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Abstract: Background
Nepal is one of the post-conflict countries affected by violence from explosive devices. We undertook this study to assess the magnitude of injuries due to intentional explosions in Nepal during 2008-2011 and to describe time trends and epidemiologic patterns for these events.
Methods
We analyzed surveillance data on fatal and non-fatal injuries due to intentional explosions in Nepal that occurred between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2011. The case definition included casualties injured or killed by explosive devices knowingly activated by an individual or a group of individuals with the intent to harm, hurt or terrorize. Data were collected through media-based and active community-based surveillance.
Results
Analysis included 437 casualties injured or killed in 131 intentional explosion incidents. A decrease in the number of incidents and casualties between January 2008 and June 2009 was followed by a pronounced increase between July 2010 and June 2011. Eighty-four (19.2%) casualties were among females and 40 (9.2%) were among children under 18 years of age. Fifty-nine (45.3%) incidents involved one casualty, 47 (35.9%) involved 2 to 4 casualties, and 6 involved more than 10 casualties. The overall case-fatality ratio was 7.8%. The highest numbers of incidents occurred in streets or at crossroads, in victims' homes, and in shops or markets. Incidents on buses and near stadiums claimed the highest numbers of casualties per incident. Socket, sutali, and pressure cooker bombs caused the highest numbers of incidents.
Conclusions
Intentional explosion incidents still pose a threat to the civilian population of Nepal. Most incidents are caused by small homemade explosive devices and occur in public places, and males aged 20 to 39 account for a plurality of casualties. Stakeholders addressing the explosive device problem in Nepal should continue to use surveillance data to plan interventions.
Abstract: This is a transcript of a speech made by Sir John Holmes, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator (2007-10), on 14 March 2013 at Chatham House.
Sir John Holmes argue that despite the best efforts of humanitarian organizations, the provision of aid to the world's most vulnerable groups is not immune from political interference. He discussed the problems of dealing with the governments of both donor and recipient countries, drawing on his experiences in Sudan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Burma.
Abstract: The importance of education in a society cannot be disowned. A well-established education
system is an important constituent of a civilized nation and society. Its importance is well
evident in developed countries as it plays a major role in personal and social development. As
an alternate track to Western style of education, religious seminaries – madaaris1 and religious
education have played a vital role in the history of Islam to fulfil the education needs of Islamic
society. Despite the madaaris constituting an indigenous system of education in Pakistan,
the madrassa sector of the country has been at the center of debates on extremism and
radicalization of society since Pakistan joined the US-led war on terror after 9/11. The
madaaris are perceived as a crucial medium for promoting extreme religious, sectarian, social
and political views which lead towards militancy. Meanwhile it has been highlighted time and
again that there is a need to reform the madaaris to transform the radical ideologies with real
Islamic moderate values, and provide an applied-education mode where madaaris students
become useful members of the society.
Abstract: This article is a rejoinder to Roger Mac Ginty's polemic (Against Stabilization) arguing that, whilst the author is correct in identifying the inconsistencies in the concept and practice of stabilization, it is a viable concept. This article draws on field research from Afghanistan and Nepal to demonstrate that within stabilization's philosophical pedigree and practical application are components that can articulate a form of sub-national international intervention that can address political threats. Further this form of intervention is morally defensible and can promote control rather than constrict it. Stabilization is a new term that has been applied to many old practices, but it has been inconsistently used suggesting that it is both a practice for national level interventions and those directed at a sub-national level. This has been unhelpful as it confuses stabilization activity with other forms of intervention. The article explores the threats that stabilization can address, the stability that is being sought after and the manner in which interventions can be approached in order to address the threats. It suggests there is a space in which stabilization can operate, pragmatically engaging in the complexities of political conflict in states under extreme tension.
Abstract: Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.
