Central African Republic

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 305-335
Author(s):  
Frank O. Okyere
Keyword(s):  
Central African Republic ◽  
International Community ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
International Response ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Inclusive Governance ◽  
Atrocity Crimes ◽  
Persistent Instability

Abstract Central African Republic (car) has been a theatre of instability for decades, especially following the 2013 coup, which saw crimes that have been found to be premeditated and systematic. This article identifies states collapse, persistent instability and impunity as key factors engendering atrocity crimes in car. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the risk of atrocity crimes, the international response has been inadequate if not passive, and interventions do not consider atrocity prevention in their execution. Thus, subsequent peacebuilding initiatives have not had real and visible impact on the prevention of atrocity crimes. To address this, the establishment of an accountable and functioning state is the overriding condition precedent to preventing and mangaging atrocity crimes in car. The international community should further engage local actors to promote inclusive governance and lay the foundations for stability and sustainable peace. Subsequent restoration of structures for justice and ensuring their effective functioning will help end structural impunity in the country and go a long way in averting future atrocity crimes.

scholarly journals The Viability of the “Responsibility to Prevent”

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan Hehir
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
International Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Will ◽  
National Interests ◽  
International Response ◽  
Existential Crisis ◽  
Atrocity Crimes

The efficacy of the Responsibility to Prevent suffers from two key problems; causal indeterminacy, and a dependence on the political will of states, particularly the permanent five members of the Security Council. The vast array of factors which can be cited as potentially contributing to the outbreak of conflict and atrocity crimes mitigates against the determination of definite “conflict triggers”. This does not mean prevention is impossible but does limit the efficacy of “early warning systems”. The dynamics of the “four crimes” within R2P’s purview further limits the efficacy of prevention as the decision to engage in mass atrocities is taken in response to a perceived existential crisis. This significantly limits the scope for leveraging the “internal” aspect of R2P as the decision to commit these acts is invariably born from a belief that no other option is available to the potential aggressors. Thus the specifics of atrocity crime prevention places great emphasis on the operationalisation of the external dimension of R2P, namely the role of the international community. So long as the response of the “international community” is predicated on the political will of states, however, the efficacy of prevention in these areas will be limited, as the “international” response is prey to narrowly defined national interests.

World Peace Is Local Peace

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-65
Author(s):  
Pamina Firchow
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Community ◽  
World Peace ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Peace And Conflict ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The United Nations

AbstractToday we live in a world where the majority of wars are no longer interstate, a development that over the last few decades has often left the international community, in particular the United Nations as it was originally conceived, ill equipped to respond. The nimble action required for contemporary conflict resolution and peacebuilding now primarily lies in the hands of local actors and states, sometimes supported by international actors. But it is not always clear who these local actors are or what they need in order to achieve sustainable peace. As part of the roundtable “World Peace (And How We Can Achieve It),” this essay looks in more detail at what we mean by “local” in conflict-affected contexts and asks how local is local enough when resolving conflicts and building peace. It identifies tensions and concerns such as the need for the international community to have a well-defined and easily identified “local agenda” when, in reality, there are often several competing local agendas. The essay presents the Everyday Peace Indicators project as a vehicle that can be used to help communicate these local needs to international actors, and argues for the importance of understanding people's perceived realities in addition to, if not more than, their actual realities when trying to understand peace and conflict trends. In order to do this, we need to more effectively problematize peacebuilding for positive conflict disruption.

scholarly journals Blasphemy Law as a Structural Violence: A Challenge for Maintaining Sustainable Peace

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cekli Setya Pratiwi ◽  
Sidik Sunaryo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
International Community ◽  
Peace Studies ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
The Right

