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111. Priorities for the UN's Children and Armed Conflict Agenda

Author:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University
Abstract:
The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University (LISD) and the non-governmental organization Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict convened a workshop, “Priorities for the UN’s Children and Armed Conflict Agenda,” on December 12-13, 2016, at Princeton University. The workshop brought together representatives of United Nations Member States, including members of the Security Council, the UN Office of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict (OSRSG-CAAC), Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), UNICEF, academics, and NGOs to discuss priorities for the UN’s Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) agenda in 2017 and 2018. This report is a summary of the discussions at this workshop and resulting recommendations.
Topic:
Security, United Nations, Peacekeeping, Children, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Global Focus

112. Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children

Author:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination
Publication Date:
04-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University
Abstract:
This is the final report, circulated as a UN General Assembly and Security Council Document, of the workshop, “Priorities for the UN’s Children and Armed Conflict Agenda,” convened at Princeton University by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determinantion's Project on Gender in the Global Community and the non-governmental organization Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, on December 12-13, 2016. The workshop brought together representatives of United Nations Member States, including members of the Security Council, the UN Office of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict (OSRSG-CAAC), Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), UNICEF, academics, and NGOs to discuss priorities for the UN’s Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) agenda in 2017 and 2018. The workshop began with informal discussions among participants in advance of the working sessions on December 12, and closed with a public session on December 13, to introduce a wider audience to the plight of children caught in the crossfire of armed conflict, particularly in the context of attacks on schools and hospitals. The working sessions of the workshop consisted of three closed sessions on December 13.
Topic:
Security, United Nations, Peacekeeping, Children, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Global Focus

113. THE INTERCONNECTION BETWEEN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND THE CLIMATE CHANGE NEGOTIATIONS: THE PARIS AGREEMENT CASE

Author:
İzzet Ari
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
Abstract:
The year of 2015 was an important milestone in terms of new progresses in development and climate change areas. Adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement for climate change were two successful issues because of country-driven and comprehensive processes. SDGs which replaced to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), includes 17 goals and 169 targets. The Paris Agreement aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There are significant direct and indirect interconnections between SDGs and the Paris Agreement. Due to negotiations of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and SDGs continued in different platforms, both the Agreement and SDGs could not sufficiently provide input for each other. There is still room to ensure alignment between these two processes and outcomes while implementation, monitoring and reporting of the Paris Agreement and SDGs. In this paper, the key elements of the Paris Agreement, namely, adaptation, mitigation, finance, capacity building, technology transfer, cooperation and partnerships are determined, then these elements are tracked under the SDGs in order to analyze the connections and missing parts between SDGs and Paris Agreement. The findings present that the direct linkages between SDGs and Paris Agreement were not strong but, there are substantial and implicit interconnections among the Agreement and SDGs. Countries should nationalize their own SDGs targets and respective indicators in order to integrate climate change issue in their national development agenda. monitoring and reporting of the Paris Agreement and SDGs. In this paper, the key elements of the Paris Agreement, namely, adaptation, mitigation, finance, capacity building, technology transfer, cooperation and partnerships are determined, then these elements are tracked under the SDGs in order to analyze the connections and missing parts between SDGs and Paris Agreement. The findings present that the direct linkages between SDGs and Paris Agreement were not strong but, there are substantial and implicit interconnections among the Agreement and SDGs. Countries should nationalize their own SDGs targets and respective indicators in order to integrate climate change issue in their national development agenda. monitoring and reporting of the Paris Agreement and SDGs. In this paper, the key elements of the Paris Agreement, namely, adaptation, mitigation, finance, capacity building, technology transfer, cooperation and partnerships are determined, then these elements are tracked under the SDGs in order to analyze the connections and missing parts between SDGs and Paris Agreement. The findings present that the direct linkages between SDGs and Paris Agreement were not strong but, there are substantial and implicit interconnections among the Agreement and SDGs. Countries should nationalize their own SDGs targets and respective indicators in order to integrate climate change issue in their national development agenda. capacity building, technology transfer, cooperation and partnerships are determined, then these elements are tracked under the SDGs in order to analyze the connections and missing parts between SDGs and Paris Agreement. The findings present that the direct linkages between SDGs and Paris Agreement were not strong but, there are substantial and implicit interconnections among the Agreement and SDGs. Countries should nationalize their own SDGs targets and respective indicators in order to integrate climate change issue in their national development agenda. capacity building, technology transfer, cooperation and partnerships are determined, then these elements are tracked under the SDGs in order to analyze the connections and missing parts between SDGs and Paris Agreement. The findings present that the direct linkages between SDGs and Paris Agreement were not strong but, there are substantial and implicit interconnections among the Agreement and SDGs. Countries should nationalize their own SDGs targets and respective indicators in order to integrate climate change issue in their national development agenda. The findings present that the direct linkages between SDGs and Paris Agreement were not strong but, there are substantial and implicit interconnections among the Agreement and SDGs. Countries should nationalize their own SDGs targets and respective indicators in order to integrate climate change issue in their national development agenda. The findings present that the direct linkages between SDGs and Paris Agreement were not strong but, there are substantial and implicit interconnections among the Agreement and SDGs. Countries should nationalize their own SDGs targets and respective indicators in order to integrate climate change issue in their national development agenda.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Global Focus

