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1. Four Conflict Prevention Opportunities for South Africa’s Foreign Policy

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
In the years right after apartheid fell, South Africa was a leader in continental diplomacy, brokering peace accords and bolstering multilateral institutions. Its role subsequently diminished, but today it is well placed to make a positive difference in several trouble spots. What’s new? Midway through its term on the UN Security Council, and having just become chair of the African Union, the South African government led by Cyril Ramaphosa has a strong platform from which to reassert Pretoria’s continental leadership in efforts to mitigate Africa’s violent conflicts. Why does it matter? As Africa deals with more challenges to regional stability than it can readily handle, South Africa’s re-emergence as a leader in conflict prevention would be good for Pretoria, good for a continent that continues to prefer African solutions to African problems and good for the people of conflict-affected areas. What should be done? South Africa should enhance its focus on Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, which lie at the intersection of national, AU and UN priorities. Pretoria should also redouble efforts to steer neighbouring Zimbabwe away from crisis.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Diplomacy, Regional Cooperation, and Negotiation
Political Geography:
Africa, South Africa, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, and Democratic Republic of Congo

2. Interventions to Reduce Gender Based Violence in Humanitarian Settings

Author:
SVRI
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative
Abstract:
Globally, recent years have seen the highest levels of displacement on record. This adds extra urgency to the need to close evidence gaps and identify how to reduce and respond to the risks of gender-based violence (GBV) in humanitarian settings.
Topic:
Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, Children, Refugees, Gender Based Violence, Displacement, Child Marriage, and Intimate Partner Violence
Political Geography:
Kenya, Middle East, Greece, Lebanon, Syria, Ethiopia, and Democratic Republic of Congo

3. Technology and Gender Based Violence

Author:
SVRI
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative
Abstract:
Technologies are converging in new ways to change how we live, work and organize. In some cases, attempts are being made to use technology to make women’s access to services safer, reducing the risk of sexual harassment, a form of gender-based violence (GBV). It can be used to ensure easier, more comprehensive access to information and services, including for survivors of violence. However, technology can also be used to facilitate and expand the reach of GBV. Perpetrators can use technology to monitor, harass, threaten, intimidate, impersonate, and stalk victims.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Internet, Gender Based Violence, and Sexual Violence
Political Geography:
Uganda, Pakistan, Kenya, India, Ethiopia, Honduras, and Democratic Republic of Congo

4. Strengthening local and national infrastructures for peace in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho and South Sudan

Author:
Nontobeko Zondi and Wandile Langa
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
In 2016, ACCORD outlined its 2017-2021 Six-Pillar Strategy, which seeks to contribute to sustainable peace, security and development in Africa by mitigating conflict. One of the critical pillars of the Strategy is Pillar 2, which focuses on strengthening local and national infrastructures for peace. This Policy and Practice Brief aims to reflect on the practical experiences, challenges and lessons of ACCORD in advancing the concept of local and national capacity for peace, in the period 2018 to 2019. The preliminary reflections are drawn from ACCORD’s work in four countries, namely, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Lesotho and South Sudan.
Topic:
Peace Studies, Peacekeeping, and Peace
Political Geography:
Africa, Burundi, Lesotho, and Democratic Republic of Congo

5. Household Economic Well-Being and Child Health in The Democratic Republic of Congo

Author:
Janvier Mwisha-Kasiwa
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Abstract:
Health is both a direct component of human well-being and a form of human capital that increases an individual’s capabilities and opportunities to generate income and reduces vulnerability. It is argued that these two views are complementary, and both can be used to justify increased investment in health in developing countries. Therefore, investment in child health constitutes a potential mechanism to end the intergenerational transmission of poverty. This paper examines the empirical impact of household economic well-being on child health, and the gender differences in effects using the Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2014. A series of econometric tools are used; the control function approach appears to be the most appropriate strategy as it simultaneously removes structural parameters from endogeneity, the sample selection and heterogeneity of the unobservable variables. Results suggest a significant positive effect of household economic well-being on child health. However, the magnitude of the effect varies by gender of household head; children from households headed by males appear healthier compared to those from female-headed households. In the context of DR Congo, female-headed households often have a single parent, therefore, the economic well-being effect on child health in the male sub-sample can be considered to include the unobserved contribution of women. These results have implications for public interventions that enable women to participate in paid labour market activities as a means of improving household economic well-being, which in turn could improve child health.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Gender Issues, Health, Health Care Policy, and Children
Political Geography:
Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo

6. Domestic Prosecution of International Crimes

Author:
Cleo Meinicke
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Public International Law Policy Group
Abstract:
In October 2018, the Bosnian state court indicted a former soldier of crimes against humanity for his involvement in the murder and enforced disappearance of civilians in the Kljuc area. In September of that year, a German court convicted Ibrahim Al F. for war crimes committed in Syria and in the same month a military tribunal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo found two military commanders guilty of crimes against humanity committed in the villages of Kamananga and Lumenje (South Kivu). These are just three recent examples of domestic efforts in the prosecution of those responsible for international crimes. Based on the complementarity principle of the International Criminal Court (ICC), where states are “unwilling or unable” to prosecute international crimes, the ICC may step in to prosecute those most responsible for the commission of the crimes under its jurisdiction, namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. However, out of 28 cases before the Court since its inception in 2001 only three resulted in successful convictions. Several suspects were acquitted after lengthy proceedings, of which Gbagbo and Blé Goudé are the latest examples. Therefore, the ICC should be regarded as a last resort while domestic courts carry the main responsibility to prosecute those responsible for international crimes.
Topic:
Crime, International Law, Crimes Against Humanity, and International Criminal Court (ICC)
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Germany, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bosnia and Hercegovina