Abstract Blasphemy law (BL) has become a central issue for the international community in various parts of the world in the last three decades. In almost every case involving the BL, especially in Muslim countries, such as Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia, they are always responded with violence or threats of attack that cause many victims, loss of homes, damage to places of worship, evictions, stigma of being heretical, severe punishments, or extra-judicial killings. When international human rights law (IHLR) and declaration of the right to peace are adopted by the international community, at the same time, the number of violence related to the application of BL continues to increase. This paper aims to examine the ambiguity of the concept of the BL in Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and how its lead to the weak of enforcement that creates social injustice and inequality. Then, referring to Galtung’s theory of structural violence and other experts of peace studies, this paper argues that blasphemy law should be included as a form of structural violence. Therefore its challenges these States to reform their BL in which its provisions accommodate the state’s neutrality and content high legal standards. Thus, through guarantee the fully enjoyment of human rights for everyone may support the States to achieve sustainable peace.

scholarly journals Frictional interactions on Women, Peace and Security in Mali

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-483
Author(s):  
Jenny Lorentzen
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
International Community ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
Security Council Resolution ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The Way

AbstractMore than 20 years after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, the international community is concerned with taking stock of its implementation in countries undergoing transitions from war to peace. This article contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics involved in implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda through a focus on the frictional interactions that take place between different actors promoting women's participation in the peace process in Mali. Based on extensive fieldwork in Bamako between 2017 and 2019, it analyses interactions between different international and local actors in the Malian peace process through a discussion of vertical (between international and local actors) and horizontal (between local actors) friction. It finds that the way different actors respond to friction shapes relationships and impacts norm trajectories by triggering feedback loops, which in turn trigger new responses and outcomes.

scholarly journals Bridging Gaps: From a Descriptive to a Practical Mid-Space Actor Typology?

2021 ◽  
pp. 59-80
Author(s):  
Anna Deekeling ◽  
Dahlia Simangan
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Conflict Settings ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Specific Skill ◽  
Favourable Environment ◽  
Bridge Building

AbstractThe concept of hybridity sheds light on the complexity of conflict settings. It helps to analyse the participation of all parties and actors involved and entangled in a social network of normative and political power, while avoiding theoretical binaries that over-simplify the process of post-conflict peacebuilding. What lacks, however, is a practical application of hybridity in peacebuilding that actively engages with bottom/local or grassroots, top/national and international actors through mediation in the mid-space to create sustainable peace. Given this practical shortcoming of hybridity, this chapter examines mid-space actors as gatekeepers and their capacities to enable dialogue among opposing parties. The aim is to offer insights for the international community, as outside intervenors, in promoting the bridge-building potentialities of gatekeepers. Specifically, externally led efforts to engage with the specific skill sets of mid-space local actors are explored. It is argued in this chapter that such engagement provides a favourable environment for sustaining peace by overcoming power struggles in and around the mid-space.

Legitimacy in Crisis

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-133
Author(s):  
Jasmine-Kim Westendorf
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
International Community ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Institutional Level ◽  
Political Implications

This chapter focuses on the macro- and institutional-level impacts of sexual exploitation and abuse. It shows that sexual misconduct in individual missions has far-reaching impacts that reduce international capacities to engage effectively in peace operations and diminish the perceived legitimacy of the international community engaged in peacekeeping and peacebuilding, thereby undermining the international community's capacity to pursue the broader aspirational goals that animate peacekeeping. Sexual misconduct also seeds conflict between different organizational or peacekeeping units as a result of perceived misbehaviors and undermines the morale of peacekeepers and humanitarians. This can result in reduced financial and other support for peace operations and related work and provide fodder for anti-intervention campaigners. Tracking the international responses to the 2015 peacekeeper sexual abuse scandal in the Central African Republic and the 2018 Oxfam sexual exploitation scandal in Haiti, the chapter also explores the global political implications of such scandals.

