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371. Deploying Combined Teams: Lessons Learned from Operational Partnerships in UN Peacekeeping

Author:
Donald C.F. Daniel, Paul D. Williams, and Adam C. Smith
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
Only fifteen United Nations’ member states provide more than 60 percent of the 104,000 UN uniformed personnel deployed worldwide. How can a more equitable sharing of the global peacekeeping burden be produced that generates new capabilities for UN operations? Operational partnerships are one potentially useful mechanism to further this agenda. They are partnerships that occur when military units from two or more countries combine to deploy as part of a peacekeeping operation. This report assesses the major benefits and challenges of these partnerships for UN peace operations at both the political and operational levels.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Politics, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Global Focus

372. Renewable Energy’s Coming of Age: A Disruptive Technology?

Author:
Robert A. Manning
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
The eyes of the world are on the United Nations Climate Conference, also known as COP21. Leaders from around the world are gathered in Paris in an effort to combat the effects of climate change. One of the best chances we have to mitigate these harmful effects are renewable technologies.
Topic:
Climate Change, Industrial Policy, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Global Focus

373. Toward SDG 2: Food Security and Urbanization in the Global South

Author:
David Celis Parra, Krista Dinsmore, Nicole Fassina, and Charlene Keizer
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:
Urban food insecurity is distinct from that experienced in rural areas and must be addressed through a different set of policies. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2 recommends that governments aim to improve food security and nutrition over the next 15 years in response to the global challenge of fostering sustainability.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Humanitarian Aid, United Nations, and Food Security
Political Geography:
Global Focus

374. Defining Loss and Damage: Key challenges and considerations for developing an operational definition

Author:
Alexis Durand and Saleemul Huq
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
Abstract:
The idea of support for vulnerable countries that experience loss and damage (L&D) from climate change is nothing new, and countries have been proposing such an arrangement from the beginning of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations. Pressure to institutionalize a UNFCCC mechanism on L&D has increased in response to the shortcomings of mitigation policy and the inadequacy of adaptation support for nations and communities already experiencing the worst effects of climate change. At the 18th Conference of Parties (COP) in Doha, the UNFCCC officially invited “all parties… to enhance action on addressing loss and damage” associated with the impacts of climate change and agreed to establish institutional arrangements to address L&D at COP 19. At COP 19 in 2013, the UNFCCC was charged with creating the “institutional arrangements… to address L&D” it had promised a year earlier. This mechanism created, dubbed the “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage” (WIM), was given the role of addressing L&D from extreme and slow onset events in developing countries “particularly vulnerable” to effects of climate change.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, United Nations, and Loss and Damage (L&D)
Political Geography:
Global Focus

375. Human Rights Due Diligence through Stakeholder Engagement?

Author:
Brigitte Hamm and Anne Schax
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Institute for Development and Peace
Abstract:
The report examines to what extent stakeholder engagement as a form of private governance can contribute to a corporation’s human rights due diligence performance. It takes as the basis for investigation a case study of a stakeholder engagement program implemented by the oper- ating company SMI for a planned copper-gold mine in the Philippines during the project’s pre- operational phase. The analysis examines criteria for good stakeholder engagement set out by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and uses the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as the conceptual framework. For the case investigated here, it is established that SMI’s stakeholder engagement program as well as the IFC’s guidelines evince several shortcomings from a human rights perspective, which in turn negatively affect other due dili- gence processes.
Topic:
Human Rights, United Nations, Governance, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:
Philippines, Asia-Pacific, and Global Focus

376. Financing for the Implementation of National Action Plans on UN Security Council Resolution 1325: Critical for Advancing Women's Human Rights, Peace and Security

Author:
Dewi Suralaga and Mavic Cabrera-Balleza
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
Abstract:
In 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted the landmark resolution 1325(2000) on Women and Peace and Security, a historic recognition of the gender dimension of conflict, the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls, and the significant, yet often unrecognized, contributions women have made – frequently in the face of grave threats and unrelenting opposition – to sustained conflict resolution and peacebuilding. As we approach the 15-year anniversary of the resolution and the world continues to be plagued by unresolved conflicts and new threats to peace, human security and dignity, efforts to implement UNSCR 1325 and, indeed, the full Women and Peace and Security agenda) must be redoubled. The time is ripe to accelerate adequate and predictable funding. Though a host of factors contribute to the success of resolution 1325 (2000) implementation, adequate funding remains paramount among these. Yet, OECD recently reported that only three per cent of peace and security funding targets gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective.1 Therefore sustainable and adequate financing continues to be a significant challenge. Despite being at the forefront of work to advance the Women and Peace and Security agenda, women’s rights groups, networks and movements face uniquely difficult obstacles in accessing sustainable funding for their work, particularly at the grassroots level. While governments hold primary responsibility for the implementation of resolution 1325(2000), women’s rights groups and movements are vital to addressing the context specific root causes of conflict and building a transformative and sustainable peace. Funding women’s rights groups and movements would go far in addressing the “implementation deficit” faced by the WPS agenda.
Topic:
Security, Gender Issues, United Nations, Women, Peace, and WPS
Political Geography:
Global Focus