7. How do global supply chains exacerbate gender-based violence against women in the global south?

Author:
Garcia Isabella
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Global Political Economy, University of Sussex
Abstract:
In 2018/2019 the CGPE launched an annual Gender & Global Political Economy Undergraduate Essay Prize competition, open to all undergraduate students within the School of Global Studies. The winner of the 2018/2019 competition is Isabella Garcia for the essay “How do global supply chains exacerbate gender-based violence against women in the Global South?” Isabella graduated with a BA in International Relations and Development in July and will join the MA cohort in our Global Political Economy programme for 2019/2020. Given the very strong field of submissions, the award committee further decided to award a second-place prize to Yume Tamiya for the essay “Does the rise of the middle class disguise existing inequalities in Brazil?”. Yume graduated with a BA in International Development with International Education and Development. We are delighted to publish both of these excellent essays in the CGPE Working Paper series.
Topic:
Economics, Gender Issues, Women, Gender Based Violence, and Global South
Political Geography:
Africa, Latin America, Mexico, and Democratic Republic of Congo

8. Big Sellers: Exploring the Scale and Risk of National Oil Company Sales

Author:
Alexander Malden and Joseph Williams
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Abstract:
In many oil-producing countries, the national oil company (NOC) sells vast quantities of the state’s oil and gas. The sale of a state’s non-renewable natural resource endowment is often a revenue stream that can have a significant impact on a country’s national budget and the state’s ability to fulfil its national development priorities. It is important therefore that citizens are able to assess the performance of their NOCs, who they sell state assets to, under what terms they sell them and what they do with the resulting sales revenue. In this briefing the authors use data from NRGI’s new National Oil Company database to examine the governance and corruption risks posed by NOC’s oil sales activities. Using this newly compiled data including over $1.5 trillion in oil sales from 39 NOCs in 35 countries, they found that: The sale of oil is an economically significant activity for many countries. The oil, gas and product sales of 35 countries’ national oil companies (NOCs) to commodity traders and other buyers generated over $1.5 trillion in 2016, equaling 22 percent of these countries’ total government revenues. Most NOCs only pass on a small percentage of their oil sales revenue to government treasuries. NOCs from the 30 countries for which data are available transferred just 22 percent of their revenue to the country’s national treasury. This results in NOCs managing huge public revenues in environments that lack basic transparency, accountability and good governance practices. Seventy-nine percent of the identifiable oil sales, or $1.2 trillion, occurred in countries with “weak” or “poor” scores in the 2017 Resource Governance Index. While oil sales disclosure has improved in countries which are part of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), non-EITI countries generated over 90 percent of the identifiable NOC oil sales revenue, or $1.4 trillion. This briefing also presents case studies from the Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Ecuador of ways oil sales data, where available, has been used to scrutinize NOCs’ commercial performance and to hold them accountable for the revenue generated when selling the state’s oil.
Topic:
Civil Society, Government, Oil, and Business
Political Geography:
Africa, South America, Nigeria, Ecuador, and Democratic Republic of Congo

9. he Democratic Republic of Congo: The Great Electoral Robbery (and how and why Kabila got away with it)

Author:
Kris Berwouts and Filip Reyntjens
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:
Although the election of Félix Tshisekedi as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was hailed as ‘the first peaceful transition since independence’, the election was anything but a democratic exercise. Indeed, Martin Fayulu was the real winner, not Tshisekedi. Suspected electoral fraud at the legislative elections has returned a parliament in which Kabila’s Common Front for Congo coalition (Front commun pour le Congo – FCC) holds a large majority. This will allow Kabila to keep real power in most domains of government. By endorsing this outcome in the knowledge that it was fraudulently obtained, the West and Africa have robbed the Congolese people of their choice.
Topic:
Elections, Democracy, Rigged Elections, and State Abuse
Political Geography:
Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo

10. Between Domestic and Global Politics: The Determinants of Eritrea’s Successful Secession

Author:
Albano Agostinho Troco
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
Secessionist conflicts are not a novel occurrence in the African continent. Since the dawn of independence in the 1960s, a number of countries have been home to rebellions involving marginalized communities or ethno-linguistic groups demanding territorial separation from existing states with the goal to create new independent states. The list is long and includes territorial units in countries such as Angola (Cabinda), Comoros (Anjouan and Mohedi), The Democratic Republic of Congo (Katanga, South Kassai) Ethiopia (Eritrea, Ogaden, and Oromia, Afar), Mali (Tuaregs), Niger (Tuaregs), Nigeria (Biafra, Niger Delta), Senegal (Casamance), Somalia (Somaliland) and Sudan (South Sudan) only to mention a few amongst others. [...] ants of successful secessions with particular reference to the African continent. Its central argument is that the successful outcome of the secessionist struggle in Eritrea is the result of a tight combination of domestic and external factors. These include Eritrea’s historical and legal claims for territorial self-determination, the Dergue’s policies of alienation, the effectiveness of the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front’s strategies (EPLF), the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, and the supportive role of the United States of America.
Topic:
Politics, Domestic politics, Conflict, and Secession
Political Geography:
Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia, Senegal, Nigeria, Somalia, Angola, Eritrea, Mali, Niger, Comoros, and Democratic Republic of Congo