Politically Speaking 2015 in Review

2015 in Review

DIPLOMACY. PREVENTION. ACTION

Politically Speaking December 2015

A Year of TransformationsThis year has been particularly momentous for the

United Nations. As the Organization celebrates its 70th anniversary, it confronts a global peace and securi-ty landscape that continues to change, too often for the worse, at an astonishing pace.

You will see in the following pages a small sampling of the varied ways in which DPA contributed in 2015 to the UN‘s response to this fluid environment. These range from har-nessing new tools to conduct preventive diplomacy, to supporting peace processes around the world. It is the frequently quiet work de-picted here that leads to progress in making peace. Thus, as the year comes to an end, we are seeing some movement to end the devastating crises in Syria, Yemen and Libya. DPA provides substantive support to the peace processes in all three countries and is committed to maintain and accelerate in 2016 the momentum recently achieved.

The importance of conflict prevention, especially today, needs little demonstra-tion. The number of active civil wars increased almost threefold between 2007 and 2014 (see http://cpr.unu.edu/examining-major-recent-trends-in-violent-con-flict.html), following two decades of consistent decline, bringing the number of battle-related deaths and major civil wars back at mid-1990s level.

To adapt to this new environment, the Secretary-General appointed in October 2014 a “High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations” (HIPPO) to explo-re the implications of the changing nature of conflict on UN peacekeeping and political missions. There were also parallel reviews of the UN‘s peacebuilding ar-chitecture and of progress in ensuring women’s participation in peace and secu-rity processes.

One of the strongest messages coming from these reviews is the need to bring con-flict prevention and mediation, elements of DPA’s DNA, back to the fore. This is a call to translate the formal recognition of the importance of conflict prevention - the UN Charter sets out the Organization‘s mission as striving „to save succeeding genera-tions from the scourge of war“, after all - into more, and more effective, action.

Obviously, moving beyond rhetorical commitments will not be easy. But it is also eminently doable. Smart, targeted investments will be needed in order to over-come what the HIPPO called the “chronic under-resourcing of prevention”. In particular, the Secretary-General has called for a significant strengthening of, and more reliable regular budget resourcing for, the Secretariat’s core prevention and mediation capacities. This is critical for DPA, which relies on voluntary contri-butions from Member States to perform significant aspects of its core mandates.

But the investment in prevention has to be as much political as it is material. Put-ting prevention where it rightly belongs in the UN’s agenda requires a renewed and demonstrable political commitment from Member States. I fervently hope that when we look back at 2016, we will be able to report that a critical mass of the international community has made, and acted on, such a commitment.

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Inside:A Year of Transformations ... 1

Sri Lanka: Supporting Long-term Peace ... 2

Digital Diplomacy: DPA in 140-Cha-racter Bursts ... 4

Countering Violent Extremism Through Prevention ... 6

UN Enlists Faith leaders, Youth to Con-front Extremism ... 9

The Future of Afghanistan: Perspec-tives From the Field ... 10

How Far Have We Come in Decoloni-zation? ... 14

Mediation and Prevention at Work in Guinea ... 16

Lebanon‘s Potential Amid Region in Crisis ... 18

The Impact of Violent Non-State Groups on Peacebuilding ... 21

Illicit Trafficking of Natural Resources and “Threat Finance” ... 24

Undoing Coups in Africa: The Role ofMediation ... 26

Ensuring Genuine and Credible Elections ... 28

DPA Multi-Year Appeal 2016-2017:Flexibility to Face Growing Expecta-tions ... 29

Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs

December 2015 Politically Speaking

Internally Displaced Persons and residents of the Manik Farm Camp. Vavuniya, Sri Lanka. May 2009. UN Photo

Sri Lanka: Supporting Long-term Peace

T he United Nations’ work is organized around peace and security, development and human

rights. Peace and Development Advisers (PDAs) ba-lance on those three pillars in roles that are relatively new but increasingly popular in responding to political tensions in countries around the world.

“I believe that in post-conflict countries, until you get the politics right you cannot get development right.” That’s an important lesson Gita Sabharwal, a United Nations Advisor on Reconciliation and Development in Sri Lanka, has learned from years in the field.

For Ms. Sabharwal, it is imperative to work in close partnership with different entities of the UN family “to bring to bear the political and development perspec-tive in dealing with conflict prevention, resolution and early warning actions to sustain long-term peace.”

Based since 2013 in Colombo, Ms. Sabharwal is one of 34 “Peace and Development Advisers”, or PDAs, who work across the globe under a joint program of the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and the UN De-velopment Programme (UNDP).

She works with the dozens of UN agencies, funds and programmes that have been engaged in Sri Lanka for decades – known collectively as the UN Country Team (UNCT) – and national partners to support the ongoing reconciliation and peace-building efforts in the country.

On a typical day, she might meet with political stake-holders, government counterparts, civil society orga-nizations or policy think tanks; write briefs analyzing political events and their implications for the UN’s work; and interact with the UNCT to drive conflict-sensitive programming.

“The most rewarding aspect of being a PDA is to work with the [UN] Resident Coordinator (RC) to influence and inform the UNCT,” said Ms. Sabharwal.

She also points out that her ability to share analysis on political developments and new “conflict triggers” with Member States and policymakers is not only use-ful, but also helps establish the UN as a “knowledge leader” in the country.

Nearly six years after the end of the Sri Lankan civil

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war, the UN continues to focus its work on reconcilia-tion and conflict prevention, including strengthening

social cohesion at the grassroots level among the Sinhalese Buddhist, Tamil Muslim and Hindu communities.

She also works on a pro-ject, with expertise from DPA’s Mediation Sup-port Unit, to support the Ministry of Justice in developing a frame-work for land mediation

based on the alternative dispute resolution system at work in Sri Lanka since the 1990s.

In DPA, her colleagues in the Asia and Pacific Divisi-on strategize around the ideas and suggestions in Ms. Sabharwal’s reports.

“One person makes a huge difference,” said Shin Ume-zu, Asia and Pacific Division Team Leader.

“Just having one person reporting to us on what’s hap-pening, the flavour of the day, the mood in the air – is it ‘thick’, is it ‘light’ – that really just gives us the sen-se,” he continued.

The joint UNDP-DPA programme started some 10 ye-ars ago and APD has used it prominently in Fiji, as well as Timor-Leste and the Maldives, among others.

Normally, PDAs are deployed for short-term assign-ments, lasting from one to a few years in the country.

“We see some emerging problem perhaps, we deploy someone and then we make sure that this seed [of conflict] doesn’t grow into something,” Mr. Umezu said. “PDAs are our tools for early warning, and also for behind-the-scenes preventive diplomacy with the RC on the ground, with the full support from UN head-quarters (UNHQ).”

The joint project is still a work in progress, Mr. Umezu added, but “the fact that the number of PDAs globally is growing means, to us at least, that there is a great need out in the field, particularly by the RCs. And the-

re is a good responsiveness from UNHQ.”

Christina Hajdu, who works closely with PDAs in DPA’s Asia and Pacific Division, noted that the value of the PDA is particularly apparent in countries where tensi-ons have not yet risen to the level of crisis.

“You’re engaging in a context where stakeholders, including regional and international stakeholders, perhaps may not yet be attuned to the fact that it’s a situation of tension that is on a deteriorating trajecto-ry,” she said.

And while raising awareness about potential crises could potentially ruffle some sensitivities, that is also an advantage of working with PDAs.

“You have to be able to engage early to better under-stand what may be the drivers of the tensions and the political complexities in the context,” said Ms. Hajdu.

Human Rights Up Front

The PDAs also contribute to the Human Rights Up Front initiative that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched in 2013. The campaign’s purpose is to en-sure the UN system takes early and effective action, as mandated by the Charter and UN resolutions, to prevent or respond to large-scale violations of human rights or international humanitarian law.

“That has been a particular strength of the Asia and the Pacific Division, where we do have many RCs and UNCTs who find themselves in complex situations in a non-mission setting, and PDAs enable them to operate in a much more politically savvy and nuanced way,” Ms. Hadju noted. (6 February 2015)

Photo courtesy of Gita Sabharwal

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December 2015 Politically Speaking 4

The Department of Political Affairs’ presence on social media is relatively new but clearly growing.

