The Africa Center is the pre-eminent Department of Defense institution for strategic security studies, research, and outreach in Africa. The Africa Center engages African partner states and institutions through rigorous academic and outreach programs that build strategic capacity and foster long-term, collaborative relationships.
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http://www.humansecuritynetwork.org/menu-e.php
The Human Security Network (HSN) is a group of like-minded countries from all regions of the world that, at the level of Foreign Ministers, maintains dialogue on questions pertaining to human security. The Network includes Austria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, Mali, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Slovenia, Thailand and South Africa as an observer. The Network has a unique inter-regional and multiple agenda perspective with strong links to civil society and academia. The Network emerged from the landmines campaign and was formally launched at a Ministerial meeting in Norway in 1999. Conferences at Foreign Ministers level were held in Bergen, in Norway (1999), in Lucerne, Switzerland (2000), Petra, Jordan (2001), Santiago de Chile (2002), Graz, Austria (2003), Bamako, Mali (2004), Ottawa, Canada (2005), Bangkok, Thailand (2006) and New York, United States (2009).
An informal, flexible mechanism, the Human Security Network identifies concrete areas for collective action. It pursues security policies that focus on the protection and security requirement of the individual and society through promoting freedom from fear and freedom from want. The Network plays a catalytic role by bringing international attention to new and emerging issues. By applying a human security perspective to international problems, the Network aims to energize political processes aimed at preventing or solving conflicts and promoting peace and development.
The Network's current efforts to achieve greater human security include issues such as the universalization of the Ottawa Convention on Anti-personnel Landmines, the establishment of the International Criminal Court, the protection of children in armed conflict, the control of small arms and light weapons, the fight against trans-national organized crime, human development and human security, human rights education, the struggle against HIV/AIDS, addressing implementation gaps of international humanitarian and human rights law, and conflict prevention.
The Secretary-General has issued a report on Human Security (A/64/701). The report is issued pursuant to paragraph 143 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome (A/RES/60/1). The report summary notes that :
It takes stock of discussions on human security, its various definitions and its relationship to State sovereignty and the responsibility to protect. The report also outlines the principles and the approach for advancing human security and its application to the current priorities of the United Nations. Key human security initiatives undertaken by Governments, regional and subregional intergovernmental organizations, as well as the organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, are presented as examples of the reach of this important concept and its growing acceptance. The report concludes by identifying the core elements and the added value of human security and provides a set of recommendations as a follow-up to the above-mentioned commitment contained in the World Summit Outcome.
This site provides free access to the full text of the report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee which was published as HC 302 session 2008-9 in August 2009. The 321 page report analyses the security situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan and UK foreign policy towards the region, making critical comment and suggestions for future reform. Topics covered include the role of the international community, the UK mission to Afghanistan; American foreign policy since the election of the new president in 2009 and the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The report also contains a report of the findings of a Foreign Policy Committee visit to the region in April-May 2009.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmfaff/302/302.pdf
From Intute.ac.uk
The report of the Security Council mission to Africa from 14-21 May 2009 has been issued (S/2009/303). The report has 3 sections covering the Council's visits to the African Union; Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Liberia. Each section ends with specific recommendations to the Security Council, the parties involved and the international community.
UN Pulse: Permanent Link: Security Council mission to Africa report
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/ [English]
Access: http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/.