In this issue:
NATURAL DISASTERS AND CONFLICT: When Disasters and Conflicts Collide: Improving Links Between Disaster Resilience and Conflict Prevention
SYRIA: Preliminary Statistical Analysis of Documentation of Killings in the Syrian Arab Republic
KENYA: Kenya’s 2013 Elections
COLLECTIVE VIOLENCE: It’s Who You Know: Social Networks, Interpersonal Connections, and Participation in Collective Violence
MEXICO: Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2012
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME: Transnational Organized Crime in West Africa: A Threat Assessment
FAITH COMMUNITIES AND RESILIENCY: Local Faith Communities and the Promotion of Resilience in Humanitarian Situations: A Scoping Study
YEMEN: A Lasting Peace? Yemen's Long Journey to National Reconciliation
DISPLACEMENT: Displacement, Disharmony and Disillusion. Understanding Host-Refugee Tensions in Maban County, South Sudan
MENTAL HEALTH AND CONFLICT: Madness or Sadness? Local Concepts of Mental Illness in Four Conflict-affected African Communities
SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka’s Authoritarian Turn: The Need for International Action
JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION: Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges in the Fight Against Impunity
Abstract: Over the past decade, the use of unmanned aerial systems—commonly
referred to as drones—by the U.S. government has expanded exponentially
in scope, location, and frequency.1 From September 2001 to
April 2012, the U.S. military increased its drone inventory from fifty
to seventy-five hundred—of which approximately 5 percent can be
armed.2 Yet despite the unprecedented escalation of its fleet and missions,
the U.S. government has not provided a clear explanation of how
drone strikes in nonbattlefield settings are coordinated with broader
foreign policy objectives, the scope of legitimate targets, and the legal
framework. Drones are critical counterterrorism tools that advance
U.S. interests around the globe, but this lack of transparency threatens
to limit U.S. freedom of action and risks proliferation of armed drone
technology without the requisite normative framework.
Existing practices carry two major risks for U.S. interests that are
likely to grow over time. The first comes from operational restrictions
on drones due to domestic and international pressure. In the United
States, the public and policymakers are increasingly uneasy with limited
transparency for targeted killings.3 If the present trajectory continues,
drones may share the fate of Bush-era enhanced interrogation
techniques and warrantless wiretapping—the unpopularity and illegality
of which eventually caused the policy’s demise. Internationally,
objections from host states and other counterterrorism partners could
also severely circumscribe drones’ effectiveness. Host states have
grown frustrated with U.S. drone policy, while opposition by nonhost
partners could impose additional restrictions on the use of drones.
Reforming U.S. drone strike policies can do much to allay concerns
internationally by ensuring that targeted killings are defensible under
international legal regimes that the United States itself helped establish,
and by allowing U.S. officials to openly address concerns and
counter misinformation.
Abstract: The 140-page report provides detailed accounts of 75 cases of alleged rape and sexual abuse that occurred from 2006-2012 in both official and secret detention centers throughout Sri Lanka. In the cases documented by Human Rights Watch, men and women reported being raped on multiple days, often by several people, with the army, police, and pro-government paramilitary groups frequently participating.
Abstract: The present study looks at developments in the areas of policy and process during the period 2001-2012 that sought to address “the gap(s)” that work against a smooth transition from humanitarian relief to development. This study is written primarily from the perspective of UNHCR, and mainly in relation to its efforts to engage development actors in the search for durable solutions to the plight of people forcibly displaced by conflict, especially for those who have been living in protracted situations of displacement. This study thus complements an earlier one undertaken by UNHCR in 2001.
The issue of the gap(s), or put more positively, the need for relevant linkages, to better ensure the transition from relief (humanitarian activities) to development, has now become a recurring theme, especially in deliberations on post-conflict early recovery. Although post-conflict situations still dominate reflections on early recovery and peacebuilding, the specificities of post-disaster situations (e.g. hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.), as well as the impact of slow-impact natural disasters such as drought, have now also been recognized. Thus, UNHCR’s main interest in the reintegration of returnees (either IDPs or refugees), or local integration, particularly of refugees in protracted situations, is only one element of many that now occupy the attention of the international community in addressing the subject of transition from relief to development.
Abstract: The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with Chatham House, convened the third annual Sir Bani Yas Forum from 16-18 November 2012 at the Qasr al Sarab Desert Resort at the Liwa Oasis in Abu Dhabi.
Participants debated the changing strategic landscape in the Middle East and beyond. This document brings together a series of background papers that were prepared by independent Chatham House researchers to inform the discussions and stimulate debate on the following themes:
The Future of Palestine and the Middle East Peace Process
The Future of US Policy – Implications for the Region
The Evolving Role of Gulf Leadership
Syria and its Neighbours: the New Political Balance
Pakistan: at the Crossroads?