DPA joined Twitter, the platform that now counts the vast majority of the UN’s 193 Member States as parti-cipants, in 2012. The Department, along with the ever greater number of government officials active on Twit-ter, are all staking a distinct claim in the burgeoning digital diplomacy universe.

As the DPA Twitter account nears 100,000 followers, Politically Speaking looks at how some in the UN use this powerful platform.

In the middle of the 19th century, British Foreign Se-cretary Lord Palmerston’s reaction to receiving the first diplomatic note by telegraph reportedly was: “My God, this is the end of diplomacy.” The first-ever Tweet by a diplomat may not have provoked the same reac-tion, but Twitter and other social media are revolutio-nizing the conduct of international relations today.

A case in point is how the world learns of breaking diplomatic news today. When a new round of United Nations-facilitated Libyan Dialogue convened at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 26 January, there was no press conference. But the UN Support Mission in Li-bya (UNSMIL) tweeted photos and soundbites within minutes apart in Arabic and English. In the evening, UNSMIL (@UNSMILibya) tweeted a minute-long You-Tube video of Special Representative Bernardino Leon

saying the atmosphere was “very positive” and “con-structive.”

On 29 January at 6:26 AM Baghdad time, then Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq Ni-ckolay Mladenov tweeted from his personal account (@nmladenov) calling for an investigation into an alle-ged massacre in Diyala, Iraq. The Mission he headed, UNAMI (@UNIraq), tweeted out a full statement at 10:16 AM; the UN Spokesperson at the UN Headquar-ters summarized the statement to the UN press corps at its noon briefing, nearly 10 hours later.

Tweeting Under the DPA Umbrella

The DPA Twitter account (@UN_DPA) has increased its following by more than 66 per cent in the past six months alone, surpassing 93,000 followers. Among the Tweets that attract the most attention are those relaying Security Council discussions in real time.

In the field, nearly all Special Political Missions are ac-tive on Twitter. In Somalia, like in Iraq, the UN Assis-tance Mission (@UNSomalia) communicates through an official account and a separate, personal account for its Special Representative, Nicholas Kay (@Soma-lia111).

The new Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag (@SigridKaag) joined Twitter in August 2011, and con-

Digital Diplomacy: DPA in 140-Character Bursts

UN Social Media Day, 30 January 2015. UN Photo/Erin Moore


tinues to tweet, providing a personal complement – in Arabic, Dutch and English – to the official @UNSCOL account. The former Special Adviser on Yemen, Jamal Benomar, communicates through @Jamal_Benomar.

In Cyprus, meanwhile, the main account @UN_CY-PRUS highlights the latest news on the peace talks and the UN peacekeeping force, while the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser to Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide (@EspenBarthEide), writes about both Cyprus and is-sues related to his parallel role as senior member of the World Economic Forum.

Other Missions communicate through one account, such as the latest addition to the DPA family, the UN Electoral Observation Mission in Burundi (MENUB) which tweets in English and French under the newly created handle @menub2015.

Tweeting From the Top

“A personal tweet is very different from one coming from an institutional account – it allows you to express your emotions and attitudes, not just put out informa-tion,” Mr. Mladenov said by email from Baghdad.

“I like using Twitter for three reasons: it is an instant source of news on the go, so it helps me stay on top of things even when travelling; it helps me get my message across to people quickly and precisely; and it forces me to focus on what is the core of what I want to say.”

Mr. Mladenov added that Twitter increasingly allows him to stay in touch with decision makers across the world – such as ministers, ambassadors and journa-lists – who also tweet.

He noted the importance of UN social media to provi-de transparency and a more personalized experience of the Organization’s work: “Public diplomacy is often just as important as our behind-the-scenes work. At the end of the day we work in the public interest.”

“Once you start accumulating a following, you have to start nurturing your audience,” he noted. Mr. Mlade-nov has more than 15K Twitter followers and over 30K friends on Facebook. “At some point tweeting beco-mes part of your daily routine.”

Numbers in the Twittersphere

The majority of the 193 UN Member States have a pre-sence on Twitter, at least 83 per cent, according to the annual Twiplomacy Study 2014. The research, conduc-ted by Burson-Marsteller, also found that 68 per cent of all heads of state and government have personal accounts.

There are only around 30 Member States that do not micro-blog, according to the study. These are mainly found in Africa, Asia and in the central Pacific.

UN Social Media Day

“It only makes sense to be on social media if you enjoy it,” said Isabella Poeschl, UN Public Information Officer and one of the organizers of UN Social Media Day. Held on 30 January, the day-long event featured UN Permanent Representatives and social media experts, who extolled the wonders of digital diplomacy and its cyber dangers.

She cautioned, however, that not everyone should jump on the social media train just because it is availa-ble. Thinking about your audiences, available resour-ces and what material you have to share – photos, vi-deos, or text – will decide which networks you join and how you utilize the accounts.

“We are seeing a tremendous shift in power. Fifty ye-ars ago, messages were centralized. Now theoretically everyone with access to the internet has the power to publish,” Ms. Poeschl said. (12 February 2015)

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Countering Violent Extremism Through Prevention

The emergence of new transnational terrorist groups like ISIL and Boko Haram more than a de-

cade after the 11 September attacks is forcing the international community to rethink its approach to confronting violent extremism, one of the greatest threats to international peace and security today.

Increasingly, emphasis is shifting to addressing the underlying causes that lead people to join extremist groups, and doing it within a framework of respect for human rights and dignity, balancing out military and law enforcement responses.

According to Jehangir Khan, Director of the UN Coun-ter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) and the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) in the De-partment of Political Affairs (DPA), the approach that prevailed since 9/11 had been too narrow.

“The focus had been on countering terrorism, empha-sis on ‘counter‘. This approach was too reactive,” he said. “There is a shift to a more integrated policy of preventing violent extremism, emphasis on ‘preven-ting’.”

“Missiles may kill terrorists. But good governance kills terrorism.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon signaled this more comprehensive approach the previous month when he announced that he will present a UN Plan of Action on Preventing Violent Extremism to the UN General As-sembly later this year.

“All countries – along with regional and international organizations – as well as political, religious, acade-mic and civil society leaders – should join hands to forge a multi-faceted response that respects interna-tional human rights and humanitarian law,” Mr. Ban said on 19 February at the Summit for Countering Vi-olent Extremism in Washington, D.C. He was accom-panied by Mr. Khan, DPA Under-Secretary-General Jeffrey Feltman, UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra‘ad Al Hussein, and UN Youth Envoy Ahmad Alhendawi.

“Missiles may kill terrorists. But good governance kills terrorism,” added Mr. Ban. “Human rights, accountab-le institutions, the equitable delivery of services, and

Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, speaks at a memorial service held by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), to honour the 22 UN colleagues who died in the 19 August 2003 attack on the Canal Hotel UN Headquarters in Baghdad, 19 August 2013. UN Photo


political participation – these are among our most powerful wea-pons.”

He noted that counter-terrorism strategies that lack basic elements of due process and respect for the rule of law are often the most ef-fective recruiting agents for extre-mism.

As part of a new global counter-terrorism project, announced by the Secretary-General last year, the UNCCT will be surveying and interviewing returning foreign fighters to better understand their motivations for joining extremist groups, some of which are sanctioned by the Security Council.

“There is increasing recognition of the need for a global multi-lateral response (...)“

Director of UN CTITF and the UNCCT, Jehangir Khan

“No one has answered what are the drivers,” Mr. Khan said. “We see this phenomenon is mushrooming. What is the oxygen fueling it?”

More than 13,000 foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) from over 80 Member States have joined ISIL and the Al-Nusra Front just as of mid-2014, according to estima-tes from the UN’s Al Qaeda-Taliban Monitoring Team.

The UNCCT, which recently received a $100 million contribution from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is ide-ally placed to work on such issues. Established in 2011 within DPA/CTITF to support the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, the Centre today implements and supports counter-terrorism ca-pacity building projects at the national, regional and global levels, including on counter-narratives, regio-nal counter-terrorism strategies and the foreign ter-

rorist fighters phenomenon. In September 2014, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution highlighting the need to address foreign terrorist fighters and, for the first time, counter violent extremism.

