Resource Library
Policy and Research Papers
Understanding African armies
The European Union's Institute for Security Studies explores the various challenges that African armed forces encounter due to regional, historical, economic and political aspects. It also gives practitioners insight into the European CSDP operations in Africa and how those can be more effective.
Justice mechanisms and conflict dynamics in Nepal: Local perceptions and impacts
Saferworld conducts research on the different formal and informal mechanisms that provide justice for communities in Nepal. This report is part of a wider project, 'Community Initiatives for Common Understanding' (CICU), which aims to mediate conflict and find common solutions at the local level. Their findings give insight into people's perceptions of these mechanisms, their access to different kinds of justice depending on their community/ethnic groups, and the linkage between access to justice issues and local conflict dynamics.
Wilson Perspectives: Combatting Corruption
In efforts to bring about useful dialogue about combatting corruption, the Wilson Center has assembled a collection of essays that discuss different countries', international organisations', and various other groups' experiences with this important issue. Case studies ranging from China, Brazil, and the Middle East are presented.
External review of the functions, structure and capacity of the UN Police Division
A recent external review of the 'United Nations Police Division's structure, functions and capacities' has been officially released during a hand-over event to the UN Secretary-General. The report highlights the need for a paradigm shift and calls on different stakeholders of UN policing to “support a change to the current operating model to enable police components to deliver on tailored mandates, by providing enhanced police capacities that could better meet the challenges of today’s peace operations””. The report suggests a "new operating model" for UN policing that would focus on institution-building and specialised capacities. It also puts forward a "reform package" that the upcoming Secretary-General could drive forward. The press release is available on the
UN News Centre and the press conference can be viewed on UN Web TV
Podcast
From understanding to promoting change: making better security and justice programming happen
The Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law, identifies three hurdles preventing better programming in the security and justice area: the strong domestic focus on donor accountability, the inadequacy of staff skill sets amongst many international development organisations, and the inertia resulting from the procedures, habits and paradigms of large donor bureaucracies. Listen to Erwin van Veen interviewing three practitioners giving their insight on these issues.