Cultural Solutions to Religious Conflicts? The Revival of Tradition in the Moluccas, Eastern Indonesia

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 872-891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Bräuchler
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Approach ◽  
Eastern Indonesia ◽  
Religious Conflicts ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Living Together ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Conflict Solution ◽  
Alliance System ◽  
Violent Conflicts ◽  
Religious Differences

AbstractOne of the most violent conflicts of the post-Suharto era took place in the Moluccas, Eastern Indonesia, from 1999 until 2003. Due to a strategic mobilisation process, it was mainly fought out between Christians and Muslims. After the conflict, local actors in the Moluccas hoped to build up sustainable peace through the revival of traditions that are supposed to overcome religious differences and enable harmonious living together. Taking up these local voices or voices that claim to be local, this paper wants to discuss the option of a cultural approach to conflict solution and to reflect on the reconciliatory potential of the revival of tradition. The prominent village alliance system in the Central Moluccas called pela serves as an example how 'traditional' mechanisms were used in order to foster reconciliation. This paper also analyses challenges and problems of the revival-reconciliation interplay in order to reveal both the integrative, as well as the exclusivist, character of revived traditions that are supposed to overcome religious differences.

OIL SPILL RESPONSE PLANNING IN EASTERN EUROPE: A BULGARIAN CASE STUDY

1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 767-773
Author(s):  
Hilary Hoagland-Grey ◽  
David Archer
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
International Response ◽  
The Face ◽  
Oil Spill Response

ABSTRACT The opening of Eastern Europe to western companies has created a need for international cooperation between these companies and Eastern European governments. This new relationship presents a particular challenge for the oil industry as well as an opportunity for emerging governments to benefit from western companies’ experience. In 1993, Texaco Offshore Bulgaria submitted the first western oil spill response plan for the Bulgarian Black Sea. This paper presents a case study based on Dames & Moore's preparation of this plan. The plan was prepared in cooperation with the Bulgarian government, and included public discussions. It joined the country's existing response resources with Texaco's existing international response strategy. The result was a plan combining local knowledge and support and western capability and experience. This paper outlines the issues addressed in the plan. One critical point discussed below is that of protecting tourist beaches, which are an essential part of the Bulgarian economy. The paper concludes with a discussion of how cooperation between western industry and Eastern European government can result in successful oil spill response planning and help identify key factors for both attaining and maintaining preparedness in the face of the new challenges.

Cosmopolitan Pluralist Hybrid Tribunals

2020 ◽  
pp. 594-625
Author(s):  
Elena Baylis
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Atrocity Crimes ◽  
Core Features

This chapter assesses hybrid tribunals as an example of cosmopolitan pluralist engagement. Hybrid tribunals, also known as internationalized criminal tribunals or hybrid courts, are ad hoc courts that incorporate a blend of international and national components and have jurisdiction over atrocity crimes such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. These tribunals are expected to achieve their transitional justice and rule of law goals in no small part through the mechanism of pluralist engagement among multiple international and national legal communities. This chapter reviews the evolution of hybrid courts’ original core features of mixed staffing, mixed law, domestic location, and close relationship to the national legal system, including the emergence of new elements such as victim participation and domestic outreach. It evaluates their efforts to promote the goals of domestic perceived legitimacy, capacity building, and norm penetration, assesses the inclusivity of their design processes, and considers their influence on norm fragmentation in international criminal law. Overall, as institutions, some hybrid tribunals offer substantial opportunities for cosmopolitan pluralist engagement between international and local actors, while others are significantly constrained by institutional design or operational choices.

Peacekeeping, Human Trafficking, and Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Vandenberg
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
Historical Review ◽  
Trafficking In Persons ◽  
National Courts ◽  
International Response ◽  
Peacekeeping Missions

This chapter provides an overview of human trafficking and other forms of sexual abuse committed by peacekeepers and civilians employed in peacekeeping missions. It opens with a historical review of violations committed by peacekeepers and the current international response to the issue. The chapter introduces relevant international legal instruments, including the UN Protocol to Suppress, Prevent and Punish Trafficking in Persons, and examines the United Nations’ response to various instances of misconduct. Focusing on Bosnia and Herzegovina and the MINUSCA mission in the Central African Republic, the chapter details the consistent failure of national courts to prosecute offenders and the inability of the UN to take action beyond repatriating the offenders. The chapter closes with recommendations for the UN to move beyond prevention work to improve enforcement of peacekeeper conduct policies.

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