“There is increasing recogni-tion of the need for a global multi-lateral response, not just solely military, which is someti-mes necessary” said Mr. Khan. “It behooves countries to work together to respond to security challenges and address the root causes of violent extremism.”Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the opening of the Ministerial Meeting of the

Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, hosted by the United States Government, in Washington, D.C. 19 February 2015. UN Photo

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) with Jeffrey Feltman (centre left), Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs; Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein (centre right), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Jehangir Khan, Director of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office, UN Department of Political Affairs in Washington D.C. attending the Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, hosted by the United States Government. 19 February 2015, UN Photo

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Tunisia, the birthplace of the “Arab Spring”, is one of the countries from which citizens are traveling to Sy-ria and Iraq. The Tunisian Interior Ministry said in June 2014 that an estimated 2,400 Tunisians are fighting in Syria.

“Youth who took to the streets in December 2010 to January 2011 in the social movement that was the spark of the Arab Spring have both political and socio-economic expectations that are still not being fully met,” said UN Resident Coordinator Mounir Tabet, who was among 40 participants from the UN taking part in a brainstorming session in Geneva in late 2014 on cross-regional trends in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The forum, which focused on youth, was organized by DPA’s Middle East and West Asia Di-vision and the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum (CPPF). In an e-mail from Tunis, Mr. Tabet explained that one of the slogans of the Tunisian revolution fo-cused on the word “dignity”. Youth subscribed to a so-cial contract with the Government where in exchange for attending school and maintaining peace, they were promised basic health, education and jobs.

“Rightly, or wrongly, the youth feel that that contract no longer works for them and are now in search of an alternative,” he said. Echoing the call for a preventive approach to countering extremism, Mr. Tabet said the UN could focus on providing support for resilient and equitable development in the country, which would strengthen young men and women’s dignities as they struggle to make and shape their future.

“The fundamental problem is the feeling of alienation, of not belonging and of not benefiting from the actual social order, either economically, socially, politically or even culturally,” Mr. Tabet added. (27 March 2015)

UN Counter-Terrorism Architecture

Addressing the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism is the first pillar of the Uni-ted Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, adopted by consensus by the General Assem-bly through resolution 60/288 (2006).

The other three pillars of the Strategy are: mea-sures to prevent and combat terrorism; mea-sures to build states’ capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and to strengthen the role of the United Nations system in that regard; and measures to ensure respect for human rights for all and the rule of law as the fundamental basis for the fight against terrorism. This same resolution established the UN CTITF, which is chaired by Under-Secretary-General Jeffrey Feltman, and supported by the CTITF Office in DPA, which is directed by Mr. Jehangir Khan.

The Task Force is comprised of 35 UN enti-ties, and includes INTERPOL. The Task Force aims to enhance coordination and coherence of counter-terrorism efforts of the United Na-tions system—mainly through its 9 inter-agen-cy Working Groups on key priority areas of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy—and support Member States’ efforts to implement the Strategy, including through more than 220 capacity building projects at the national, regi-onal and global levels to prevent and combat terrorism. It especially focuses its efforts in key challenged countries and regions where vio-lent groups are active, such as the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, South Asia, the Maghreb, and East and West Africa.


UN Enlists Faith Leaders, Youth to Confront Extremism

Faith leaders at the UN event on 22 April 2015. UN Photo/Evan Schneider

The misuse of religion to lure the young into terro-rism and violent extremism was in focus at a Uni-

ted Nations event last April, featuring faith leaders and youth from around the world.

“At a time when we are seeing so much division and hat-red, I wanted to bring people together under the banner of the United Nations to explore how best to respond,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said to more than a dozen participating religious leaders representing Bud-dhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and other faiths.

The two-day event, “Promoting Tolerance and Reconci-liation: Fostering Peaceful, Inclusive Societies and Coun-tering Violent Extremism”, was led also by former Gene-ral Assembly President Sam Kutesa and Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations.

“I am troubled by the empathy gap in our world today. People are turning their eyes from what is happening to others,” Mr. Ban noted. “We must not lose sight of our common humanity and our shared duty to respond.”

Empathy Gap

Addressing representatives of Member States and world religions, Mr. Ban noted that the United Na-tions, which marked its 70th anniversary in 2015, was born from the ashes of the Second World War to uphold human dignity and worth, tolerance and equality.

But these values “are held in contempt by terrorism and violent extremists bent on imposing their war-ped visions and bankrupt ideologies,” the Secretary-General continued.

“Religion does not cause violence; people do,” Mr. Ban underlined, making specific references to atro-cities committed by Da’esh, Boko Haram, Al Shahaab, and Al Qaeda .

Racist acts and hate speech are also examples of vio-lent extremism, as is prejudice against anyone of ano-ther faith, history or culture.

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“I ask for your wisdom and leadership,” Mr. Ban told the faith leaders, underscoring that they work on the frontlines of their communities and can see the forces of radicalization and intolerance at play.

“I urge you to use your spiritual and moral influence to counter their narrative by standing up for modera-tion and mutual understanding,” added Mr. Ban. He noted also that “we expect our religious leaders to be brave, and to teach their followers when they see something morally wrong.”

The Secretary-General said that later this year he would present a United Nations Plan of Action to Pre-vent Extremism, and has also committed to forming an advisory panel of faith leaders and others on how to promote dialogue as an antidote to sectarian ten-sions.

“We must ask ourselves: what is the attraction of ext-remist ideology,” he asked, questioning the appeal of violent extremism to recruits, mostly young men, but increasingly also women. (23 April 2015)

UN Photo/Fardin Waezi

The Future of Afghanistan: Perspectives From the Field

P eace is the only hope for Afghanistan. How can the UN help to bring everyone to the table?

Nicholas Haysom: Afghanistan will fail without susta-inable peace and the only way to achieve peace is for Afghans to talk – not just to the United Nations – but to each other, said the top UN official in Afghanistan, Nicholas Haysom.

“There’s been really significant progress, particularly if you look over 13 years when the UN Mission was

started,” Mr. Haysom, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, told Politically Speaking from the Kabul headquarters of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

“A peace process must be one in which Afghans talk to Afghans, not Afghans talk to the United Nations. As we say in Africa, where I come from, the doctor can’t take

medicine on behalf of the patient.”


A new national unity Government led by President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah was established in 2014 following the first transfer of power from one elected leader in the country to another. Infrastructure has been develo-ped and access to schools and healthcare has impro-ved.

As of January 2015, Afghan forces are for the first time responsible for the security of their country. But sustaining these achievements requires stability.

“It doesn’t have to be at peace immediately, but [Af-ghanistan] is simply not going to survive if there isn’t peace in the long-term,” Mr. Haysom said.

“War is unaffordable, and the levels of aid which go on to sustain the security establishment are not go-ing to be forthcoming forever.”

In that context, UNAMA has been for the last few ye-ars intensively encouraging a peace process by tal-king to all the parties and nudging them to engage.

“A peace process must be one in which Afghans talk to Afghans, not Afghans talk to the United Nations. As we say in Africa, where I come from, the doctor can’t take medicine on behalf of the patient,” said Mr. Haysom.

The UN Mission has been encouraging parties to for-mally talk to each other directly in an ongoing peace

process to a set agenda. A position the parties have not yet accepted.

“We think there are real problems that both parties face with regard to unity of purpose,” Mr. Haysom no-ted.

He added that the insurgency seems to believe in a narrative in which their victory is around the corner, which, combined with the presence of internal divisi-ons, makes them reluctant to commit to a peace pro-cess.

Role of Regional Neighbours

There is a glimmer of hope that neighbours that can exert pressure on the key actors have been doing so with encouraging results.

“We think at the moment there is a positive alignment of a number of factors which could promote a peace process,” Mr. Haysom said.

That includes China stepping up to the plate and a more positive engagement from Paki-stan, the UN envoy said.

A land-locked country, Afghanistan’s relati-onship with its neighbours – who also inclu-de Iran to the west, and Tajikistan, Turkme-nistan and Uzbekistan to the north – is vital.

One of the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan’s comparative advantage is its geography. Nestled between energy-hungry South Asia and energy-rich Central Asia, Afghanistan could be a hub connecting the east and west to the north and south.

“For it to play that role, of course, it needs levels of stability, but it also needs connec-

tivity and integration in the region,” said Mr. Haysom. “It needs the regional players to assist in the stabilizati-on and the economic integration of Afghanistan.”