Prospects for Political Islam
Abstract: Government attacks on the judiciary and political dissent have accelerated Sri Lanka’s authoritarian turn and threaten long-term stability and peace. The government’s politically motivated impeachment of the chief justice reveals both its intolerance of dissent and the weakness of the political opposition. By incapacitating the last institutional check on the executive, the government has crossed a threshold into new and dangerous terrain, threatening prospects for the eventual peaceful transfer of power through free and fair elections. Strong international action should begin with Sri Lanka’s immediate referral to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) and a new resolution from the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) calling for concrete, time-bound actions to restore the rule of law, investigate rights abuses and alleged war crimes by government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and devolve power to Tamil and Muslim areas of the north and east.
Sri Lanka is faced with two worsening and inter-connected governance crises. The dismantling of the independent judiciary and other democratic checks on the executive and military will inevitably feed the growing ethnic tension resulting from the absence of power sharing and the denial of minority rights. Both crises have deepened with the Rajapaksa government’s refusal to comply with the HRC’s March 2012 resolution on reconciliation and accountability. While the government claims to have implemented many of the recommendations of its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) – a key demand of the HRC’s resolution – there has in fact been no meaningful progress on the most critical issues:
the government has conducted no credible investigations into allegations of war crimes, disappearances or other serious human rights violations;
rather than establish independent institutions for oversight and investigation, the government has in effect removed the last remnants of judicial independence through the impeachment of the chief justice;
there has been no progress toward a lasting and fair constitutional settlement of the ethnic conflict through devolution of power;
the military still controls virtually all aspects of life in the north, intimidating and sidelining the civilian administration;
more than 90,000 people remain displaced in the north and east, amid continued land seizures by the military, with no effective right of appeal and no fair process for handling land disputes;
government security forces have broken up peaceful Tamil protests in the north, detained students on questionable charges of working with the LTTE and actively harassed Tamil politicians;
the government has responded with force to protest and dissent in the south, too, deploying troops to prevent the newly impeached chief justice and supporters from visiting the Supreme Court while pro-government groups attacked lawyers protesting the impeachment.
Abstract: The word ‘maqami’ (local) Taliban came into use well before 9/11, as well as the Punjabi and
foreign militant mobilization, which was also an early phenomenon. This was due to two separate
streams of militants, one local and one foreign; the name ‘maqami’ was used for the
local variant.1 The lodgment of foreign militants and the phases of their developments are
divided into two temporal phases, which do not fit into neatly defined time periods but overlap
to a great extent. The first phase is when these militants immigrated after the US-led invasion
of Afghanistan to Pakistan to South and North Waziristan in the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA), mainly South Waziristan. The other main catchment area was Swat;
they remained in Swat till 2007 to 2008, when they were forced to relocate to Kunar and Nuristan
in Afghanistan due to being pushed back by the Pakistani military forces in the wake of
the military operation ‘Rah-e-Rast’ in Swat.
The Uzbek militants predominantly remained in South Waziristan till 2009, when military
operations forced them to relocate mainly to North Waziristan, also settling in certain areas in
Bannu. To date, they are present in these areas, albeit in steadily decreasing numbers due to
ongoing operations. It is generally agreed that since it is now extremely difficult to travel to
militant areas in FATA due to a virtual blockade by the Pakistani army, the reinforcement of
foreign militants by new recruits is now much less as compared to their attrition rates in military
operations.2 In a policy perspective, unless there is a paradigm shift (such as effective
military operations in North Waziristan for instance), this implies that the foreign militants in
Pakistan are under steady pressure due to operations by the state and American drone strikes,
and are on the defensive.
In the foreign militant scenario, Uzbeks take predominance. It is widely believed that the dynamics
of the two Waziristans would change if the Uzbeks are taken out, because they represent
the most dedicated al-Qaeda ally in Waziristan. The only common thing that Uzbeks had
with Waziristani people was their religion. Both of them are Muslims but most of the Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) fighters have good, secular education, rather than just being
madrassa students. They are graduates from the universities and some have military background
etc. They speak in Uzbek which belongs to Turkic group of languages, while Waziristani
people speak in Pashto. Uzbeks are racially closer to Chinese or Mongolian typology of
races, while Waziristanis are darker and resemble Caucasians.
Abstract: This paper looks at militancy and radicalization in Punjab – North, Central and South – the
three sub-regions of the largest province of Pakistan.
The key argument of this study is that radicalization is a greater issue in Punjab than militancy
primarily because militants tend to groom people for battles outside the country or the province.
