, which set the
direction of the armed forces in the build-up to 2030.
Cordaid and IKV Pax Christi believe that the Dutch
armed forces should be better equipped to protect civilians.
The cornerstone of this argument is the recognition
of human dignity as the founding principle of the
international rule of law. This requires a ‘3D approach’
(Defence, Diplomacy & Development), because economic,
political and social development cannot be achieved
without security.
Abstract: The path into terrorism in the name of Islam is often described as a process of radicalisation. But to be radical is not necessarily to be violent. Violent radicals are clearly enemies of liberal democracies, but non-violent radicals might sometimes be powerful allies.
This report is a summary of two years of research examining the difference between violent and non-violent radicals in Europe and Canada. The report covers five countries: the UK, Canada, Denmark,
France and the Netherlands, focusing on the phenomenon
of ‘home-grown’ al-Qaeda inspired terrorism in these
countries. It represents a step towards a more nuanced understanding of behaviour across radicalised individuals, the appeal of the al-Qaeda narrative, and the role of governments and communities in responding.
Abstract: Afghan civilians deserve amends from warring parties for deaths, injuries, and property
losses—that is, some form of recognition and monetary compensation. Under international
law and agreements signed with the Afghan government, the troop contributing nations
(TCNs) of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are not liable for damage to
civilian property or civilian injury or death as a result of lawful operations. However, most
ISAF members now offer payments when such losses occur. This is a marked improvement
from the early days of the conflict when the US and its NATO allies declined to address civilian
harm. CIVIC’s research into the experiences of ISAF troops and Afghan civilians demonstrates that
when international military forces provide payment (henceforth called “compensation” to
indicate both monetary and in-kind help), especially combined with an apology for harm,
civilian hostility toward international forces decreases. However, the effectiveness of these
payments has been limited by the lack of uniform policies across ISAF nations, limited information
gathering about civilian harm generally and, in many cases, insensitive requirements
that civilians suffering losses take the initiative to file claims.
This report describes the policies and practices of major ISAF TCNs. It finds that soldiers as
well as civilians view amends for harm favorably. The process of investigation, negotiation
of payment, and offers of formal compensation are opportunities to strengthen relationships
with local leaders and communities, to explain what happened, and acknowledge loss.
Abstract: This issue includes the following articles: Anwar al-`Awlaqi: Profile of a Jihadi Radicalizer, by Christopher Heffelfinger; The Taliban Arrest Wave in Pakistan: Reasserting Strategic Depth?, by Thomas Ruttig; Untangling the Punjabi Taliban Network, by Raheel Khan; Insight into a Suicide Bomber Training Camp in Waziristan, by S.H. Tajik; Iran’s Ambiguous Role in Afghanistan, by Sajjan M. Gohel; The Nexus Between Salafism and Jihadism in the Netherlands, by Beatrice de Graaf; Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Courts, by Huma Yusuf.
Abstract: The Dutch fear of violence involving Muslims typifies the implicit association
that people easily seem to make between Muslims and violence. Almost irrespective of
the actual level of violent incidents, Muslims seem to project an image of responding
violently to every political incident. How did this image come into being? In the
Netherlands, what types of incidents and developments have occurred that led to
potentially violent tensions and conflicts in which Muslims were involved? This paper
seeks to answer this question. First, it elaborates on radicalisation and on tensions and
violent conflicts, both within and between social groups, and on the underlying
mechanisms that are responsible for causing inter-group conflicts. Thereafter, we give an
overview of radicalisation and tensions and violent conflicts involving (elements of)
Muslim communities in the Netherlands. In the concluding part, we elaborate on global
trends regarding the peaceful or not-so-peaceful co-existence of different social groups
and focus on the current situation in the Netherlands.