377. Women Count: Security Council Resolution 1325: Civil Society Monitoring Report 2014

Author:
Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Eleonore Veilet Chowdhury, Helena Gronberg, and Annalise Moser
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
Abstract:
The forthcoming 15th anniversary of UNSCR 1325 once again brings to the fore the importance of monitoring policy implementation. In the last 15 years, greater accountability to the resolution has been a consistent call from civil society, the UN and Member States. However, only a handful of Member States are actually monitoring the progress and achievements as well as the gaps and weaknesses in the implementation of the resolutions. The 2014 edition of Women Count, Security Council Resolution 1325: Civil Society Monitoring Report, demonstrates once again that while it is labor intensive and time consuming, monitoring is a doable and relevant exercise. It also illustrates that while funding is absolutely necessary, the lack of it should not be an excuse to not monitor. On the fifth year of Women Count, the civil society monitoring of UNSCR 1325, civil society groups from Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Kenya and Libya are participating in this independent monitoring report for the very first time. Moreover, we are for the first time including a territory, Nagorno-Karabakh in monitoring and analyzing the applicability of the WPS resolutions in different socio-political and cultural contexts. 21 countries were monitored in 2014 bringing the total number of countries monitored in the last five years to 24. Beyond just a figure, this number represents the wealth of data, information and analysis on how UNSCR 1325 has impacted the lives of women around the world—in conflict-affected countries, in developed and non-conflict countries, in middle income countries; in countries with or without National Action Plans. GNWP’s participation in the ongoing Global Study on Women, Peace and Security is informed by the findings and recommendations in the last five years of this monitoring exercise. I would like to emphasize that some of the findings and recommendations such as those on women’s lack of representation in official peace negotiations, lack of local level action, as well as the persistent problem on lack of funding for women’s peacebuilding work at the grassroots level are not new and in fact some of them have been articulated prior to 2010. However, the civil society monitoring initiative presents new evidence and fresh insights.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Gender Issues, United Nations, Women, Negotiation, Peace, and WPS
Political Geography:
Global Focus

378. Strengthening Implementation of the UN's Children and Armed Conflict Agenda

Author:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University
Abstract:
on Children and Armed Conflict, and the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations, convened a workshop, “Strengthening Implementation of the UN's Children and Armed Conflict Agenda,” on December 12-13, 2013, at Princeton University. The workshop brought together representatives of United Nations member states, members of the Security Council, United Nations offices, representatives of NGOs, and academics to discuss strengthening Security Council action toward perpetrators of violations against children in situations of armed conflict. The workshop produced recommendations for action to the Security Council and its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, the Secretary-General and his Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, UN member states, regional and subregional organizations and arrangements, and donors.
Topic:
International Cooperation, United Nations, Children, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Global Focus

379. Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children

Author:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University
Abstract:
The report discusses specific, concrete, and targeted actions that can be taken within the framework of the UN’s Children and Armed Conflict agenda to put an end to and to prevent the recruitment and use of children by state actors and non-state armed groups, as well as to end and to prevent other grave violations against children. Recommendations in the report focus support mechanisms for the campaign to end the recruitment and use of children by government security forces by 2016; the role of partnerships in promoting the children and armed conflict agenda; and addressing other grave violations committed against children in situations of armed conflict, specifically attacks on schools and hospitals. The report also provides targeted recommendations for action to the Security Council and its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, the Secretary-General and his Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, UN member states, regional and subregional organizations and arrangements, and donors. The report is the result of a workshop convened at Princeton University in December 2013 by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, and the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the UN.
Topic:
Security, United Nations, Children, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Global Focus

380. 2014-2015 Guide to Women Leaders in International Affairs

Author:
Women's Foreign Policy Group (WFPG)
Publication Date:
08-2014
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Women's Foreign Policy Group (WFPG)
Abstract:
WFPG's Guide to Women Leaders in International Affairs highlights women shaping foreign policy around the world and the role that they play as leaders, diplomats, and policymakers. The Guide provides an index of prominent women from across the international community, including heads of state and government, government ministers and diplomats, and leaders of international organizations and corporations.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Government, United Nations, Women, Leadership, and NGOs
Political Geography:
Global Focus