Role of the Security Council

There is currently a sanctions regime against the Ta-liban, imposed by Security Council resolution 1988

Streets in Kabul ahead of the Nowruz holiday. Fardin Waezi/UNAMA


(2011). The Council first imposed sanctions on Afgha-nistan under resolution 1267 (1999), which sought to force the Taliban to hand over Osama Bin Laden. The sanctions regime later grew to include people and en-tities the Council had determined as being associated with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

For Afghanistan, the Council also plays an important role by focusing attention on the country, thereby hel-ping to mobilize aid. Afghanistan is tremendously aid-dependent, a fact that distorts its economy. In 2012, Afghanistan received an estimated $6.5 billion in for-eign assistance, including humanitarian aid and official development assistance.

“Without that aid, it’s unlikely to survive as we know it,” Mr. Haysom said. “There have been substantial commitments made to continue supporting Afghanistan but we would be apprehensive that tho-se commitments would melt away once Member States no longer eit-her have men or missions in Afgha-nistan.”

“As the international community draws down, if the UN would preci-pitously abandon or leave Afghanis-tan, it would be seen as abandon-ment.”

This is particularly why the Council’s focused attention on Afghanistan matters. It is also why the UN’s pre-sence on the ground matters. The fact that the UN remains in Afghanistan is a concrete signal that the international community will continue to support the country.

“As the international community draws down, if the UN would precipitously

abandon or leave Afghanistan, it would be seen as abandonment.”

The country faces formidable challenges in the future. The fiscal gap between what Afghanistan is getting and spending is growing; it’s engaged in a very difficult po-litical arrangement which must now deliver on its pro-mises, including curbing corruption; and, in terms of

security, the country faces in a virtual civil war just the beginning of the Taliban’s announced spring offensive.

“Any one of these would be a massive challenge for a poor country to confront, and Afghanistan has to confront all three together,” Mr. Haysom noted. “So, against this backdrop, the continued engagement of the international community and Afghanistan’s neigh-bours is critical.”

Role of UNAMA

The United Nations has played a special role in Afgha-nistan over the past 13 years, assisting with the peace efforts and contributing to resolving some of the crises

which have beset the country.UNAMA has specific tasks which it needs to do to con-tribute to Afghanistan’s normalization, noted Mr. Hay-som.

“I think providing a good offices role for the resolution of conflicts and disputes, both within Afghanistan and between Afghanistan and its insurgency, between Af-ghanistan and its neighbours,” he said.

“Also in the resolution of electoral disputes,” he conti-nued, “in promoting regional engagement in the coun-try, pointing out to the region that they have an inte-rest, a self interest or a selfish interest in Afghanistan’s stability and prosperity.”

A central part of UNAMA’s work focuses on human rights, particularly protection of civilians. While in

Mr. Haysom visiting the IEC audit warehouse in Kabul. Photo: Fardin Waezi/UNAMA


some UN field missions this component can cause ten-sions by “naming and shaming” the Government or other key partners, Mr. Haysom sees human rights as adding credibility to the Mission.

“It’s elevated our status, made us a more trusted in-terlocutor, one that is broadly supporting the Afghan community and it hasn’t in any way diminished our capacity to reach out either to the Taliban or to work with the Government.”

A key report for the Mission is the civilian casualty re-port written jointly with the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR). The latest edition documented 2014 as the worst year for civilians since the United Nations began keeping records in 2009, with more than 10,000 killed or injured in the conflict during the year.

2015 could be worse, as Afghanistan finds itself with new opportunities for peace talks, even as insurgents are set to test the strength of security forces to gain leverage in future negotiations.

“For effective growth and development, the participation of women in the public

and economic life of the nation is critical.”

Protection of civilians also takes the role of protecting women from a high level of abuse within their families.

Over the years, UNAMA has found slow but even progress in implementing the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) Law – which criminalizes acts of violence against women and harm-ful practices including child marriage, forced marriage, forced self-immolati-on, ‚baad‘ (giving away a woman or girl to settle a dispute) and 18 other acts of violence against women including rape and beating.

As part of its core mandate, the Missi-on is also working to try to ensure that

women – and youth – have an equal right to participa-tion in public life.

“Why would we put such an emphasis on it?,” Mr. Hay-som said. “Apart from the question of human rights standards, apart from the question of the fact that wo-men constitute 50 per cent of the population, or that youth are the country’s future, what we know is that for effective growth and development, the participa-tion of women in the public and economic life of the nation is critical.“

UNAMA, will soon initiate a process to examine the role, structure and activities of all United Nations en-tities in Afghanistan, in consultation with the Govern-ment of Afghanistan and key stakeholders, including the donor community, as per its mandate. Some UN agencies, funds and programmes, it should be noted, have been operating in the region since Afghanistan joined the United Nations in 1946.

“We’re taking the challenge to show what value we bring to Afghanistan,” Mr. Haysom said, adding that any skills are being transferred to the Afghans and not inducing a dependence on UN’s continued presence. (8 May 2015)

UNAMA Press Conference on Protection of Civilians. Photo: UNAMA / Fardin Waezi


How Far Have We Come in Decolonization?

Photo: Josiane Ambiehl/UN Department of Political Affairs

W hen the United Nations was created in 1945, almost a third of the world‘s population – 750

million people at the time – lived in territories that were dependent on colonial powers. Today, there are still 17 „Non-Self-Governing Territories“ around the world, with a total population of 1.6 million people.

“Much has been achieved, yet we have not comple-ted the task of decolonization or reached the goal of eradicating colonialism”, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted in his opening message to the 2015 Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization held in Managua, Nicaragua, from 19 to 21 May. The message was delivered by Josiane Ambiehl, Chief of the Depart-ment of Political Affairs‘ Decolonization Unit.

The Secretary-General was referring to the fact that since 1945, more than 80 former colonies have gai-ned their independence. But he also stressed that the international community has an obligation to ensure that a full measure of self-government is achieved in

the remaining Territories, in accordance with the Uni-ted Nations Charter and relevant United Nations re-solutions. The 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories are American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands (Malvinas)*, French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Guam, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Tokelau, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands and Wes-tern Sahara.

The Administering Powers are France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. They are bound by the UN Charter to promote, the well-being of the inhabitants of the Territories, including through ensuring their social, economic, political and educa-tional progress; and assist the Territories in the pro-gressive development of their free political institu-tions, taking into account the particular circumstances and varying stages of advancement of each Territory and its peoples. The United Nations in turn monitors progress towards self-determination in the Territories.


Timor-Leste

The last “Non-Self-Governing Territory” to change its status was Timor-Leste, which in 2002 became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century, following three years of UN administration.

East Timor achieved its independence after a UN-run popular consultation in 1999. This gave the East Timorese population the chance to choose between autonomy within Indonesia or independence. In May 2002, the UN handed over authority to the democra-tically-elected government of now Timor-Leste, which was admitted as 191st UN Member State on 27 Sep-tember of the same year.

The General Assembly had placed East Timor on the international agenda in 1960, when it added the ter-ritory to its list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. Ne-arly 40 years later, an agreement between the UN, Indonesia and Portugal gave the people of East Timor an opportunity to achieve their internationally recog-nized right of self-determination. (5 June 2015)

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Timor-Leste becomes 191st state to join United Nations: Flag raising ceremony, 27 September 2002. UN Photo

* A dispute exists between the Governments of Argen-tina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nort-hern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (ST/CS/SER.A/42)


Special Representative for West Africa Ibn Chambas opening the National Dialogue in Conkary, Guinea. Photo: Laura Gees/UNDPA

Mediation and Prevention at Work in Guinea

Just a few hours after arriving in Dakar, Senegal, from an African Union summit in South Africa, Mohamed

Ibn Chambas is back on a sweltering tarmac waiting to board a small UN plane headed for Conakry, the capital of Guinea. It’s 15 June 2015, and the government and opposition in Guinea are preparing for a national dia-logue to discuss, among other issues, how elections will be conducted in the country later in the year. Mr. Ibn Chambas, the Secretary-General’s Special Representati-ve (SRSG) for West Africa is going to the country to ob-serve that process.

Mr. Ibn Chambas has been doing a lot of this kind of work this year, having played a key role in helping Nige-ria conduct peaceful and credible polls back in March 2015. And he’s going to be doing a lot more of it in the coming months.

“It’s clear that 2015 is the year of elections in West Af-rica”, said the Special Representative on his way to Gui-nea. “Since I’ve been in the job, elections have been a major preoccupation, working with various countries

and partners to see how we can all work together to support these countries to conduct inclusive and credi-ble elections.”