114. Women, Gender, and Terrorism Policies and Programming

Author:
Chantal de Jonge Oudraat and Jeannette Gaudry
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Women In International Security (WIIS)
Abstract:
In recent years, policymakers and international actors have begun to recognize the important role of women and women’s organizations in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE). In October 2015, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2242, which linked the women, peace and security (WPS) and the P/CVE agendas and called for synergies between efforts aimed at countering violent extremism and those furthering the WPS agenda. In 2016, the US government incorporated P/CVE in its National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. The idea that women can be powerful allies in the fight against violent extremism is based primarily on two interrelated observations. First, women often function at the heart of their communities and are thus best placed to recognize early warning signs of radicalization. Effective P/CVE programs will capitalize on this. Second, a community that hopes to address extremism effectively must include the broadest possible range of perspectives in its programming. Because society, economies, and war affect them in gender-specific ways, women bring different perspectives to discussions and plans affecting security. That said, women-centric P/CVE programming is in its infancy. An initial review of these programs points to five main problems, which are explored in this policy brief.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Terrorism, United Nations, Counter-terrorism, and Women
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus

115. Can We Make UN Peacekeeping Great Again

Author:
Alexandra Novosseloff
Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Peace Operations Review
Abstract:
If UN peacekeeping operations are “at a crossroads” as the Secretary-General told the Security Council on 6 April, then it is a policy and linguistic roundabout. This is the same phrase that a senior official used to describe the Brahimi report in 2000 and others used to characterize the work of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO) in 2015. Does this mean that the policy debate that surrounds UN peacekeeping has just been going around in circles for the past twenty years? The recent declarations made by the US administration on possible cuts of its share of the peacekeeping budget and its push to cut individual missions at the time of mandate renewal (as observed in the case of MONUSCO already) has created uneasiness and has given new life to the old debate about the relevance of UN peacekeeping. But this in itself is not a new position. The HIPPO report has also argued for such a review of existing operations. Whether peacekeeping missions are “fit for purpose”, and what this actually means in practice, are questions numerous governments, delegations in New York, departments of the UN Secretariat, experts on the matter, non-governmental organizations and at times, international public opinion, have kept asking for years and even decades. The question was put on the table of the Security Council again by the new US administration during its presidency in April 2017. The goal, as outlined in its concept paper, was to review every single peacekeeping operation to “identify areas where mandates no longer match political realities.” The objective was to “propose alternatives or paths towards restructuring to bring missions more in line with achievable outcomes.”
Topic:
Diplomacy, International Cooperation, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
North America, Global Focus, and United States of America

116. A Better Process, a Stronger UN Secretary-General: How Historic Change Was Forged and What Comes Next

Author:
Yvonne Terlingen
Publication Date:
06-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
When on October 13, 2016, the General Assembly appointed by acclamation António Guterres of Portugal as the United Nations’ ninth secretary-general, there was a sense of excitement among the organization’s 193 members. For once, so it seemed, they felt they had played an important role not only in choosing the secretary-general but also in appointing a man generally considered to be an outstanding candidate for a position memorably described as “the most impossible job on this earth.”1 The five permanent, veto-wielding members of the Security Council (Perm Five) still exercised the greatest power in the selection process, as they always had in the past. Yet the candidate chosen appears, surprisingly, not to have been the first choice of either the United States or Russia, two of the Perm Five that until then had effectively chosen the secretary-general between them in an opaque and outdated process. It is doubtful that António Guterres would have been appointed if the General Assembly had not embarked on a novel process to select him. All previous secretaries-general were chosen on the basis of a haphazard and secretive process that occurred behind closed doors and was not merit based. The method to select the UN secretary-general is laid down in a few words in the UN Charter. Article 97 allocates responsibility for appointing the secretary-general to all members of the General Assembly acting on the recommendation of the Security Council. However, for the last seventy years—with one circumstance-specific exception2—the General Assembly has had no say in the selection: its member states merely rubber-stamped the decision of the Perm Five, which recommended just one candidate each time for the General Assembly to appoint. All previous secretaries-general were chosen on the basis of a haphazard and secretive process that occurred behind closed doors and was not merit based. The process was geared toward appointing the lowest common denominator candidate,3 but nevertheless produced a few outstanding secretaries-general. There has never been a female secretary-general, and until 2016 only three women had ever made it on a Security Council shortlist.4 The entire process lacked transparency and accountability and fell far short of the UN’s own standards and ideals, let alone the current recruitment practices for top international positions. Selections of all previous secretaries-general were made without appointment criteria, without a call for nominations or for CVs, without a timeline for nominations, and without public hearings or other effective methods of public scrutiny. In recent selections, candidates were often pushed into horse trading with the Security Council’s permanent members to gain their support in exchange for making promises of senior UN posts for their nationals. This has led to some countries holding monopolies over key posts.5 Moreover, the tradition of appointment for a five-year, once-renewable term, with reappointment controlled by the Perm Five, has effectively secured a secretary-general beholden to the Council’s most powerful members. The whole process “would be rejected as a bad joke by any serious institution in the private sector,” noted one senior UN authority who worked under multiple secretaries-general.
Topic:
United Nations, Leadership, Diversity, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Global Focus