Abstract: The planned withdrawal of Netherlands forces
from Oruzgan in mid-2010 raises questions
about who will replace the Dutch as lead
nation in the province and about the fragile
stability that has been built there by the Dutch
and the Australians. President Obama’s
announcement raises further questions about
the number and role of Australian forces in
Afghanistan and about Australia’s civil and
diplomatic contributions to the stabilisation of
Afghanistan and its broader region. US President Obama’s decision to dispatch
30,000 additional troops to the war in
Afghanistan, announced in a speech to the
West Point military academy on 1 December,
has echoes of former President Bush’s own
surge of 20,000 troops to Iraq in 2007. Like
the surge in Iraq, Obama’s surge seeks to turn
around a losing war, or rather to demonstrate
that it is still ultimately winnable.
Abstract: This paper argues that both socio-economic disadvantage and political factors,
such as the West’s foreign policy with regard to the Muslim world, along with historical
grievances, play a part in the development of Islamic radicalized collective action in
Western Europe. We emphasise the role of group identity based individual behaviour in
organising collective action within radicalized Muslim groups. Inasmuch as culture plays
any role at all in radicalization, it is because individuals feel an imperative to act on the
basis of their Muslim identity, something to which different individuals will attach varying
degrees of salience, depending on how they place their Muslim identity based actions in the
scheme of their multiple identities. We also emphasize the role of the opportunistic
politician, from the majority European community, in fomenting hatred for Muslims, which
also produces a backlash from radicalized political Islam. We present comparative
evidence on socio-economic, political and cultural disadvantage faced by Muslim
minorities in five West European countries: Germany, the UK, France, Spain and the
Netherlands.
Abstract: Contrairement à une idée reçue, la France et le Royaume-Uni ne sont pas les seules puissances nucléaires en Europe. En effet, depuis 1954, dans le cadre de l’OTAN, les États-Unis stationnent des forces nucléaires dans plusieurs pays du continent. Reliques de la Guerre froide, ces forces devaient originellement faire face à la supériorité des troupes conventionnelles du pacte de Varsovie. De plus de 7 000 armes nucléaires tactiques, réparties dans une dizaine d’États européens au milieu des années 1970, l’arsenal n’a cessé de diminuer, à la suite de l’éclatement de l’URSS, pour parvenir au chiffre de 350 armes en 2007. Depuis le début de la décennie, la question de l’utilité de ces armements, et donc indirectement d’un possible retrait, est de plus en plus souvent évoquée.
En toute discrétion entre 2005 et 2008, les États-Unis ont dénucléarisé deux de leurs plus grandes bases européennes, Ramstein (Allemagne) et Lakenheath (Royaume-Uni). Elles abritaient au total 180 bombes nucléaires. Indéniablement, ce désarmement apporte un nouvel éclairage sur cette posture nucléaire de l’OTAN. À ce titre, les 240 bombes restantes ont sans doute définitivement perdu leur rôle militaire au profit d’un rôle politique. Les raisons de ce retrait ne se limitent pas seulement à des problèmes de sécurité dans ces bases. Non, d’autres problématiques comme l’évolution de l’Alliance atlantique, la politique de chacun des pays hôtes, le renouvellement des flottes à capacité duale, l’utilité stratégique, sans compter la pression de l’opinion publique soutenue par des organisations pacifistes, contribuent et vont contribuer à limiter ce stationnement d’armes. Désormais seuls l’Allemagne, la Belgique, les Pays-Bas, l’Italie et la Turquie ont sur leur territoire des armes nucléaires américaines, mais pour combien de temps encore ? Demain, l’Europe va-t-elle être une zone libre d’armes nucléaires américaines ?
Abstract: U.S. policymakers have made securing and maintaining foreign contributions
to the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq a major priority since the preparation
period for the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003. This report
highlights and discusses important changes in financial and personnel contributions
from foreign governments to Iraq since 2003.
To date, foreign donors have pledged an estimated $16.4 billion in grants and
loans for Iraq reconstruction, with most major pledges originating at a major donors'
conference in Madrid, Spain, in October 2003. However, only a small part of the
pledges have been committed or disbursed to the World Bank and United Nations
Development Group Trust Funds for Iraq. The largest non-U.S. pledges of grants
have come from Japan, the European Commission, the United Kingdom, Canada,
South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. The World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund, Japan, and Saudi Arabia have pledged the most loans and export
credits.