In Guinea, the government and the opposition are still debating how to establish a level playing field for the elections. A major point of contention was the se-quencing of the elections – whether to only hold pre-sidential elections, or coupled with local elections, or first to hold presidential elections and later on organi-ze local elections. That issue has now been overcome thanks to the national dialogue.

Mr. Ibn Chambas arrived in Conakry as the country waited for the rainy season and Ramadan to start – one day before the scheduled kick off of the national dialogue. “I’m here to support the Guinean efforts, encourage them to engage in dialogue, accompany them, and work together with other parties to ensure that we are able to have credible, inclusive and peace-ful elections in Guinea,“ Mr. Ibn Chambas said as his plane landed in Conakry.


Anticipation and Action Are Key

His efforts are part of the Secretary General’s good offices, to carry out timely initiatives in preventive di-plomacy and to contribute to regional responses to political crises in the 16 countries in West Africa that the United Nations Regional Office for West Africa (UNOWA) covers. The region as a whole is in transiti-on. Many of its democracies are young, and the exis-ting and potential divides – regional, ethnic, religious, demographic – mean that relatively minor problems can easily deteriorate.

“That means we have to anticipate and remain active all the time”, stressed Mr. Ibn Chambas.

But the Special Representative and other UN envoys working on conflict prevention have to take care to avoid their active diplomacy being perceived as inter-ference. In Guinea, there is some apprehension about the UN’s and the international community’s involve-ment in creating conducive conditions for elections.

“Our effort has been to reassure them that far from seeking to interfere, we simply want to underline the interest that the international community has in this country and our willingness and our ability to mobi-lize support for them in a constructive way to ensure peaceful and credible elections,” Mr. Ibn Chambas em-phasized.

The key, he underlined, is keeping an equal distance from all sides and reaching out to all, while being con-structive and positive. This has hel-ped Guineans increasingly accept the UN’s role. Indeed, the UN was initi-ally meant only to observe the natio-nal dialogue, but as talks started the Government facilitators and the par-ties requested Mr. Ibn Chambas to assume an informal facilitation role.

“We hope that in Guinea also, as we have seen so far in Burkina Faso and Nigeria, that our efforts will be crow-ned with success.” (7 July 2015)

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Opening of the National Dialogue in Conkary, Guinea. Photo: Laura Gees/UNDPA


Lebanon‘s Potential AmidRegion in Crisis

Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag. UN Photo/Evan Schneider

S igrid Kaag was named Special Coordinator for Le-banon at a particularly difficult time for a coun-

try that has had to demonstrate great resilience in the face of a troubled recent history. Ms. Kaag is not new to challenging missions: She assumed the role of Special Coordinator after heading the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Mission to eliminate the chemical weapons pro-gramme of the Syrian Arab Republic. She brings with her a wealth of experience in political, humanitarian and development affairs alongside her diplomatic ser-vice, including in the Middle East. Here she talks to Po-litically Speaking about her priorities in Lebanon, the crisis roiling the region and the country, and the role of women in peace and security work.

Politically Speaking: Given the current political crisis in Lebanon, what are your 2015 priorities for UN-SCOL?

Sigrid Kaag: 2015, of course, is a year in the midst of number of years of crisis that have affected the region.

And Lebanon has not been immune to that. When I took up this assignment the team met to look ahead and to build a strategic vision going forward over mul-tiple years, really looking at how we can strengthen the work around the three pillars of the UN’s enga-gement in the country. As the Special Coordinator for Lebanon as well as the head of UNSCOL, I am the senior representative for the Secretary-General, and together with my colleagues of the country team, we address issues around peace and security, humanitari-an and development challenges.

When it comes to the peace and security pillar, of course, the backbone remains progress on implemen-tation of Security Council resolution 1701 (calling for an end to the 2006 war and Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon), with a particular emphasis on maintaining the stability and ensuring that we do not have a reversal of the stability in the South, the longest period of calm from 2006 till January 2015. Equally so, given the crisis in the region, Lebanon has faced tremendous challenges and risks – risks of ra-


dicalization, proliferation of arms in country, as well as attempts by extremist groups to either be present in the country or to upset a fine balance. That is also of course part of peace and security, to maintain that and to assist the Lebanese authorities to maintain that and to make progress towards that.

The humanitarian and development side of our work, collectively as the UN, is very much aimed at helping the Lebanese authorities to cope and manage the influx of the Syrian refugees in particular, but also continue to work with UNRWA, for instance, on assis-tance to the Palestine refugees who have been here for more than six decades and to not forget and really focus on the needs of the vulnerable Lebanese host communities.

So, there is a triangulation, and it’s really all about the pillars of work of the UN at a time where Lebanon is really in a volatile region, more than ever before, to make sure that Lebanon as a unique country, that is known for its religious and ethnic diversity, its tre-mendous openness of society, in a country that has also witnessed civil war, that has been impacted by conflict for a long period of its creation, but yet it has the potential to thrive. So, our vision is One UN for one Lebanon, mitigating the worst, but really looking for the best for the country and looking forward.

The security situation in the country remains a con-cern. How do you see the current implementation of Security Council resolution 1701?

Since 1701, the country has witnessed over a nine year period, a period of remarkable tranquility and calm and I think that can be attributed to a large ex-tent to the impact of the resolution, the adherence by the parties, at least to the notion of the importance of stability. Equally so, of course, in every report of the Secretary-General, he has expressed his concern about a series of violations, also the risks that are associated with all the unresolved issues that are clearly stated in 1701. So our work is twofold: the minimum and extremely important of course, is to maintain stability, to avoid any escalation, or risk of escalation due to miscalculation, due to events or in-cidents.

The incidents of the 28 January are such an examp-le. And the immediate deployment of our good offi-ces, close collaboration with UNIFIL, contact with all parties have hopefully helped to lower the tensions and helped contain the situation that otherwise could have been fairly dramatic, potentially. Equally so, it also showed that the situation is yet stable but also fragile. So we continue to work, I’ve travelled recently to Tehran; I’ve also been in Jerusalem to have other discussions.

We maintain open channels here with all par-ties, we work very closely with the Lebanese authorities to make sure that we remain not only on message but also focused, that we ne-ver take our eyes off the ball. 1701 needs to be sustained, needs to be implemented but we also need to look for opportunities where problems can be resolved.

What more could the international communi-ty do to support Lebanon and its people?

The fact that you have an enormous prolifera-tion of arms in the region, the ascendency and presence, the proliferation of extremist groups with extremist intent weighs heavily on coun-tries such as Lebanon. Lebanon is a symbol for the Christians of the entire region. The coun-try has always had a Christian president. The diversity of the country is unique, yet it is not

Special Coordinator Kaag with Syrian refugees in Sheeba in June 2015. UNSCOL Photo

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immune from any of the potential shocks or attempts to undermine that mosaic of the country.

So, we work very closely and support the LAF and the other security forces to really implement the security plans needed, to reinforce their capacity to deal with possible extremist threats and to really help sustain Lebanon’s integrity but also Lebanon’s identity – as a democratic country, as a country where all can thrive and all citizens have a role to play regardless of their background or their socio-economic status.

There is lots to do on the socio-economic side, but when it comes to risk and threat, and stability and se-curity, Lebanon is impacted and is being exposed to a number of risks due to developments in the region. I think the security apparatus and the Lebanese Armed Forces as well as the government are really doing their utmost, with the support of the international commu-nity, to really face those challenges.

“We need … to be generous, not just with our hearts, but also with our pockets.”

And that really comes back to your question: What more should or could the international community do? There are three things. The international commu-nity has been very steadfast in its early and continued support for Lebanon’s management and needs arising from the Syria refugee crisis. There is general support through the UN agencies; UNHCR has been leading of course on the refugee response. But many others are involved: UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, a whole range of UN agencies are working closely on managing the respon-se in support of the government’s plan. Secondly, of course, there is a lot of international support that has been targeted at the enhancement of the capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces precisely because of the security threats and the need for the institutions of state to be well equipped and able to respond to the challenges.