117. No Money, No NAP: Manual for Costing and Budgeting National Action Plans on UNSCR 1325

Author:
Mavic Cabrera-Balleza and Agnieszka Fal Dutra Santos
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
Abstract:
The United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1325 was adopted in the year 2000, thanks to sustained women’s rights and peace activism from around the world. At its core lies women’s meaningful participation in peace negotiations, post-conflict peacebuilding, conflict-prevention, peacekeeping operations and humanitarian planning. We know that women’s contributions to effective implementation of resolution 1325 and its supporting resolutions - UNSCR 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2103), and 2242 (2015) - are essential for a more peaceful and equal world and the achievement of all of the Sustainable Development Goals. These collective ambitions are more important than ever, as we mark the 17th anniversary of resolution 1325 amidst continuing conflict and insecurity in many countries around the world. Yet, translating these resolutions into practical action on the ground remains challenging, with a persistent gap between commitments and actual political and financial support. Sixty-eight countries have so far adopted National Action Plans (NAPs) to implement UNSCR 1325 and supporting resolutions, but only 16 out of 68 NAPs have a dedicated budget. NAP implementation will only be possible when the funding is provided. Political will must be supported by targeted financial and other resources.
Topic:
Gender Issues, United Nations, Women, Sustainable Development Goals, Peace, and UN Security Council
Political Geography:
Global Focus

118. The Watercourses Convention, Hydro-hegemony and Transboundary Water Issues

Author:
Joyeeta Gupta
Publication Date:
09-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The 2014 entry into force of the UN Watercourses Convention of 1997 could institutionalise water law globally, thereby countering hydro-hegemonic approaches. However, since the Convention is out of date; has been ratified by only 36, mostly downstream countries; does not require amendments of pre-existing treaties; and has no Conference of the Parties to ensure that it becomes a living treaty, its actual influence in addressing the evolving problems in transboundary river basins remains minimal. Nevertheless, it is not unimaginable that with an appropriate follow-up to this Convention, it could be converted into a living and relevant framework convention in the future.
Topic:
Politics, Treaties and Agreements, United Nations, Water, and Hegemony
Political Geography:
Global Focus

119. Democratic Contributions to UN Peacekeeping Operations. A Two-Step Fuzzy Set QCA of Unifil II

Author:
Tim Haesebrouck
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Romanian Journal of Political Science
Institution:
Romanian Academic Society
Abstract:
What explains democratic participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations? Although the division of the burden of UN peacekeeping operations has attracted a considerable amount of scholarly attention, neither the impact of domestic variables, nor the interaction between the domestic and international determinants of peacekeeping contributions has been systematically analysed. This article aims to fill this gap in academic research. First, insights from research on peacekeeping burden sharing, democratic peace theory and integrated decision models are combined in a multi-causal framework. Subsequently, two-step fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis is used to assess whether this model explains diverging contributions to the 2006 enhancement of the UNIFIL operation. The results of this analysis show that contributions result from a complex interplay between domestic and international conditions. Two combinations of international level conditions allowed for large contributions. In the absence of significant military engagements, military capable states and states with a high level of prior involvement in UNPOs had an incentive to participate. Actual contributions, however, only materialized if such a conductive international context was combined with favourable domestic conditions: only states governed by a left-leaning government that was not constrained by either proximate general elections or a right-leaning parliament with extensive veto powers participated in the operation.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Democratization, Politics, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Global Focus

120. Uncovering the Implications of the Paris Agreement: Climate Change as a Catalyst for Transformative Sustainability in Cities

Author:
Sarah Birch
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Leaders, negotiators and scientists returned home from the recent United Nations climate change negotiations in Paris with a new mandate: to explore pathways to a world that warms no more than 1.5°C; to finance climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing countries at a meaningful pace and scale; and, ultimately, to create real policy tools that can deliver prosperity that is not so fundamentally tied to burning fossil carbon. The Paris Agreement is historic in that it is universal (both industrialized and less-developed nations have agreed to the text), a heavy focus is placed on transparency and reporting of progress, and opportunities to periodically reevaluate and ratchet up ambition are built into the process. The ultimate power of this agreement, however, is not in its technicalities and legal implications. Rather, the Paris Agreement represents the manifestation of collective ambition, creating and demonstrating shared norms around the reality of climate change and the responsibility to act. This international process of negotiation and commitment is triggering a wave of conversations about how to reach these ambitious greenhouse gas reduction and adaptation targets. This will require a rapid and fundamental transformation of all sectors, including the design of urban spaces and the ways in which we produce and consume energy.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Treaties and Agreements, United Nations, and Regulation
Political Geography:
Global Focus