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1. Protection of Civilians from the Perspective of the Soldiers who Protect: Ghana and India in United Nations peacekeeping

Author:
Peter Albrecht and Podder Sukanya
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
UN peacekeeping missions are deployed in increasingly violent contexts, such as Mali and South Sudan. It leaves such missions suspended somewhere between traditional peacekeeping and peace enforcement. Concurrently with this transformation, protection of civilians has become increasingly important. How do countries like Ghana and India, two of the main contributors of troops to UN missions, define, approach, and experience the task of protecting civilians? What do they consider its key components to be? And what do they think is required to protect well? This new DIIS report concludes that the individual combat experience of troop-contributing countries is a defining feature of how protection of civilians is approached in peacekeeping missions. The report suggests that it is important to understand how difference plays out across missions, and how countries that contribute troops to missions understand and respond to their roles in these missions. This understanding is required in discussions about how effective and coherent we might expect peacekeeping to be as a form of intervention. This report is based on fieldwork in India and Ghana. Data on the Ghana case has been partially collected through the project Domestic Security Implications of Peacekeeping in Ghana (D-SIP), funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Democratization, Non State Actors, Fragile States, Conflict, Violence, Peace, Police, and Justice
Political Geography:
Africa, South Asia, India, and Ghana

2. UN Funding Cuts for Peacekeeping Have Consequences for Ghana: After sixty years of UN peacekeeping

Author:
Fiifi Edu-Afful, Kwesi Aning, Emma Birikorang, Maya Mynster Christensen, Naila Salihu, and Peter Albrecht
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Contributing personnel to UN peacekeepinghas been central to Ghana’s foreign policy andessential in shaping the country’s security sector. However, with the police and militarystill facing considerable challenges at home, and with the prospect of funding for UN peacekeeping missions being cut, Ghana’s domestic stability might be affected. RECOMMENDATIONS ■ Peacekeeping experiences should be used more forcefully to create accountability among Ghana’s security forces. ■ There should be a comprehensive review of Ghana’s approach to international peacekeeping with a view to understanding and articulating more clearly the relationship between strategic foreign-policy objectives and the provision of domestic security. ■ The UN and troop-contributing countries should make an effort to understand the implications for them both of planned cuts in peacekeeping budgets.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Democratization, Development, Non State Actors, Fragile States, Violence, Peace, and Justice
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

3. Ghana's Peacekeeping Efforts Abroad Have an Impact at Home: The Many Implications of UN Peacekeeping

Author:
Festus Aubyn, Kwesi Aning, Emma Birikorang, Fiifi Edu-Afful, Maya Mynster Christensen, and Peter Albrecht
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The UN deploys thousands of peacekeepers in support of peace processes and state-building in countries and regions that are emerging from conflict. The example of Ghana shows that the impacts of these missions are not just felt in countries that host UN missions, but also in those that provide them with troops. Recommendations ■ The Ghanaian government should conduct a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of peacekeeping on the country’s security sector in order to inform its contributions to the UN in the future. ■ The Ghanaian army and police should continue to build on the lessons learned from deploying security personnel abroad and maintain their focus on consolidating the democratic and accountable foundations of the security sector. ■ The UN should build a stronger understanding of how countries that contribute to peace- keeping missions are affected politically, financially and in respect of their security by making these contributions.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Democratization, Development, Non State Actors, Fragile States, Violence, Peace, Police, and Justice
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

4. Five things to consider in Sierra Leone's House of Cards

Author:
Peter Albrecht
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Elections in Sierra Leone will not change the circumstances that have led to war in the country – and already marginalized citizens stand to lose. The greatest concern is not the election, but the deep-seated patronage networks that govern the country.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Sierra Leone

5. The challenges of supplying the frontline in Mali

Author:
Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde, Peter Albrecht, and Rikke Haugegaard
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Peacekeepers in the UN stabilization mission in Mali (MINUSMA) operate under very difficult conditions, especially in the outskirts of the mission. The recent jihadist attack on a military base in Gao in northern Mali, killing 60 and wounding more than 100, is the latest example of how dangerous working in this part of the country is. This policy brief, based on fieldwork in Mali, analyses the challenges to the mission of supplying fuel, food and water to these areas. In doing so, it describes the inequality that exists between African and non-African soldiers.
Topic:
United Nations, International Security, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Mali