Of course, the more the refugee crisis continues and the longer a political solution to the crisis in Syria is being negotiated or discussed, and dependent on the scenarios in Syria and the region, we need to do a lot more to think of sustainable solutions, to help the Syri-an refugees thrive whilst they are in Lebanon but also support Lebanese host communities. And that requi-res an entirely new debate. Humanitarian assistance is finite, is very specific and the impact of the refugee crisis on the economy, on the socio-economic mosaic of the country will be longer-term.

So, we need to think out of the box, be generous not just with our hearts but also with our pockets, because Lebanon is a country in particular that has hosted per capita the largest refugee case load, so to speak, from any other in absorbing a larger number of refugees, when you contrast that with Lebanon, where 1.2 mil-lion registered Syrian refugees are on its soil - about one third of Lebanon’s own population - we really have to not only take our hats off to Lebanon, its peo-ple and the government, but also really be compelled to think what can be done to help sustain this, waiting of course for a political solution and the opportunity for the Syria refugees to go back home, well-equip-ped, trained, children educated, ready to rebuild their country. (9 July 2015)

UN Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag examines solar panel system in the Bekaa valley. UNSCOL Photo


D r. Annette Idler, Director of Studies at the Chan-ging Character of War Programme at the Univer-

sity of Oxford, visited the Department of Political Af-fairs (DPA) and the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) in July 2015 to speak about alliances among violent non-state groups and lessons learned for buil-ding peace. In this interview with Politically Speaking she talks about her research into the impact of these groups on peace processes and peacebuilding.

Politically Speaking: How do you define violent non-state groups?

Dr. Annette Idler: I define violent non-state groups as a set of at least three individuals who use violence for pursuing their objectives and, through this usage or the threat thereof, directly or indirectly challenge the state’s legitimate monopoly of violence; and who have at least some kind of organisational structure that exists over a certain period of time. This means

it includes for example rebels, paramilitaries, militias, gangs, criminals or terrorists. Given the trend of pro-liferation and fragmentation of various groups as well as the increasingly transnational character of these actors, the term “violent non-state groups” is a use-ful umbrella category. The borders between economic and political group motivations are often muddied and motivations change over time entailing fluid group identities rather than clear-cut distinctions. Some of the categories of existing typologies are value-laden: one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter. Therefore, looking at violent non-state groups as a broad concept allows me to explore the relation-ships that various such groups have with each other and what this means for security, regardless of their raison d’être.

What different types of arrangements exist between violent non-state groups and what impact has that on the population?

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The Impact of Violent Non-State Groups on Peacebuilding

Internally displaced indigenous children in Colombia. UN Photo/Mark Garten


The arrangements can be broadly divided into three clusters - first, the absence of an arrangement, when different groups fight each other or when there is what I call “tense calm”, during which violence can erupt any time. Here, the population is affected by physical insecurity or the constant fear that fighting may break out, but often they can adhere to certain rules that the groups impose, especially in regions where these groups identify themselves with uniforms.

The second cluster includes short-term arrangements such as spot sales and barter agreements, e.g. drugs-for-arms deals, tactical alliances and subcontractual relationships. Such arrangements are very fragile and quickly changing and therefore produce uncertainty among the local population. Not knowing who is on whose side and for how long, people mistrust every-one which, in the long run, erodes the social fabric of the community. Such short-lived alliances often invol-ve contract killers to enforce compliance; therefore selective violence is another factor of insecurity that local populations face.

Finally, the third cluster comprises long-term arrange-ments such as transactional supply chain relationships where groups operate with territorial segmentation, strategic alliances, pacific coexistence and the do-mination of one group over all others. In such cases, violent non-state groups often assume governance functions, for example by providing basic services and goods, especially if the state is absent or through cor-ruption linked to these groups itself. From a long-term perspective, this is maybe the most serious case be-cause in return for receiving basic services and often also economic opportunities in illegal business activi-ties, local community members may socially recognise these groups. This is what I refer to in my research as “shadow citizenship” and “shadow security”; it’s like a social contract between the local community and the violent non-state groups instead of the state.

Conflicts have become much more complex with se-veral armed and criminal groups interacting in con-flict areas. What does that mean for peacebuilding and security?

First of all, it means that we need to acknowledge that all these different groups have a stake in the conflict and in security dynamics more broadly– not just “tra-ditional” conflict actors such as rebels. It also means

that we need to rethink the concept of conflict and hence peacebuilding itself. Peacebuilding more broad-ly defined, is necessary not only in the context of in-ternal armed conflict, but also other contexts where armed organised violence produces suffering. Ulti-mately, it means that we need to tailor our responses to specific situations. In order to do so, conflict analy-ses should identify the various arrangements among violent non-state groups that I have just presented to account for varying security dynamics. Based on such an analysis we can prioritise the resources we have in accordance with the arrangements: In the absence of an arrangement where we see high levels of violence, the provision of security and psychological assistance may be the priority.

In regions with quickly shifting, fragile alliances among various groups we should focus on strengthening the communities’ social fabric which has been eroded by constant mistrust and uncertainty. In regions where several armed and criminal groups have stable rela-tionships with each other and have established “sha-dow citizenship” through providing governance func-tions, we should prioritise (re-)establishing the state’s perceived legitimacy and credibility. This can be done by drawing on specific indicators to measure these dif-ferent issues I have just mentioned.

Why do conflict and crime go hand in hand in many unstable regions around the world?

In many unstable regions around the world, violent non-state groups including rebels, militias and crimi-nals have filled the void of the state. These groups provide governance functions that in other places are assumed by the state or non-violent non-state actors such as tribal leaders or clans. Crime is a useful income source for conflict, especially, if the security and jus-tice systems are deficient, if not collapsed due to on-going conflict, and thus impunity is high. Involvement in illegal economic activities that are based on a rela-tively large labour force such as the cocaine business which involves the cultivation of coca, the processing into cocaine and the transport of the product is con-venient for conflict actors because they can offer eco-nomic opportunities to communities that need to sus-tain their livelihoods. This may be a reason for these communities – and often it is a pragmatic rather than ideological reason – to support the respective group

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and tolerate shortcomings in their “governance style”, such as human rights violations.

What are the lessons learned in Colombia for post-conflict periods?

There are three important lessons. First, in regions where conflict and crime converge, post-conflict peri-ods are likely to feature a reshuffling of arrangements rather than their disappearance.

Second, efforts to sustain peace should be guided by specific security dynamics on the ground, that inclu-de both objective security and perceptions of security rather than by rates of violence. In Colombia, policies such as the National Consolidation Plan have been strongly informed by assessing levels of violence, that is, measurable homicide rates or displacement rates. If we want to sustain peace we also need to account for security impacts that are less measurable and visible to the outside, including regions of confinement where people are not allowed to leave their territory and whe-re no one speaks out against human rights violations in fear of punishment by the groups that control the ter-ritory. Such illusory calm regions which feature shadow citizen security rather than security provided by the state tend to be neglected if we only pay attention to homicide and displacement rates instead of exploring dynamics on the ground through qualitative studies.

The third lesson is that sustaining peace requires a grounded, transnational approach. It is not sufficient to have the support of neighbouring countries on a bilateral, diplomatic level because national govern-ments are not necessarily able to control what occurs on the ground in border regions. Instead a local, but transnational approach in border regions is required, if we are to avoid that violent non-state groups sim-ply move to the non-conflict side of the border once a peace agreement is signed and the government achie-ves to be more present in these marginalised areas.

What are policy implications to be able to tackle con-flict and crime in fragile settings?

Currently, decision makers in governments and in-ternational organisations are concerned with violent places to assess whether and how to intervene. My re-search demonstrates that this focus needs to be com-plemented with a focus on illicitly governed spaces

because these are the spaces where violent non-state groups can operate without having to invest costly re-sources to sustain their fighting and instead, these are the spaces where illicit economic activities are thri-ving, for example smuggling in the Sahel region, the drug trade in the Andean border areas or arms trade in the Great Lakes region.

In such illusory calm regions rebels, militias or terro-rists derive income that can be used to stage attacks elsewhere. These regions are also convenient for such actors to find and at times radicalise recruits because, in the absence of alternative livelihood options, joi-ning such a group or being involved in criminal acti-vities that are coordinated by these groups is often the only way to make a living. This means two things: first, we need to better understand the sub-regional, local security dynamics in fragile settings in order to be able to identify such illicitly governed spaces whe-re “shadow citizenship” prevails. Second, once they are identified, it is necessary to provide legal econo-mic opportunities and to build local capacities for the provision of basic services in these spaces which then helps tackle both conflict and crime.