Currently, 33 countries including the United States have some level of troops
on the ground in Iraq or supporting Iraq operations from nearby locations. Those
forces are working under the rubric of one of several organizations — the
Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), the NATO Training Mission-Iraq (NTM-I); or
the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). Currently, the largest
troop contributors, in addition to the United States, are the United Kingdom, Georgia,
Australia, South Korea, and Poland. Some of these key contributors have announced
their intention to reduce or withdraw their forces from Iraq during 2008. The total
number of non-U.S. coalition troop contributions has declined since the early
stabilization efforts, as other countries have withdrawn their contingents or
substantially reduced their size.
Abstract: Ce recueil contient les exemples soumis par les membres de dépenses dans le domaine des conflits de la paix et
de la sécurité. Pour chaque exemple, le Secrétariat fournit des commentaires sur l’éligibilité au titre de l’APD et
sur la façon de notifier.
Les extraits pertinents des directives de notification statistique, y compris les codes-objet (secteurs) et les
montants notifiés par les membres pour ces codes, sont aussi inclus.
La présente version revisée incorpore les clarifications apportées par plusieurs membres jusqu’au 16 août 2007.
Abstract: In accordance with the Dutch constitution, the government decides upon the deployment of the armed forces. However, before the government deploys the military for the benefit of international stability, the Dutch parliament has to be formally informed. This obligation is written down in article 100 of the Dutch constitution and is in effect since the constitutional reform in 2000. This ‘right of information’ does not give the Parliament a formal co-decision power; in practice, however, the Government follows their judgment. Next to this custom the Government highly values a politically broad-based parliamentary approval
as a measure of public support for the decision to take part in an international military operation. A decision to deploy troops also includes a decision concerning the financing of the particular operation.
The three main tasks of the Dutch armed forces (collective defence, peacekeeping operations and supporting the civil authorities3) are partly financed out of the defence budget and partly covered by exogenous funds. The operational readiness and the maintenance of defence capabilities as well as the first main task, collective defence, are financed endogenously out of the defence budget. When deploying troops in relation to operations concerning the second and third main tasks, the additional expenditures are financed exogenously. This study attends to the financing of the second main task of the armed forces:
peacekeeping operations.
Abstract: In the wake of 9/11, a wide range of counterterrorism measures have been implemented. These measures all share the objective that they seek to prevent attacks, protect possible targets, pursue evildoers, and respond qdequately to the dimensions of a possible terrorist attack. Seven years after 9/11, both governments and governing bodies indicate that time has come to assess, where possible, the effectiveness of such measures. In the case of The Netherlands, Mr. Alexander Pechtold, member of the Dutch parliament, introduced a motion that tasked the Dutch government to analyse the proportionality of the adopted counterterrorism measures and to reflect upon its effectiveness thus far. The motion was adopted on 15 November 2007.
Abstract: The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, established in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 of 18 June 2007, held its first session from 7 to 18 April 2008. The review of the Netherlands was held at the 13th meeting on 15 April 2008. The delegation of the Netherlands was headed by H.E. Ms. Nebahat Albayrak, State Secretary for Justice, Ministry of Justice. For the composition of the delegation, composed of 18 members, see appendix below. At its 17th meeting held on 18 April 2008, the Working Group adopted the present report on the Netherlands.
Abstract: In the past three years the authorities in the Netherlands have introduced a series of measures with the stated aim of better integrating its migrant population. The two key measures are integration tests–one administered in the Netherlands that most foreign residents must take, and another that must be passed by would-be family migrants from some countries before they can join spouses or family members in the Netherlands. The policies were adopted during a period of heightened public concern about the impact that migrant communities have on social cohesion, with a particular criticism of the supposed lack of integration among Moroccan and Turkish migrant communities.