Thus, there is violence in the province but those figures are not commensurate with the
actual amount of radicalization that takes place in Punjab. It is also observed that poverty is
an important contributory factory. However, it’s the new capitalist and middle class that plays
an important role, just as it had happened in Iran. The only difference being that Iran was
more focused and ‘together’ in terms of religious ideology which Pakistan is not.
It is the people with greater access to opportunities that bankroll and support the militant forces.
The Punjabi society was always pre-radical in its psychological constitution. However,
over time this attitude has enhanced. Now, radicalism is the future of this province. The business
and trading community is latent-radical in its thinking and tends to use forces of radicalism
to negotiate power and enhance its own strength. In fact, the militant and radical forces
have emerged as the new power brokers that have sufficient clout, fire power and nuisance
value to negotiate with the state. The jihadis and radical Islamists have replaced the traditional
feudal in Punjab.
Abstract: At a time when young people worldwide are recognised for taking the lead in changing their societies, this participatory research is aimed at finding the perception and level of awareness of Kashmiri youth about their rights and duties. It also examines the social and political change they want to see, and what they need to effect this change in Kashmir.
Young Kashmiris are caught between the desire to resolve the political dispute and a pressing requirement to address everyday issues. Their need for quality education, meaningful employment, proper healthcare and recreational activities is clear, but their attainment has been made complex by the unresolved political context.
Abstract: Sri Lanka is recovering from a devastating 26-year civil war, which ended in May 2009 with the military defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the government of Sri Lanka. The rapid reconstruction of major roads, power lines and public buildings by the government is an impressive achievement. The return of 300,000 people displaced at the end of the war was also swift, but in a number of cases the government of Sri Lanka did not adhere to internationally accepted standards for voluntary, safe and dignified return. Furthermore, an estimated 100,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain in camps, host communities and transit centers1 and about 136,000 Sri Lankan refugees remain in exile, with the majority in India. Sri Lanka’s postwar transition from relief to development has been artificially stunted in that there was little recognition of the underlying grievances of the Tamil minority. Furthermore, the victory has allowed the government to consolidate power across the country and intimidate political opposition at all levels. The maintenance of public administration and services in LTTE-controlled areas during the war should have fostered a more efficient transition from relief to development, but the military’s influence in local administration and centralized decision-making process have limited recovery efforts. For the conflict-affected populations in the north and east, the sociopolitical conflict continues and a host of unaddressed traumas manifest in grow-ing social issues among Tamil communities. Sri Lanka’s future as a stable and democratic nation remains overshadowed, not by a renewed Tamil insurgency but by the increasingly authoritative practices of the administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Abstract: Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.
HUMANITARIAN AID: Aid Worker Security Report 2012: Host States and Their Impact on Security for Humanitarian Operations
MEXICO: The Impact of President Felipe Calderón’s War on Drugs on the Armed Forces: The Prospects for Mexico’s “Militarization” and Bilateral Relations
POLITICAL MISSIONS: Political Missions 2012
RADICALIZATION: Countering Radicalization in Europe
SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND CONFLICT: In the Face of War: Examining Sexual Vulnerabilities of Acholi Adolescent Girls Living in Displacement Camps in Conflict-affected Northern Uganda
GENDER: From Clause to Effect: Including Women's Rights and Gender in Peace Agreements
KYRGYZSTAN: Averting Violence in Kyrgyzstan: Understanding and Responding to Nationalism
LRA: Getting Back on Track: Implementing the UN Regional Strategy on the Lord's Resistance Army
TERRORISM: Global Terrorism Index 2012: Capturing the Impact of Terrorism from 2002-2011
WEAPONRY: Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots
MEDIA: Working in Concert: Coordination and Collaboration in International Media Development
PAKISTAN: Pakistan on the Edge
Abstract: Pakistan’s Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), which include Swat and six neighbouring districts and areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KPK), remains volatile more than three years after military operations sought to oust Islamist extremists. Militant groups such as the Sunni extremist Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) and its Pakistani Taliban-linked Fazlullah faction are no longer as powerful in Swat and other parts of PATA as they were in 2008 and early 2009, but their leaders and foot soldiers remain at large, regularly attacking security personnel and civilians. If this once dynamic region is to stabilise, PATA’s governance, security and economic revival must become a top priority for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led government in Islamabad and the Awami National Party (ANP)-led government in Peshawar – and for their successors following the next general elections.