6. Inequality hampers intelligence gathering in Mali

Author:
Peter Albrecht, Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde, and Rikke Haugegaard
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
n 2014, the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) established an intelligence capability that is unprecedented for how peacekeeping operations are organized. An All Sources Information Fusion Unit (ASIFU) was set up to assist MINUSMA in countering asymmetric threats faced by mission personnel and the local population. This policy brief focuses on how inadequate collaboration and lack of trust between European and African forces in the mission impede sharing of intelligence. Insight is provided on why and how the intelligence capability could benefit from the cultural knowledge and language skills of African troops. The policy brief is one of the outputs of a project that has explored the plight of African peacekeepers in MINUSMA. The project is a collaborative effort between DIIS and the Royal Danish Defence College. It is funded by the Danish Ministry of Defence.
Topic:
United Nations, International Affairs, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Mali

7. Policing Practices in a Global Perspective

Author:
Peter Albrecht
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Policing in the global North and the global South is becoming more alike. An increasingly common characteristic is the blurring of boundaries between rule-based and more personalized policing styles. Reasons for this approximation include a growing focus on fighting or preventing radicalisation globally, and a general debureaucratisation of policing that has occurred in the global North.
Topic:
Defense Policy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. Female Peacekeepers Are Vital for the UN Mission In Mali

Author:
Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde, Peter Albrecht, and Rikke Haugegaard
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Despite efforts to increase the deployment of female soldiers, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) remains dominated by men. A new DIIS policy brief discusses how to increase gender awareness in MINUSMA. In the MINUSMA force of 11,000 troops, only 1.8% of military personnel are women compared to the average of 3.8% for UN peacekeeping missions. The brief argues that a focus on the operational relevance of gender integration and on strengthening existing capacities in the mission will be small, yet realistic, steps forward. Furthermore, MINUSMA should use African nations with a solid focus on gender in their own armies as role models and mentors for all military staff across the mission. The policy brief is based on a collaborative research between DIIS and the Royal Danish Defence College, RDDC.
Topic:
Gender Issues, International Affairs, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Mali

9. Betwixt and between – chiefs and reform of Sierra Leone's justice sector

Author:
Peter Albrecht
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper discusses the uneasy role of chiefs within three cycles of security and justice reform in Sierra Leone during the past decade. Interaction has been indirect, by default or marginal, and always hesitant. This has been the case, even though chiefs constitute the most important governing institution in Sierra Leone's rural communities. One of the key tensions, I argue, has been the tendency to cast chiefs as state or non-state, respectively, or even as a hybrid between the two. However, as illustrated in this paper, while they are formally and discursively tied into a 'state system' in the Constitution and in legislation, they are subjected to limited oversight, and therefore govern in relative autonomy. A new program, designed in 2010, might help to transcend the state-non-state dichotomy and prepare the ground for a more productive way of engaging chiefs that do not fit into either a state or non-state category. This is done by focusing on which actors are actually providing security and justice, rather than who donors would prefer did it, i.e., the state.
Topic:
Security and Law
Political Geography:
Africa

10. Think twice before engaging in Yemen

Author:
Peter Albrecht
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Yemen has caught the eye of the international community above all because it has been portrayed as a hotbed of radicalisation and a training ground for al-Qaeda. As a state, Yemen is broadly considered to be both fragile and on the brink of failure. This Policy Brief argues that for a variety of reasons – largely relating to the political system and dynamics within the country – support from Europe and North America will have limited effect. There are limited, if any, technical solutions to the challenges that confront the country; only political ones. International actors from outside the regional context must therefore think twice before engaging and, above all, have a good understanding of the political system that they will be engaging with.
Topic:
International Relations and Islam
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Yemen, and Arabia