Publication: Improving Security in Violent Conflict Settings : Security and Justice Thematic Paper
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2011
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2011
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Spear, Joanna
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Acknowledges that security--both physical security and national security--needs to be addressed in contexts ranging from pre-conflict, conflict, to post-conflict, and in both national and local units. Solutions to stemming violence do not follow linear or sequential implementation. Capacity building requires security sector reform, peacebuilding, parliamentary oversight, civil society involvement, financial management, and transitional justice measures. The return of counterinsurgencies in rogue states or rebellions of secessionist movements has focused aid donors on the legitimacy of such groups. In countries like Colombia where disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs were left incomplete, gang violence has escalated, and in countries like El Salvador violence has mutated across generations into transnational gangs. DDR, a popular set of activities to fund, has the potential to achieve security objectives and social welfare, but requires confidence in the government, community acceptance, a sufficiently strong economy, integration of ex-combatants into new armed forces or national service corps, and community involvement.
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“Spear, Joanna; Harborne, Bernard. 2011. Improving Security in Violent Conflict Settings : Security and Justice Thematic Paper. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9135 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Improving Security in Violent Conflict Settings(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-11-01)Violent conflict is the multifaceted and cyclical problem that the international community is trying to grapple with. To date, there has been a clear hierarchy concerning what forms of violence are seen to matter most, with political violence that threatens the state taking pole position. In examining this argument, this paper sets out a number of issues relating to security and justice definitions. It will then examine some of the problems associated with placing conflict into a box-set typology: mass violence associated with war and genocide carries unique features but also spawns new challenges which are often being ignored. The paper will then examine in brief some of the measures used by communities, governmental actors and international partners in contending with violence before outlining some key conclusions and recommendations. In reading this paper two further points need be borne in mind: 1) this does not provide a comprehensive overview of violence and security - that is the role of the World Development Report (WDR) itself, and 2) this paper does not present fresh research, but more an overview, along with the other papers in the security-justice series, of some of the key issues confronting policy makers in the domain of security and development.Publication Public Security, Criminal Justice, and Reforming the Security Sector : Security and Justice Thematic Paper(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011)Discusses prioritization of governance, the rule of law, and security sector reform (SSR). A policy framework identifies the specific characteristics of post-conflict operations, with emphasis on the need to rebuild trust between the state and its people. Demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration (DDR) programs provide an effective transition strategy, but when their main thrust is to create civilian jobs, results have usually been disappointing.The security sector reform (SSR) supplies support needed for the success of DDR programs, because the legitimacy of a reformed security sector means that the security forces reflect the whole country and contributes to building confidence.The implications for the rule of law and criminal justice point to the need for transparent processes, including quasi-judiciary mechanisms, such as truth and reconciliation commissions.Examples are drawn from Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where SSR efforts have been extensive and are ongoing, as well as from Afghanistan, Bosnia, East Timor, Rwanda, Sudan, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.Publication Transitional Justice, Security, and Development : Security and Justice Thematic Paper(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011)Studies "transitional justice" which means measures that redress the legacies of massive serious crimes under international law. The core elements that minimally belong in a transitional justice policy include: prosecutions, truth-telling measures, reparations for victims, memorialization efforts, local justice initiatives, and some initiatives tending toward institutional reform, particularly the vetting of security sector personnel. Contrary to misconceptions, particularly on the part of non-experts, transitional justice is neither past-oriented, nor of concern to victims alone; rather, to the extent that it achieves any of its goals, it does so in virtue of its potential to affirm general but basic norms-therein its potential contributions to both security and development. The perception that transitional justice measures hamper development and reconstruction, or that transitional justice is not urgent in the aftermath of the cessation of conflict, is false. 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State criminal justice institutions frequently become a primary instrument for the government and elites to maintain power and control through the perpetration of injustice, as has happened in Afghanistan, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe, and Myanmar. Politicization of the police, judiciary, and correctional facilities has led to arbitrariness, discrimination, and corruption. Interventions to strengthen performance of local law enforcement and justice institutions should include mediation and conflict resolution as well as property and family dispute resolution. To counter organized and cross-border crime and violence, multisectoral interventions with longer-time commitments are required addressing at-risk youth and promoting local accountability.Publication Security and Justice Overview(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-03)The central theme of the 2011 World Development Report (WDR) is that violent conflict remains a constant threat to human rights, peace and sustainable development. While the nature of violent conflict maybe changing1 its negative impact on poor people in terms of rights violations, public health, forced displacement and diminution of life chances is the same. Critical to establishing peace and the necessary confidence between state and citizen is providing a sense of security, freedom from fear, and the protection of basic rights and entitlements. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship, overlapping and sometimes contradictory, between a range of approaches to security and justice in conflict affected contexts, and to place these efforts within a broader rule of law framework. This, it will be argued, greatly assists in addressing the kind of frictions and blind-spots that commonly exist in making the transition from violence to peace. The paper will then examine some of the instruments and approaches adopted by governments and international partners in addressing the kinds of stresses which result in violent conflict. Finally, it will examine the gaps in the international arena which continue to persist in this area of support. A series of security and justice-themed papers produced for the WDR 2011 outline in more detail the issues, approaches and lessons of the key components including: security, public security in peacekeeping settings, criminal justice, justice and administrative law, and transitional justice.
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