March 22, 2013
Amnesty International
Abstract:
Human rights are under severe threat in the North Caucasus, a region in the Russian Federation
comprising six republics – Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkessia
and North Ossetia – as well as Stavropol Krai (Region)1. The day-to-day lives of many people in the North
Caucasus, as well as the wider political, economic and social context in this region of the Russian
Federation, are very much defined by the threat which armed groups pose to security and the response
from the Russian authorities. With regularly reported attacks against law enforcement officials, members
of local administrations, prominent figures and members of the general public, the Russian authorities are
faced with the need, and in fact have an obligation, to ensure that the local population can enjoy security.
However, any efforts to combat the threat posed by armed groups, and in particular to identify and bring
to justice those responsible for any alleged crimes, must observe the rule of law and fully respect human
rights.
For years, Amnesty International has been receiving regular reports of human rights violations in the North
Caucasus committed by members of law enforcement agencies in the context of the fight against armed
groups. The organization has researched and documented numerous cases of human rights violations in
the region, which include torture and other ill-treatment, as well as enforced disappearances and
extrajudicial executions.2 Such violations are frequently characterised also by the lack of adequate
response on the part of the Russian authorities. More often than not in such cases, the alleged violations
are not investigated promptly, thoroughly, effectively, independently and impartially as required by
international law.3 Other institutions too, have expressed concerns about the authorities’ failure to
investigate and the problem of impunity in the region. In relation to the cases of a number of “human
rights activists, lawyers and journalists”, the PACE expressed “its bewilderment and anguish at the fact
that to date none of these cases has been elucidated by the investigating system” and insisted that the
authorities “bring to trial in accordance with the law all culprits of human rights violations, including
members of the security forces, and to clear up the many crimes which have gone unpunished”.4...
March 19, 2013
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
Abstract:
More than 14 years after they first fled
their homes, at least 29,000 people are
still internally displaced due to armed
conflict and violence in the North
Caucasus, and an unknown number of
people are still displaced elsewhere in
Russia.
Displacement induced by the threat
and impact of natural hazards, especially
floods and wild fires, continues to
be significant in Russia. Though information
on such displacement and the
current situation of these IDPs is scarce.
Government figures of the number of internally displaced are not in line with international
standards and international organisations stopped compiling statistics on IDPs
displaced by armed conflict and violence in 2011. The lack of accurate figures limits the
government’s ability to effectively uphold IDPs’ rights and address their specific needs.
Despite massive reconstruction and the declaration that the conflicts in North Ossetia
and Chechnya are resolved, violence and human rights abuses are ongoing and impunity
of insurgents and law enforcement authorities continues in the region. This obstructs sustainable
return and integration.
The protracted conflict and insecurity, as well as dwindling assistance, lack of permanent
housing and economic stagnation are obstacles to their self-reliance. Internal displacement
is losing attention but not pertinence....
March 19, 2013
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
The bulk of the European Union’s peacebuilding capacity resides within the European External Action Service or EEAS, a diplomatic corps led by High Representative Catherine Ashton. The EEAS and relevant U.S. civilian agencies face similar challenges and opportunities in their effort to operationalize conflict prevention.
Several European leaders and members of the European Parliament propose the creation of a European Institute of Peace (EIP) as an innovative and cost-effective approach to enhance Europe’s peacebuilding capacity.
This European version of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) could practice more flexible diplomatic initiatives by engaging as an independent facilitator or participant in Track 1.5 dialogues, and serve as a knowledge center for training, best practices, and conflict analysis.
Considering the financial and political climate in Brussels, a EIP is unlikely to materialize in the next two years. Once the economic storm has passed, the creation of an EIP variant appears very likely....
March 13, 2013
The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence
Abstract:
With commentators and analyst offering descriptions ranging
from populist street movement to racial-nationalists and
fascists, it is clear that a great deal of uncertainty remains
regarding the true nature of the English Defence League (EDL) and
its European affiliates. The rise of this self-described “Counter-Jihad”
movement in Europe, which seeks to combat the perceived threat
of “Islamisation” through Europe-wide protests and awareness and
advocacy campaigns, has added a new and complex element to the
study of the far-right in Europe.
The last year has also seen a spread of the defence league concept
to the continent, and Scandinavia in particular, where Norwegian,
Swedish, Danish and Finnish defence leagues have emerged. As the
original root of this new, strident Counter-Jihad movement in Europe,
it is important to understand the history and origins of the EDL. This is
comprehensively dealt with in the first section of the report.
Drawing on field-work in Europe and interviews with senior European
defence league members, the first section also looks at how the
movement has spread and how relationships have developed between
the different defence leagues. For ease of reference, the authors have
labelled this Europe-wide movement the European Counter-Jihad
Movement (ECJM).
The second section of the report is devoted to evaluating a number of
the different categories into which analysts have hitherto placed the
ECJM, and arguing for the use of a previously ignored categorisation:
cultural nationalism. This section will also explain how and why the
ECJM can justifiably be referred to as “far-right”, even as it claims to
fight for liberal enlightenment values and many of its core concerns
overlap with those of mainstream political parties.
The third and fourth sections of the report look at how the movement
is driven by a set of beliefs concerning a threat posed by the presence
of the Islamic faith in European countries. Despite their irrationality,
these beliefs have begun to coalesce into an identifiable “Islamisation
ideology”, which holds that the current terrorist threat from extremist
Islamists is not a modern political phenomenon but merely the latest
manifestation of a centuries-long and ongoing effort by Muslims
to conquer Western civilisation. Understanding this new ideology
and its power to mobilise is especially urgent in the wake of Anders
Behring Breivik’s August 2012 conviction in Norway for terrorism and
premeditated murder, which found that his crimes were motivated by
this very ideology and not brought on by mental illness. This report will
therefore provide an in-depth analysis of the Islamisation ideology, its
history and how Europeans have been mobilised in its cause....
March 8, 2013
Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the implications that the ‘Arab spring’ has for the security of states and individuals in Europe and North America as core parts of the ‘West’. It first discusses potential challenges which emanate from the foreign policies of Arab governments that in different ways respond to recent protests and the processes of political change that they have initiated. Reflecting concerns of their main constituencies, the new governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya may increasingly, though probably moderately, question aspects of the current international order, in particular global inequalities and Western policies towards Israel and Iran. Conversely, many governments that so far managed to resist change (with Syria as a notable exception) are likely to focus on Iran and its allies as a major perceived threat and may complicate the dispassionate search for common ground. More generally, Western policy makers will have to take into account that security perceptions among Arab states will increasingly diverge. The paper then discusses challenges that directly emanate from the continued or increasing weakness of the Arab states that manifests itself in terms of state capacities including the monopoly of the means of coercion, policy delivery and related discontent, and even state disintegration. It argues that diverging interests and concerns between the ‘West’ and the new Arab governments are manageable if analysed independently of received wisdoms. This also applies to Islamists currently in government but not necessarily to all Islamists. Threats associated with weak and collapsing states ranging from dangers to the environment to areas dominated by organized crime and terrorists need to be addressed by patient, long term attempts at state building and reconciliation; these should be based on power sharing arrangements strengthened by capacity building and inclusive social and economic development....
Africa 
