Analysis

Maps and updates related to this term.

103 updates found
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Violence and Humanitarian Assistance: Reflections on an Intricate Relationship

Contrary to what was expected, the end of the Cold War and bi-polar global politics did not signal the beginning of an era of peace and development. Instead, in the period from the 1980s till today, the world has experienced a dramatic increase in internal violent conflicts, which more than anything else can be characterised by their excessive human and societal costs in the form of casualties, displacement, dispossession and destruction of livelihood opportunities. One of the consequences of this turn in history has been a growing humanitarian engagement in conflict
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DDR: Supporting Security and Development

With its growing demand in post-conflict situations, DDR programmes have been highlighted and implemented in many war-tone societies by international organizations such as the World Bank and the UN. The European Union (EU), as one of the biggest players in the field, has unique roles in implementing the DDR programmes.

The report finds roles of EU in implementation processes of DDR, and it also raises some implementation considerations and challenges of the programme.
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Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Principles, Power, and Perceptions

Report
Tufts University
This report summarizes the findings of the first phase of a major research project on the challenges and compromises that are likely to affect humanitarian action in the next decade.

The issues are organized and analyzed around four interrelated "petals": the universality of humanitarianism, the implications of terrorism and counter-terrorism for humanitarian action, the search for coherence between humanitarian and political agendas, and the security of humanitarian personnel and the beneficiaries of humanitarian action.
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Civil-Military Relations in Armed Conflicts: A Humanitarian Perspective

In today's changing security environment, the military are increasingly involved in the direct delivery of relief aid, while some humanitarian organisations have at times found themselves having no other choice but to rely on the military to ensure the safety and security of their staff and operations, and to enable access to populations in need. Whether or not this is a temporary phenomenon or a longer trend that is here to stay, the situation begs for a re-examination of civil-military relations in humanitarian crises.

One such attempt was undertaken in 2003-2004
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit http://unocha.org/.

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Addressing the Economic Dimensions of Peacebuilding through Trade and Support to Private Enterprise

"War kills development as well as people". It destroys livelihoods as well as lives, and it undermines economic as well as political progress. Violence deprives people of opportunity as well as the physical infrastructure and social structures on which they rely. Above all, perhaps, it robs them of hope and belief in the future. In other words, the impacts of conflict are as damaging to the economic potential of a nation as they are to its social and political prospects. There is also a widespread assumption, although there is no direct causal
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Mercy Corps: Commentary on the Implementation and Effectiveness of the Cluster Approach

Report
Mercy Corps
In this document, the NGO Mercy Corps shares their comments on the "Preliminary Guidance Note on Implementation of the Cluster Leadership Approach" with the Interagency Standing Committee (IASC).

They posit that some improvements have been made, but in general, performance has been inconsistent. They hope that their comments will provide positive and constructive suggestions on how the cluster approach may be strengthened in the future. The commentary draws upon their experience with clusters in Uganda, Pakistan, Lebanon, Liberia, and Indonesia (Jogyakarta).
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Seed Vouchers in Emergency Programming - Lessons from Ethiopia and Mozambique

The use of vouchers in emergencies to provide resources to those affected by disaster has become increasingly popular since 2000, particularly for the provision of seed and other agricultural inputs. Voucher-based programmes are thought to have various advantages over the direct distribution of seed and agricultural inputs: they are said to be straightforward, timely and cost-efficient in terms of implementation, to provide farmers with a choice of planting materials, to strengthen farmer seed systems and local markets, to offer an opportunity for farmers to
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Meeting the MDG Drinking-Water and Sanitation Target - The Urban and Rural Challenge of the Decade

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have set us on a common course to push back poverty, inequality, hunger and illness. The world has pledged to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Entering the International Decade for Action, Water for Life, 2005-2015, this report looks at the challenge of meeting the MDG target for drinking water and sanitation. Achieving the MDG drinking water and sanitation target poses two major challenges: a rapid pace of urbanization, which requires
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Proactive Presence: Field Strategies for Civilian Protection

This manual is intended to help the international community to make better and greater use of a powerful tool for protecting civilians: the conscious and proactive use of unarmed international field missions deployed in conflict zones. Based on detailed field research analysing the strengths and weaknesses of past field missions, its objective is to encourage and guide international organisations that might deploy personnel mandated to protect civilians. Calling for greater use of such deployments, this manual offers detailed strategic and tactical recommendations to achieve
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Progress for Children: A Report Card on Water and Sanitation

It is estimated that unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation and hygiene every year claim the lives of more than 1.5 million children under ? ve years old from diarrhoea. This tragic statistic underscores the need for the world to meet its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) commitment on water and sanitation: MDG 7, which aims to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

This report card, the ?fth in a UNICEF series that monitors progress for children towards the MDGs, measures the world's
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Amnesty International's Concerns at the 57th Session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Report
Amnesty
Amnesty International continues to document serious violations of the human rights of refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and stateless persons. As an observer at the 57th session of the Executive Committee (ExCom) of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Amnesty International takes the opportunity to present some of its concerns to the ExCom members and observers.