How do you assess ongoing violence in Colombia while the peace process in Havana is taking place?

The re-emergence of violence is tragic, but not sur-prising in a context of armed conflict – despite the ongoing peace process. When I spoke to people in cities or regions such as Tumaco, Putumayo, Arauca, Catatumbo, Cesar and La Guajira, the overall con-sensus that emerged from these conversations was that all those who were affected most by the conflict want the violence to be stopped.

A peace agreement between the Colombian govern-ment and FARC is not the end of violence, but it would be a step towards this goal and free resour-ces to invest in development and infrastructure in those regions to help tackle other issues such as the security challenges related to criminal and other vi-olent non-state groups involved in illicit economies, another topic I look at in my research. Hence, rather than being a sign of failure of the process, the re-emergence of violence should serve as a reminder that the conflict needs to be stopped as soon as pos-sible to avoid more lives being lost. This requires the will of both parties which may be strengthened by

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confidence-building measures. It also requires an ef-fective communication strategy of the government on why it is worth striving for peace so that it doesn’t lose the public’s patience.

And this, finally, is related to the need to spell out a feasible strategy, including the resources for it, on how to actually bring development and infrastruc-ture to the marginalised regions which have suffe-

red most under the root causes of the conflict, if the government is to be perceived to be credible and le-gitimate by these communities after decades of neg-lect. (16 July 2015)

Dr. Idler is Director of Studies at the Changing Character of War Programme, University of Oxford and Research Associate at the Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute Geneva.

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Illicit Trafficking of Natural Resources and “Threat Finance”

UN Photo/E Darroch

W ith the arrest by Spanish authorities on 29 Au-gust of a man charged with enslavement and

diamond pillaging during Sierra Leone’s civil war, the issue of “blood diamonds” made headlines again for the first time in many years. But the trafficking of na-tural resources to fuel conflict around the world ne-ver went away. In fact, it is a challenge that confronts many parts of the UN system, from the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Na-tions Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) seeking to monitor flows, to the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) sanctions experts investigating those driving the flows and proposing their names for designation.

Security Council sanctions are a crucial element in the international response to “threat finance.” For ex-ample, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, and Somalia sanctions regimes expli-citly call for designations on those who assist in the trafficking of natural resources used to fund armed conflicts.

The question of how to better support Security Coun-cil sanctions to address illicit trafficking is one of the issues dealt with by the Inter-Agency Working Group on UN Sanctions, which is chaired by DPA. This Wor-king Group offers a forum for coordinating informa-tion sharing among different UN entities involved in


implementing UN sanctions – and, in this case, to countering illicit trafficking flows.

During a DPA-wide panel discussion in September on the illicit trafficking of natural resources and UN sanc-tions, experts brought together by DPA and UNEP via the Inter-Agency Working Group on UN Sanctions, sur-veyed the measures available to tackle illicit sources of revenue used to fund “non-state armed groups.”

“The fact is that addressing these illicit trafficking flows is critical for the underpinnings of conflict, how to address it and how to stop it,” said Christian Nelle-mann, a panellist and co-author of the recent UNEP-MONUSCO joint report on the illicit trafficking of na-tural resources benefitting organized criminal groups.

Yet, panelists stressed that effective UN sanctions rely on a full overview of regional trafficking flows, inclu-ding the types of commodities being trafficked, the different routes used, and a clear sense of the armed groups benefiting from the trafficking.

The informal and unregulated character of natural re-source exploitation, however, poses a complication for mapping these flows. According to Hassan Partow, a panelist, from UNEP, the general informal trade of re-sources, on which populations are dependent for their livelihoods, is sometimes difficult to disentangle from the illicit trafficking funding armed groups. In order to combat illicit trafficking but not destroy the liveli-hoods, it is necessary to couple the application of UN sanctions with a serious effort to identify and remove underlying incentives favouring smuggling, illegal and excessive taxation, and land tenure ambiguities.

“Boko Haram, Al-Qaida, the Taliban, Da’esh and their sinister peers make it ab-

undantly clear that the pervasive syner-gies between terrorism and cross-border

crimes foster conflicts, prevent their resolution and increase the chance of

relapse.” Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman

Panelists also stressed that increased information-sharing across UN entities would allow UN sanctions committees to benefit from a much better picture of where and how to implement sanctions more effec-tively. The speakers emphasized that “understanding this pattern and these illicit flows is fundamental for understanding a conflict, but it cannot be done by one agency alone, but [only] through broad collaboration.”

Better Integration of Strategies Crucial

To this end, panelists recommended further integra-tion of the strategies and operations of UN civilian, police, and military entities working on these issues and increased crosscutting research and communica-tion between UN sanctions committees and their ex-pert panels, UN missions, UN investigative units, and external experts. For example, research on cargo and transport companies that may potentially be involved in illicit trade could be compiled. In addition, more at-tention should be paid to the illicit trade of gold. Da-vid Biggs, the Secretary of the DRC, CAR, and South Sudan Sanctions Committee reminded those present that the Sierra Leone sanctions committee organised an innovative stakeholder meeting on alluvial dia-monds, bringing together industry and civil society two years before the Kimberley Process was created. Today, Biggs called for similarly focused and creative approaches to artisanal gold. (18 September 2015)

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UNAMA Photo


Undoing Coups in Africa: The Role of Mediation

Interim President of Burkina Faso Michel Kafando, speaking at the UN General Assembly on 2 October 2015, thanks the international community for its support in facing down the recent coup attempt in his country. UN Photo

How have African organizations responded to coups on the continent and, more specifically,

what have been the results of their efforts to end the-se coups through mediation? These are the key ques-tions raised by Laurie Nathan in a recently completed survey of mediation undertaken in response to coups in Africa since 2000. Mr. Nathan is the Director of the Centre for Mediation in Africa at the University of Pre-toria in South Africa and a member of the UN Medi-ation Roster and the UN Academic Advisory Council on Mediation. He shared some of the survey’s results with Politically Speaking.

Prof. Nathan said coups are “still happening at an alar-ming frequency” in Africa. “It’s distressing” he said, “that while the incidence of coups has fallen since the 1990s, it hasn’t fallen by much. The coups are still hap-pening on average once a year.“

Between 2000 and 2014, Nathan said, there were 14 coups in Africa. The shortest coup lasted one week - in Sao Tome and Principe in 2003 - and the longest 59 months, in Madagascar, from 2009 to 2014. Two countries are presently reeling from the effects of re-cent coups, namely the Central African Republic and Burkina Faso.

Prof. Nathan found that mediation was undertaken in as many as 86 per cent of the coups. It was usually ac-companied by African Union (AU) sanctions (in 73 per cent of cases) and suspension from the AU (in 91 per cent of cases). The leadership of the mediation was al-most always based on the principle of subsidiarity: in 83 per cent of the coups the primary mediating body was the relevant sub-regional organisation. In 92 per cent of the cases a serving or retired president was the lead mediator.

Although the primary mediating body was usually the sub-regional organisation, UN envoys and other officials played a critical role behind-the-scenes, sup-porting the lead mediator and coordinating the efforts of international actors. The UN was also invariably in-volved in helping to prepare elections that led to the restoration of constitutional order. In some but not all instances, the UN Security Council issued a statement in response to a coup. More common was a statement issued by the UN Secretary-General.

A positive finding, Prof. Nathan continued, is that coups now generally end by democratic means, me-aning they end either through presidential elections or, less frequently, through the reinstatement of the


ousted leader. “In previous decades, by contrast, coup leaders would often stay in power for a decade or two, and coups only ended when the coup leader died or was overthrown by another coup.”

“The survey shows that African organisations have be-come better at ending coups through democratic me-ans,” Nathan said. He attributes this trend to the AU’s seriousness about stopping coups both for democratic reasons and for reasons of self-preservation as leaders do not want to be overthrown. This seriousness is re-flected in the AU policy on unconstitutional change of government, which entails zero tolerance of coups.

Mediation almost always succeeds in ending the coups, he continued, “but that’s not to say that it ac-tually resolves the deep-rooted crisis that gave rise to the coup.” The approach is too superficial: the crisis is deemed to be over when there is a presidential elec-tion restoring civilian rule and constitutional order.