From within and without: sustainable security in the Middle East and North Africa
This site provides free access to the full text of a paper by Chris Abbott and Sophie Marsden which was published by the Oxford Research Group in March 2009. The 10 page paper summarises the outcomes of a consultation that the Oxford Research Group (ORG) and the Institute for Peace Studies (IPS) held in Egypt in October 2008. This brought together security experts, academics, government officials and civil society leaders from across the Middle East and North Africa, and explored the main causes of regional insecurity and East and the problems blocking change. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/briefing_papers/withinandwith
Democratic republic of the Congo: Human Security Gateway resources
The Human Security Gateway is a joint project of the Human Security Centre (HSC) Group and Simon Fraser University It aims to provide researchers with a searchable database of links to key websites, full-text reports, journal articles, news items and fact sheets relating to human security worldwide. Human security is defined as the protection of individuals from wars, civil wars and violence. It website enables users to search or browse by country or topic. Topics covered include: peace keeping operations, children and armed conflict, international humanitarian law, gender and security and refugees. Each resource has an added description of content. The section on DRC Congo includes discussion of conflict and war in the region, the humanitarian crisis in 2008, human rights abuses, refugees and the peace keeping process. Intute.ac.uk
http://www.humansecuritygateway.info/search.php?advanced=yes®ions[]=7
Democratic Republic of the Congo: FCO resources
This site is maintained by the British Foreign and Commonwealth office (FCO). It provides free access to materials from the British government about the political and economic situation in the region and British foreign policy towards the DRC Congo. It includes recent press releases, statements by the Foreign secretary, Foreign Office advice and links to related webcasts of parliamentary debaates. Topics covered include political crises and conflict. The main emphasis is upon current news. Intute.ac.uk
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/newsfiles1/drc/
This site provides free access to the full text of the first ever global survey capacities of 21 regional organisations active in the field of peace of security (conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping, enforcement, and peace-building). It was published by the by the United Nations University (UNU-CRIS) in 2008. The 159 page survey provides information on the experience of the organisations, their organisational and resource capacity, enabling direct comparisons. Organisations surveyed are: African Union; Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); Caribbean Community (CARICOM); Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) ;Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Commonwealth Secretariat (COMSEC) ; Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP); Council of Europe (COE) ; Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) ; Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ; European Union (EU) ; Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) International Organization of Francophonie (IOF) ; League of Arab States (LAS) ; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); Organization of American States (OAS) ; Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ; Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) ; Pacific Islands Forum (PIF); Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) ; Southern African Development Community (SADC). Intute.ac.uk
http://www.cris.unu.edu/fileadmin/user_upload/capacity_survey.pdf
Human Security Brief 2007
Source: Human Security Report Project
From press release (PDF; 482 KB):
Challenging the expert consensus that the threat of global terrorism is increasing, a new report from the Canadian research team that produced the much-cited Human Security Report in 2005, reveals a sharp net decline in the incidence of terrorist violence around the world.
The Human Security Brief 2007 demonstrates that:
- Fatalities from terrorism have declined by some 40 percent, while the loose-knit terror network associated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda has suffered a dramatic collapse in popular support throughout the Muslim world.
- There has been an extraordinary, but largely unnoticed, positive change in sub-Saharan Africa's security landscape. The number of conflicts being waged in the region more than halved between 1999 and 2006; the combat toll dropped by 98 percent.
- The decline in the total number of armed conflicts and combat deaths around the world that was reported three years ago in Human Security Report 2005 has continued.
The Brief was produced by the Human Security Report Project (HSRP) research team at Simon Fraser University's School for International Studies in Vancouver, Canada. The HSRP's research is supported by the governments of Canada, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland and the UK.
Download in sections or as full document (PDF; 1.7 MB).
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World in Transition – Climate Change as a Security Risk
Source: German Advisory Council on Global Change
Without resolute counteraction, climate change will overstretch many societies’ adaptive capacities within the coming decades. This could result in destabilization and violence, jeopardizing national and international security to a new degree. However, climate change could also unite the international community, provided that it recognizes climate change as a threat to humankind and soon sets the course for the avoid-ance of dangerous anthropogenic climate change by adopting a dynamic and globally coordinated climate policy. If it fails to do so, climate change will draw ever-deeper lines of division and conflict in international relations, triggering numerous conflicts between and within countries over the distribution of resources, especially water and land, over the management of migration, or over compensation payments between the countries mainly responsible for climate change and those countries most affected by its destructive effects.
That is the backdrop against which WBGU, in this flagship report, summarizes the state-of-the-art of science on the subject of “Climate Change as a Security Risk”. It is based on the findings of research into environmental conflicts, the causes of war, and of climate impact research. It appraises past experience but also ventures to cast a glance far into the future in order to assess the likely impacts of climate change on societies, nation-states, regions and the international system.
+ Summary for Policymakers (PDF: 1.5 MB)
+ Full Report (PDF; 19.2 MB)
Big, not better? Evidence from 20 countries that slim governments work better
This site provides free access to the full text of a 24 page pamphlet
by Keith Marsden which was published by the Centre for Policy Studies
in April 2008. 978-1-905389-72-8. It measures the performance of 20
industrialised nations: (Australia, Austria, Canada, Belgium, Estonia;
Denmark; Hong Kong, France; Ireland; Germany; South Korea; Italy;
Latvia; Netherlands; Singapore; Portugal; Slovak Republic; Sweden;
United States and UK) comparing the size of their government with
social, economic and security performance outcomes.
