Additional Resources for Rising From the Ashes: Building Peace in the Wake of War
General Resources on post-conflict reconstruction
IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) is part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, but its services are editorially independent. Its reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations and its agencies, not its member states. IRIN's principal role is to provide news and analysis about sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia for the humanitarian community. The networks target decision-makers in relief agencies, host and donor governments, human-rights organizations, humanitarian advocacy groups, academic institutions and the media. http://www.irinnews.org/ At a time of new global opportunities and challenges, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provides strategic insights and policy solutions to decisionmakers in government, international institutions, the private sector, and civil society. A bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, CSIS conducts research and analysis and develops policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change.
The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan institution established and funded by Congress. Its goals are to help prevent and resolve violent international conflicts, promote post-conflict stability and development, and increase conflict management capacity, tools, and intellectual capital worldwide. The Institute does this by empowering others with knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by directly engaging in peacebuilding efforts around the globe.
The International Crisis Group is now generally recognised as the world’s leading independent, non-partisan, source of analysis and advice to governments, and intergovernmental bodies like the United Nations, European Union and World Bank, on the prevention and resolution of deadly conflict.
By Irma Specht, Larry Attree and Yvonne Kemper
Background Paper Prepared for the Project European Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons and Explosive Remnants of War, funded bythe European Unionand the United Kingdom
This paper examines the European Union (EU)’s approach to children and armed conflict, notethe challenges faced by it, and suggest ways to improve both policy and action. It will also look at how far children’s issues are related to disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR)
programming and small arms and light weapons (SALW)/explosive remnants of war (ERW) issues, and make practical suggestions on how children’s concerns can and should be integrated more effectively into the EU’s DDR, SALW and ERW programming.
Peacekeeping vs. Military Training
The Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University, the Fund for Peace, and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute teamed up in a joint project to probe the limits of progress in the development and use of peace operations. The project, partially funded through a USIP grant, is summarized in this Special Report.
At their most basic level, the laws of war promote and protect many of the values intrinsic to human life and dignity. Yet not all countries currently include law of war training as part of their regular military training or offer it in any form. To fill this knowledge gap, a collaborative international team convened by the United States
Institute of Peace undertook a worldwide survey of military law of war training programs and created the present resource manual. This manual is meant to serve not only as an information source but also as a catalyst for more countries to begin offering law of war training to their troops.
The U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) was established in 2003 as an integral component of the Center for Strategic Leadership at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. The Institute's charter and structure are designed to meet the future needs of the U.S. Army and the U.S. military across a broad range of peacekeeping and stability operations. In addition, PKSOI provides continuity with the body of knowledge developed from 1993-2003 by the U.S. Army Peacekeeping Institute (PKI).
The International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres was founded in Canada on July 2, 1995, at the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. In October 2005, the responsibility for the Secretariat was transferred to the Centre for UN Peacekeeping in New Delhi. The aim of the Association is to facilitate communication and exchange of information between various peacekeeping training centres and/or among people responsible for, and interested in, peacekeeping training. Peacekeeping trainers and educators use this information to avoid problems already encountered by others, promote well-tested practices, and provide information to those peacekeeping countries which lack their own training centres. It is hoped that this exchange of information will allow centres to minimize duplication in their efforts, and lead to further specialization and sharing of responsibilities. There are 185 member nations in the UN and several of them have women as integral members of their defense forces. Many have opened all fields to women, unlike the U.S. military who is still humming macho man tunes. The fact that the world's military is more and more assigned to peacekeeping as opposed to warmaking, the need for women as peacekeepers should be quite evident.
On 1–3 November 2007, the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) and the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) convened a high level Lessons Learned Seminar in Accra, Ghana, on the current status of the post-conflict peacebuilding process in Liberia. It was the stated objective of the Seminar that these recommendations should inform and enhance the future work of the Liberian government, national NGOs, the UN, ECOWAS and other international agencies to consolidate peace in Liberia.
Constitution-Making
Dr. Kirsti Samuels, Chicago Journal of International Law, Winter 2006
This Article focuses on one of the key elements of post-conflict peace-building: the role of constitution-making in the political and governance transition.
International IDEA acts as a catalyst for democracy building by providing knowledge resources, expertise and a platform for debate on democracy issues. It works together with policy makers, donor governments, UN organizations and agencies, regional organizations and others engaged in democracy building.
Why Children Fight
Young Soldiers: Why They Choose to Fight, By Rachel Brett, Irma Specht, International Labour Office, Published by International Labour Organization, 2004. ISBN 922113718X, 9789221137184
This publication contains the personal views and experiences of child soldiers, highlighting a number of factors contributing to their participation, including the socio-economic and political environment, and their vulnerable personal circumstances, as well as how diverse risk factors interact. These personal stories also draw attention to the gender dimensions of the problem, and to concept of child soldiers 'volunteering' in armed conflict situations. The book then goes on to explore key factors in the development of a comprehensive strategy to tackle the problem, including addressing issues of breakdown of law and order, availability of weapons, extreme forms of social exclusion including poverty and inequality, lack of educational opportunities, widespread child abuse and child labor. The publication includes profiles of conflict situations in Afghanistan, Colombia, the Congo, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
West Point Classes Focus on War Ethics, by Rachel Martin, Morning Edition, May 3, 2007
Seniors at the United States Military Academy at West Point are winding up their last weeks of classes. Ethics have become an important component to the education cadets receive before heading out to their first assignments, many in Iraq or Afghanistan. "Winning the Peace" was developed three years ago as an interdisciplinary course, combining sociology, history, religion (Islam, in particular) and personal ethics. As the name suggests, it's meant to prepare soldiers for the complexities of the streets of Baghdad or the mountains of Afghanistan. A lot of the class is about posing ethical dilemmas that require cadets to go beyond standard manuals to come up with answers. Length – 05:09
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9972583
Shattered Dreams: The Struggle to Reconstruct Iraq, 55:00 minute A World of Possibilities radio program
While the White House seeks to persuade the American public that the "surge" is reducing violence and enabling Iraqis to create a self-governing democracy, Iraqi and international NGO's are struggling to make that goal a reality. We speak with aid workers, conflict mediators and development specialists as they encounter hostility playing midwife to a new democracy in the "cradle of civilization". Guests: Kasra Mofarah, Executive Coordinator NCCI, David Steele, Reconciliation Facilitator, United States Institute of Peace, Basma Al-Khateeb, IAA Project Manager for Women and Youth Programs, Ms. Hero Anwar and Nabil Al-Tikriti, Hero is the HR and Program Manager for REACH an Iraq NGO; Nabil is a US Institute of Peace Fellow, as well as an Assistant Professor for the University of Mary Washington. Produced with support from the Ford Foundation.
http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=333
Hard Power / Soft Power: Peacebuilding at the Pentagon, 55:00 minute A World of Possibilities radio program
A landmark 2005 directive issued by the U.S. Defense Department for the first time placed post-conflict "reconstruction and stabilization" on the same level with the U.S. military's role as war-fighter. However, the implementation of this directive has led many to fear that in embracing "peacebuilding", the Pentagon is actually militarizing and commercializing it. Guests: Lisa Schirch, Professor of Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University, Col. John Agoglia, Director of the U.S. Army's Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) at Carlisle, PA, Lorelei Kelly, Policy Director for the Real Security Initiative, The White House Project, Eric Schwartz, Executive Director Connect US Fund. Produced with support from the Ford Foundation.
http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=325