“But the problems that led to the coup have not been addressed,” he said. “And we see this clearly in those countries which have repeated elec-tions, and also have repeated coups. Clearly the elections haven’t solved the problem.”

Prof. Nathan said the most interes-ting and surprising finding of his stu-dy is that the mediators make cont-roversial decisions in nearly 70 per cent of the cases. They compromise aspects of democracy and the AU po-licy against coups in order to get the junta to step down. It appears that the mediators do not always mediate between the junta and other dome-stic actors, such as the ousted pre-sident and political parties. Instead, they negotiate with the coup leaders

and often strike a deal with them. In the interests of attaining long-term stability and democracy, the medi-ators may be willing to compromise democratic prin-ciples in the short-term. The bottom line is that in the context of a coup, mediation-as-negotiation by African organizations is constrained by the maxim of ‘politics as the art of the possible’. (2 October 2015)

Laurie Nathan is a Professor at the University of Preto-ria, specializing in international mediation. He was the Team Leader of the AU-EU Assessment of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) in 2014. His most recent books are Falls the Shadow: Between the Promise and the Reality of the South African Constitu-tion and Community of Insecurity: SADC’s Struggle for Peace and Security in Southern Africa.

The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the SSRC or the UN Department of Political Affairs.

27

Secretary-General at an IGAD Meeting on South Sudan. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe


Ensuring Genuine and Credible Elections

Photo: UNDP

The United Nations has provided electoral as-sistance to 67 countries in the past two years.

This support entails working with Member States to further entrench the principle of periodic and genuine elections as well as the promotion of democratization across the globe. On 31 October, the General Assem-bly began considering the most recent report of the Secretary-General on how the Organization, including the Department of Political Affairs (DPA), is dischar-ging this function.

Speaking before the Assembly’s Third Committee, DPA head Jeffrey Feltman said demand for UN electoral assistance remains strong. Mr. Feltman, the UN focal point for electoral assistance, emphasized that the UN provides assistance based on the fundamental prin-ciple of state sovereignty, and noted that in respon-ding to requests for electoral assistance from Member States, DPA works very closely with a number of UN partner organizations particularly the Department for Peacekeeping (DPKO), the United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP), UN Women, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

“Our goal is to promote national ownership, enabling Member States to conduct peaceful, credible and ge-

nuine elections,” he said. All assistance is based upon a request from a Member State or a mandate from the Security Council or General Assembly, and is based on an assessment of the needs of the country requesting it.

Presenting the Secretary-General‘s report on UN elec-toral assistance (A/RES/49/190), Mr. Feltman said “as the Secretary-General has consistently noted, a genui-ne election is one in which the result reflects the freely expressed choice or choices of electors and is there-fore broadly accepted”. He highlighted the concern of the Secretary-General about electoral processes that are marred by widespread misconduct, as well as elec-tions in which contestants refuse to accept outcomes that are generally considered to be legitimate.

“Both types of situations can undermine electoral processes in a very fundamental way, eroding confi-dence in the existing political system,” he said. “This can lead to polarization, unrest, breakdown of political dialogue and the outbreak of violence. In considering ways in which the Organization might help Member States increase the likelihood that election outcomes will be accepted, we believe that it is critical to mitiga-te winner-takes-all and extremely high-stakes politics in an election, in addition to strengthening the proce-dural aspects of the election itself.”

The report discusses some common challenges Mem-


ber States and the United Nations entities that assist them face with regard to the credibility of elections. These include electoral malfeasance committed for political ends and the refusal of contestants to accept outcomes that are generally considered to be legi-timate. “Credibility is related to the extent to which both international obligations are respected and the election process is professional, accurate, impartial and transparent in all stages of its administration. At the same time, the connection between the technical quality of an election and the legitimacy of its outco-mes is complex,” the report concludes. (31 October 2015)

29

The Department of Political Affairs (DPA) presented to Member States on 30 November its latest ap-

peal for voluntary funds for 2016 and 2017, calling for $50 million over the next two years. The “Multi-Year Appeal” aims in large part to respond to the growing gap between the regular budget funds the UN Gene-ral Assembly apportions to DPA and the scope of the work the Assembly, the Security Council and Member States individually entrust to the UN’s lead entity on conflict prevention, mediation, elections and counter-terrorism work.

Delphine Bost, head of DPA’s donor relations team, talked to Politically Speaking about the importance of securing voluntary funding to allow the Department to face increasing demands.

Politically Speaking: We traditionally hear of huma-nitarian agencies asking for donations to fund their

work. Why does DPA appeal for voluntary contribu-tions?

Delphine Bost: Over the last few years, the Depart-ment has become increasingly reliant on extra-bud-getary resources to rapidly respond to needs on the ground. Funding under the Multi-Year Appeal helps DPA respond to the increased demands for its servi-ces with the flexibility that preventive diplomacy and crisis response endeavours require. A large proportion of DPA’s work is simply not predictable and, therefo-re, cannot be “budgeted” in the context of the regular budget.

Approximately 90 per cent of DPA’s Regular Bud-get is for staff costs to perform core functions. While DPA strives to respond to emerging glo-bal issues, the demands have grown over the ye-ars to a level so that the regular budget staffing re-

DPA Multi-Year Appeal 2016-2017: Flexibility to Face

Growing Expectations


sources cannot be easily diverted for long periods of time without creating a gap in other areas of DPA’s core functions. As the regular budget process for each biennium takes three years from initiation until resources are approved, it’s not possible to request resources for emerging global issues that should be addressed within that three-year period.

In addition, in addressing these emerging issues, the performance of DPA’s core functions may be expan-ded as lessons are learned and prevention measures are applied. However, as the DPA Regular Budget has shrunk in real terms over the last few years, volunta-ry contributions have become essential to fund such core activities.

Shouldn’t DPA’s work be funded from the regular budget of the UN?

Yes, of course. DPA’s core prevention and mediation re-sources rely increasingly on unpredictable voluntary fun-ding. The Department would much rather count on more reliable resources through the regular budget for its work in this area. Ideally, a number of core functions and po-sitions should be funded under the regular budget, as recommended by the Report of the High-Level Indepen-dent Panel on Peace Operations. This would also allow us to redirect our extra-budgetary resources to other cri-tical activities, such as surge response for urgent deploy-ments in case of crisis in the field, technical projects with partners, and enhanced analysis, for example.

Indeed, DPA’s crisis response system is entirely funded by extra-budgetary resources. This is a “set of tools” – rapid response, the Standby Team of Mediation Ex-perts, the Mediation Roster, and others – have been developed over the years to respond quickly and ef-fectively to crises and to be able to resolve conflicts in a sustainable and inclusive manner.

Isn’t there a risk in relying on contributions, as states that can pay can try to set the agenda?

Since 2008, DPA has received contributions from 40 donors. Our main donors are primarily OECD (Organi-zation for Economic Cooperation and Development) members (Ed.: In 2015 75 per cent of the contribu-tions came from Western European States and 17 per cent from Asia and Pacific States). Morocco is – so far – the only African donor, and we have no donors from Latin America.

Preventive diplomacy should reflect a broad member-ship. The Department has redoubled efforts to reach out to all Member States through regional group brie-fings, targeted visits of DPA officials and one-on-one meetings. Significantly, since 2013 we have welcomed 11 new donors: India, Austria, Liechtenstein, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slo-vakia, Republic of Korea, and Morocco.

Why is DPA’s work unique within the UN system?

DPA plays a central role in the UN’s efforts to prevent and resolve conflict around the world. It is the only Department with a global mandate on political hori-zon scanning related to the Secretary-General’s Good Offices. DPA’s operational work in conflict prevention, mediation, and peacebuilding in countries and regions such as Syria, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Cyprus, Ukraine, So-malia, the Balkans, the Sahel, among others, is unique within the UN system. At the same time, DPA rarely, if ever, acts in isolation, and its analyses must be tailored to inform and guide other UN and non UN-entities, in-cluding regional organizations, with a wide range of mandates. (27 November 2015)

For further information on how to contribute to DPA,contact Delphine Bost, Donor Relations Focal Point, [email protected]

Delphine Bost, Head of DPA Donor Relations. Photo: UNDPA

http://www.un.org/undpatwitter.com/UN_DPAyoutube.com/user/UnitedNationsDPA

DIPLOMACY. PREVENTION. ACTION

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