Abstract: Adults in the Netherlands are divided over their country’s current mission in Afghanistan, according to a poll by Maurice de Hond. 49 per cent of respondents oppose the Dutch engagement in Uruzgan, while 46 per cent support it. Afghanistan has been the main battleground in the war on terrorism. The conflict began in October 2001, after the Taliban regime refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked and crashed four airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people. The Netherlands committed troops to the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. At least 790 soldiers—including 16 Dutch—have died in the conflict, either in support of the United States-led Operation Enduring Freedom or as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Abstract: Agacés d’être perçus comme une menace, les États de la rive sud de la Méditerranée risquent d’opposer une fin de non-recevoir à la présidence française de l’Union européenne si celle-ci s’aventurait un peu trop ostensiblement sur ce terrain. Mais c’est bien de cela dont il s’agit, en partie, derrière ce vaste chantier.
Perverti et trop souvent invoqué de manière irréfléchie, le concept de sécurité reste néanmoins un objectif dont découle la réalisation concomitante des autres aspects du projet de la présidence française. L’idée de la sécurité n’existe pas sans les usages dont elle fait l’objet. Si la définition minimaliste de la
sécurité est « l’absence de menaces, ou de craintes de menaces, sur les valeurs centrales », reste à déterminer ce à quoi l’on se réfère : aux États membres, à l’Union méditerranéenne en tant que telle, aux individus qui composent les différentes populations ? Par ailleurs, à quelles menaces s’agit-il de faire
face : les menaces militaires et/ou non militaires (économiques, environnementales, pertes d’identité…) ? Bien qu’elles puissent apparaître comme le fruit d’une construction intellectuelle sans fondement concret, ces questions sont au coeur du projet d’Union de la Méditerranée comme elles
ont été le fondement des multiples initiatives de part et d’autre de la « mare
nostrum ». L’absence d’entente entre les parties prenantes sur l’étendue que doit couvrir ce volet risque de faire de l’Union méditerranéenne, au mieux une construction institutionnelle parmi d’autres, au pire un échec de plus dans cette région du monde, avec les conséquences humaines que l’on devine.
Abstract: La présente évaluation de la politique des vingt-sept pays membres de l’Union
européenne en faveur des droits de l’Homme répond au développement récent des
« investissements éthiques », constitués pour une grand part d’actions d’entreprises privées, mais également d’obligations d’Etat. C’est cette partie « obligataire » dont il s’agit ici d’éclairer les fondements dans une perspective « éthique », dans l’optique de favoriser les investissements dans les Etats menant une politique plus active de promotion des droits de l’homme. Cette étude s’inscrit dans la continuité des études élaborées en 2001, 2003 et 2005.
Abstract: President Sarkozy has recently said that France may re-integrate into NATO's military command. This abrupt change in French policy opens doors to a much-needed improvement in EU-NATO relations. The two institutions have been barely co-operating on important missions like Kosovo, which leaves Europe ill-prepared for security challenges on its borders. But for the EU and NATO to really turn a corner, the UK must first agree with France how independent from the US, Europe's defences should become. The US will need to give France command posts in NATO, and Turkey will have to drop its opposition to Cyprus' co-operation with the alliance.
Abstract: Freedom House welcomes the vote by the United Nations General Assembly to elect Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for the two open seats for Eastern European States in yesterday's election to the UN Human Rights Council. Belarus, the third candidate for the East Europe vacancies, was defeated in a tight race following a vigorous campaign by numerous human rights organizations and countries opposed to the candidacy of a country with one of the world's most abysmal human rights records.
Abstract: In March 2003, a U.S.-led multinational force began operations in Iraq. At that time, 48 nations, identified as a "coalition of the willing," offered political, military, and financial support for U.S. efforts in Iraq, with 38 nations other than the United States providing troops. In addition, international donors met in Madrid in October 2003 to pledge funding for the reconstru#ction of Iraq's infrastructure, which had deteriorated after multiple wars and decades of neglect under the previous regime.
This testimony discusses (1) the troop commitments other countries have made to operations in Iraq, (2) the funding the United States has provided to support other countries' participation in the multinational force, and (3) the financial support international donors have provided to Iraq reconstruction efforts.
Abstract: Frans van Anraat, born in 1942, is a Dutch businessman. It is alleged that he provided Saddam Hussein's regime with chemical supplies which where used in the attacks on the Kurds in 1988, especially in Halabja, and against the Iranian town of Sardasht in 1987 and 1988.