While the militants continue to present the main physical threat, the military’s poorly conceived counter-insurgency strategies, heavy-handed methods and failure to restore responsive and accountable civilian administration and policing are proving counter-productive, aggravating public resentment and widening the gulf between PATA’s citizens and the state. Meanwhile neither the federal nor the KPK provincial government is fully addressing the security concerns of residents.
Public and political support for action against the TNSM and allied Pakistani Taliban networks in Swat and its neighbouring districts remains strong, demonstrated by the outrage against the 9 October 2012 attack by Mullah Fazlullah’s Taliban faction on Malala Yousafzai, a Swat-based fourteen-year-old activist for girls’ right to education. That attack has also further eroded public confidence in the military’s claims of having dismantled the insurgency and underscores the grave security challenges that PATA’s residents face.
The military’s continued control over the security agenda, governance and administration in PATA and the state’s failure to equip KPK’s police force with the tools and authority it needs to tackle extremist violence lie at the heart of the security and governance challenges. Some serious efforts have been made to enhance police capacity, functioning and presence on the streets, including by increasing the size of the force and the number of police stations, particularly in Swat. However, they are insufficient. The KPK police should be properly trained, equipped, and accountable. Islamabad and Peshawar, KPK’s provincial capital, need to abolish parallel law enforcement entities such as Levies, dismantle state-supported tribal lashkars (militias) and give KPK’s police the lead in enforcing the law and bringing extremists to justice.
Abstract: Nepal’s failure to punish perpetrators of grave human rights violations and crimes under
international law committed during the armed conflict which took place between 1996 and
2006 has created an environment where violations continue to be committed with impunity.
Governance and the rule of law have been greatly compromised in Nepal, and the failure of
political parties in May 2012 to agree a new Constitution - mandated by the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA) signed six years previously, has only exacerbated the problem.
Successive governments’ decisions to withdraw criminal cases against individuals with
political affiliations, promote alleged perpetrators of human rights violations to senior
leadership positions and propose amnesties which could cover serious crimes, send a clear
message to all potential perpetrators that there will be no consequences for their crimes.
Sexual and domestic violence has yet to be tackled effectively by the justice sector anywhere
in Nepal; impunity for violence against women is widespread. Women’s human rights
defenders complain that police often refuse to register complaints brought by women or even
collude with perpetrators to shield them from prosecution. Nowhere are the results of this
justice vacuum more apparent than in the Terai region of southern Nepal where the legacy of
conflict-era violations and prolonged impunity has allowed a culture of violent lawlessness to
take root. Armed political groups and criminal gangs (often difficult to distinguish) operate
alongside corrupt police officials, obstructing access to justice, silencing dissent and evading
accountability. The departure of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
in Nepal following termination of its agreement with the Government of Nepal in December
2011 has left a significant advocacy and protection vacuum, which exacerbates dangers
faced by human rights defenders attempting to challenge this climate of impunity.
Abstract: Human Security Research is a monthly compilation of significant new human security-related research published by academics, university research institutes, think-tanks, international agencies, and NGOs.
Articles in this issue:
PEACEBUILDING: Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results
DRUG VIOLENCE: The Northern Triangle’s Drugs-violence Nexus
DR CONGO: From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo
GENDER: Quantifying the Impact of Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery
SECURITY GOVERNANCE: Towards Effective Security Governance in Africa: African and European Actors in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: Partners or Competitors
SYRIA AND LEBANON: A Precarious Balancing Act: Lebanon and the Syrian Conflict
DISPLACEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Refugee Livelihoods and the Private Sector: Ugandan Case Study
SRI LANKA: Authority without Accountability: The Crisis of Impunity in Sri Lanka
EDUCATION: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict
NIGERIA: Nigeria: Trapped in the Cycle of Violence
CONFLICT AND MENTAL HEALTH: Characteristics of the Colombian Armed Conflict and the Mental Health of Civilians Living in Active Conflict Zones
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times
Abstract: After a decade of insurgency, Pakistan’s Tribal areas remain in a state of crisis. In these areas, the courts are barred from upholding the fundamental rights protections guaranteed under Pakistan’s constitution. This has allowed state and non-state actors to commit violations and abuses with impunity. As shown in this report, rather than investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of these abuses, the authorities have given sweeping powers of arrest and detention to the armed forces, cementing the culture of impunity.