Intute.ac.uk
http://www.cps.org.uk/cpsfile.asp?id=101
African Security Review (ASR) is an electronic publication that covers
issues pertaining to security in Sub-Saharan Africa including: national
security governance; peacekeeping; and military defence and
intelligence. Contributions to the journal have included discussions
and analyses of: biological weapons with relation to Africa; threats
posed by food shortages and HIV/AIDS to security and human life; and
the role of the International Criminal Court in investigating genocide
in Africa and abuses by UN peacekeepers. Publications can freely be
downloaded (in HTML or PDF) from the website of ASR. Each issue is
organised into the categories: general and editorial commentaries;
features; African watch; essays; and book reviews. The journal will
prove invaluable to graduates, academics and policy makers as it
provides a rich and broad perspective to the notion of security. ASR is
a continuation of the African Defence Review (1994), which itself is a
continuation of the Southern African Defence Review (1992-1993). The
journal appears to have gone out of print after the 2005 issue, but
this is nevertheless a useful resources for scholars.
Intute.ac.uk
http://www.iss.co.za/Publications/Asrindex.html
The latest addition to the Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council has been issued. This sales publication (05.VII.1) provides a guide to the proceedings of the Security Council for the years 1989-1992, a period when the Council's practice expanded in the areas of conflict prevention, peacekeeping, and electoral assistance. This is the eleventh supplement in the series (full list of symbols). The full text of each chapter for all years 1946-1992 is posted on the website of the Security Council. Advanced versions of the forthcoming issues covering the years 1993-2007 are also linked. Each supplement follows the same chapter structure. UN Pulse Permanent Link: Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council 1989-1992
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has posted United Nations Special Procedures Facts and Figures 2007 (full text, pdf, 740 KB). "Special procedures" is the name given to the mechanisms, such as Independent Experts or Special Rapporteurs, etc., established by the UN to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. The new brochure provides an overview of their activities for the year, such as country visits, thematic events, joints activities, reports, communications and press statements. The document also provides some examples of the impact of special procedures' work on the ground. UN Pulse Permanent Link: Human Rights Special Procedures
The Secretary-General report on Securing peace and development: the role of the United Nations in supporting security sector reform is now available (A/62/659-S/2008/39). The report was issued in response to requests of the Security Council in a presidential statement of 21 February 2007 (S/PRST/2007/3) and General Assembly resolution 61/291. The report recommended a number of immediate priorities for the development of a holistic and coherent United Nations approach to security sector reform, in support of national actors. From UN Pulse Permanent Link: Security Sector Reform
A UK based educational charity dedicated to the study of all aspects of
surveillance in modern society. Its website provides information on its
aims and membership. It includes access to associated full text papers
and reports and details about is journal Surveillance & Society.
Topics covered include the surveillance society, the personal privacy,
the regulation and politics of the Internet, CCTV and surveillance.
From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.surveillance-studies.net/
SIPRI Update: Global Security & Arms Control
Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
The first issue of SIPRI Update: Global Security & Arms Control, on the latest developments in international security, arms control, non-proliferation and regional conflict, including recent activities and publications at SIPRI.
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Into Year Seven (PDF; 152 KB)
Source: Oxford Research Group
Given the problems of the Bush administration, it might be assumed that changes in policy will at least be considered. That this is unlikely to be the case owes much to the original expectations of the war on terror. It is easy to forget that prospects seemed so bright in early 2002. There seemed every likelihood of success, with this leading to the resumption of a US global leadership that had been so shocked by 9/11.Remembering this is essential in any attempt to understand why it will be so difficult for any US administration, present or future, to move away from the current security paradigm.
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Armaments, Disarmament and International Security
The Yearbook is SIPRI's annual compendium of data and analysis of developments in security and conflicts, military spending and armaments and non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament.
[Chapter Summaries available.]
The 38th edition of the SIPRI Yearbook analyses developments in 2006 in
with extensive annexes on arms control and disarmament agreements and a chronology of security- and arms control-related events.
Special studies in this volume:
From Mercenaries to Market: The Rise and Regulation of Private Military Companies (Introduction)
Source:
World Security Institute's 2006
Annual Report
(PDF; 2.24 MB)
Source: World Security Institute (via Center for Defense Information)
The World
Security Institute's 2006 annual report is now available online. The report
includes information and a yearly review on all WSI divisions, including Center
for Defense Information,
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