This document also highlights several IDP situations. As they illustrate, IDPs are often caught in armed conflict
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Conflict-Sensitive Project Finance: Better Lending Practice in Conflict-Prone States

This briefing paper highlights the risks associated with financing projects in conflict-prone areas, and proposes better lending practice in conflict-prone states - defined as 'conflict sensitive' project finance.

This briefing paper is based on a longer study published by International Alert in January 2006, authored by Jessica Banfield and Corene Crossin. It forms part of a broad programme of research and field activities aimed at promoting
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The Right to Not be Poor

Report
Social Watch
Poverty has become a globalized phenomenon; it features on the agendas for action of governments, multilateral bodies and civil society organizations all over the world. From the human rights perspective, poverty constitutes a multiple violation of human beings' fundamental rights and above all a violation of the right to lead a decent life as is laid down in international human rights agreements. This right basically amounts to being able to live out one's life as a human being with dignity, and to be able to enjoy a decent life in which the individual
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The Future of Humanitarian Action

Report
Tufts University
While humanitarian action and international disaster response have long traditions in terms of the actions of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent and a number of Christian charitable organizations (and of course, the coping mechanisms of societies and communities), humanitarianism in its present form really dates from the end of World War II. The construction of the notion of an international community of humanitarian actors (UN agencies, Red Cross/Crescent, and NGOs) grew alongside the development of the United Nations system, the Bretton Woods institutions, and the retreating
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The Girl Child and Armed Conflict: Recognizing and Addressing Grave Violations of Girls' Human Rights

During armed conflict, girls are subject to widespread and, at times, systematic forms of human rights violations that have mental, emotional, spiritual, physical and material repercussions. These violations include illegal detention with or without family members, abduction and forced removal from families and homes, disappearances, torture and other inhuman treatment, amputation and mutilation, forced recruitment into fighting forces and groups, slavery, sexual exploitation, increased exposure to HIV/AIDS, and a wide range of physical and sexual violations,
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Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors in Conflict Situations

Report
ICRC
The threat to human rights posed by non-state actors is of increasing concern. The author addresses the international obligations of belligerents, national liberation movements and insurgent entities, looks at the growing demands that such armed groups respect human rights norms and considers some of the options for holding private military companies accountable with regard to human rights abuses. The argument developed throughout this article is that all sorts of non-state actors are increasingly expected to comply with principles of international human rights law.
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Electoral Systems and the Protection and Participation of Minorities

In every successful case of peaceful and democratic conflict avoidance in the world, minority communities and their rights have been included and protected the legislative process.

But minorities are still consistently excluded from electoral reform, constitution drafting and the creation of new governments. However, attempts at inclusion made by non-minority rights specialists during electoral reform can entrench segregation and lead to the same result. Electoral systems are the skeletons on which the body of a peaceful or a conflict-ridden society grows. By considering the
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Human Rights Standards: Learning from Experience

Since the Universal Declaration on Human Rights was adopted in 1948, numerous human rights standards have been created at the initiative of states, non-governmental organisations, victims, and other actors. These standards have transformed international law.

Human Rights Standards: Learning from Experience examines the history of human rights standard-setting and the options available to those who advocate for new standards in the future. It considers where new standards are needed, the forms they should take, where they can be negotiated, and what actors should be involved.
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A Global Report on Mine Action by Armed Non-State Actors: Some Preliminary Findings

Report
Geneva Call
Current and former NSAs are or have been involved in humanitarian mine action - understood as activities which aim to reduce the social, economic and environmental impact of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) globally. In spite of this, in its work with NSAs and in discussion with other humanitarian actors, Geneva Call found that there was a need to further research mine action by NSAs in conflict and post-conflict situations in order to map the benefits and challenges related to involving these actors in humanitarian mine action.
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Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination and Violence Against the Girl Child

1. In accordance with its multi-year programme of work for 2007-2009, the Commission on the Status of Women will consider "The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child" as its priority theme during its fifty-first session, from 26 February to 9 March 2007. In order to contribute to a deeper understanding of the issue and to assist the Commission in its deliberations, the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), organized an Expert Group Meeting