Abstract: The PPP-led government under President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Ministers Yousaf Raza Gillani and Raja Pervez Ashraf has made some effort to improve the protection of human rights. The lifting of the State of Emergency, the end of the judicial crisis, and the attempts to improve the country’s normative and legal framework has been welcome.
However, continuing political instability, frailty and failure of the country’s institutions related to the rule of law, ongoing impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of violations – notably the police, military, and intelligence services – and persistent grave human rights violations, along with the humanitarian problems associated with the most devastating floods in the history of Pakistan in, mean that the human rights and security situation has worsened in 2012.
Widespread corruption, religious extremism, armed conflict, terrorism and counter-terrorism, allied with weak institutions, and impunity for perpetrators, engender grave abuses, such as torture, forced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, and discrimination and violence against religious minorities and women.
Abstract: Having witnessed a decade-long Maoist insurgency (1996-2005) which ended
with the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) signed in 2006, Nepal has since
been undergoing a prolonged transition. The political stalemate has held back
efforts to investigate atrocities committed during the insurgency and offer
justice and reparation to victims. Although Nepal's peace process has been
celebrated in some quarters, it has largely failed to address issues of justice
and reconciliation, with victims being left without succour and voice. Without
significant progress on justice and reconciliation work that takes victims' voices
into account and addresses their concerns, the ongoing peace process and any
further effort towards state-building are likely to be futile.
Abstract: The Pakistan Project of IDSA has come up with a second report titled Pakistan on the Edge. This Report takes into account various political developments in Pakistan focusing more on the events of the last two years and analyses its impact on the nation’s nascent democracy. The Report takes a broad view of the politics, emerging political alliances, economy, foreign policy, India-Pakistan relations and civil-military relations. Two chapters of this report focus on Pakistan’s English and Urdu language print media and how it looks at the critical issues of domestic and foreign policy.
Abstract: This paper broadens the scope of the debate by considering the perspectives of rising powers on issues of conflict and peacebuilding. It examines the perspectives of five increasingly important countries that have not signed the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States – Brazil, China, India, South Africa and Turkey. Case studies of these five countries consider how their policy perspectives and experiences of engaging in conflict-affected contexts might shape their responses to the peace and security aspects of the post-2015 debate. For example: how would Brazil view the suggestion to address key drivers of conflict in the new global development framework? Would Turkey agree that development and security are interdependent? What could China’s views on state sovereignty mean for its approach to peace and security issues?
Abstract: This first issue of Rupantaran, (‘transformation’ in Nepalese), highlights key issues surrounding armed violence in Nepal and considers current development solutions. Rupantaran, produced by the Nepal Armed Violence Reduction Working Group and IDS Knowledge Services, explores the impact that armed violence has on development in Nepal.
While awareness of armed violence in Nepal is limited, recent data indicates that armed violence has increased across the country after the peace agreement was signed in 2006. For example, government figures highlight a 163 percent increase in violent incidents (murder, attempted murder and rape) in the period 2006-2010. Since 2006, armed violence in Nepal has included: killings, attempted murder, extortion, theft and robbery, abduction, bombings, intimidation, clashes between youth groups, revenge attacks, domestic violence and violence against women and children.
Abstract: India’s approach to the issue of protecting
civilians during armed conflicts is built on legal,
ethical, political and policy considerations. India
condemns the use of oppressive violence in
armed conflicts, regardless of who commits it, and
holds that the protection of civilians should be in
conformity with international law and the principle
of sovereign equality. Accordingly, it views
demands for automatic access to civilians as a
violation of both the Fourth Geneva Convention
and the principle of the sovereignty of states.
India believes that the trigger for the invocation of
R2P should be mass atrocities. However, there is
no agreement on what constitutes war crimes and
crimes against humanity. As a policy guideline,
India suggests that any action by the international
community and the UN Security Council must
be pragmatic and proportional to the threat to
civilians, and should be based on credible and
verifiable information.
While critical of the NATO air strikes against
Libya in 2011 that resulted in civilian casualties,
India pleads for adequate procedures to ensure
that those who act in the name of the Security
Council should be accountable for their actions.
It attributes UN peacekeepers’ failure to protect
civilians to lack of resources and non-co-operation
from the parties concerned.
