scholarly journals The Prevention of Armed Conflicts as an Emerging Norm in International Conflict Management: The OSCE and the UN as Norm Leaders

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Ackermann
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Management ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
International Norm ◽  
Three Stages

This article explores the emergence of conflict prevention as an emerging norm in international conflict management. In particular, it examines the role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations as primary actors in the construction and promotion of conflict prevention as an international norm. The article describes some of the major instruments that both organizations have already developed to implement the prevention of armed conflict on a more consistent rather than ad hoc basis. The article traces the emergent norm of conflict prevention through three stages—the awarenessraising and advocacy stage; the acceptance and institutionalization stage; and the internationalization stage. Although it is argued that conflict prevention as an emerging norm may eventually become firmly institutionalized and internationalized, at this point in time it remains for the most part in the advocacy stage. Regional organizations, such as the OSCE, have been more successful in moving conflict prevention toward acceptance and institutionalization, albeit on a regional level.

The Role of Regional Organizations in Reducing Organized Rape

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-110
Author(s):  
Amal Annooz ◽  
Qasem Janabi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
European Convention ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Peace And Security

Abstract Organized rape in armed conflict is one of the most serious violations of human rights, which creates a clear crisis in the identity of the other party and solidifies the sense of bitterness of defeat. Rape in armed conflicts is thus different from that of others, which can have a negative impact on social and international peace and security. Conservative and racially conservative societies are also affected by systematic organized gang rape, which occurs systematically from parties to a non-international armed conflict or within the policy of the aggressor State in the event of an international armed conflict. In contrast to the efforts made by the United Nations to curb organized rape, regional organizations have made little effort in this direction. The role of regional organizations in the framework of Chapter VIII of the UN. Charter in reducing armed conflicts and protecting human rights, and in cooperation of the United Nations and the Security Council in the task of maintaining international peace and security. The European Convention on Human Rights has established a mechanism to monitor the extent to which individuals enjoy their rights and freedoms and the extent to which States parties respect them. The US Convention on Human Rights followed the same approach as the European Convention, but through the regulatory body of the American Commission on Human Rights and the American Court of Human Rights. Although women and children suffered systematic rape as a result of armed conflict on the African continent, the African Charter on Human Rights did not provide the necessary mechanisms to curb crimes of sexual violence, and the Arab Charter on Human Rights did not play a role in the face of organized rape. We therefore considered the adequacy of the provisions of the International Bill and the mechanisms of action of regional organizations in curbing the crimes of sexual violence, organized rape in particular in places of non-international armed conflict, and whether organized rape can be considered a violation of personal liberty and dignity. Or is it a crime against humanity? And other questions that can be raised, which we will try to answer in the context of this research.

The role of the urban agriculture on food security during armed conflicts in the Gaza Strip

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 493-503
Author(s):  
Hadi Khalil, MA ◽  
Husam Al Najar, PhD
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Poverty Level ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Quantitative Design ◽  
The Gaza Strip

This study aims to assess the potential of urban agriculture to secure daily needs during the armed conflicts, in addition to assess the contribution of urban agriculture in alleviating poverty level and unemployment rate for its practitioners. A combination of both quantitative and qualitative research methods was employed in this study. In the quantitative design, 129 randomly selected urban farmers from the area of the survey completed the self-administered close-ended questionnaires, whereas the statistical analysis presents the socio-demographic, economic, and other aspects of the households. The qualitative data collection included interviews with six governmental and nongovernmental officials.The results show that 89.2 percent of the urban agriculture practitioners are feeling food security. However, a small percentage of the households who practice urban agriculture are still experiencing difficulties with food security. In the meantime, the armed conflict forced most of the urban farmers to evacuate their homes or lands; thus, only 34.9 percent of urban farmers managed to gain food during the 2014 armed conflict.In a nutshell, urban agriculture significantly and positively contributes to alleviating household food insecurity in the study area. However, its role was very limited during the 2014 armed conflict.

The Catholic Church and the Kivu Conflict

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérard Prunier
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
North And South ◽  
The Catholic Church

AbstractThis paper examines the role of the Catholic Church in the armed conflict that has engulfed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1993. The conflict itself has two dimensions. Since 1996 the DRC has been at the centre of a major war that has spilled well beyond its borders, embroiling neighbouring states and others further afield. Less well known is the local struggle, in the eastern part of the country in the two provinces of North and South Kivu, which began three years earlier. While having a dynamic of its own, Kivu's fate has become entwined in the wider international conflict. Given its large constituency and immense wealth and infrastructure, the Catholic Church has come to wield enormous influence in the DRC, particularly in the context of a declining state. It was a key player in the movement for democratisation in the early 1990s and more recently it has sought to offer moral guidance on the conflict. But its attempts to adopt a superior moral outlook have been severely tested by the fact that its clergy are now thoroughly zairianised, and have come to embody the ethnic and political prejudices of their respective communities.

scholarly journals Lessons for the law of armed conflict from commitments of armed groups: identification of legitimate targets and prisoners of war

2011 ◽  
Vol 93 (882) ◽  
pp. 463-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandesh Sivakumaran
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Law ◽  
Rules Set

AbstractArmed groups frequently issue ad hoc commitments that contain a law of armed conflict component. These commitments detail the obligation of the relevant armed group to abide by international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, or particular rules set out in the commitment. They commit the group to abide by international standards, sometimes exceed international standards, or in certain respects violate international standards. Although these commitments are often overlooked, they offer certain lessons for the law of armed conflict. This article considers the commitments of armed groups with respect to two specific areas of the law that are either of contested interpretation or seemingly inapplicable to non-international armed conflicts, namely the identification of legitimate targets and the prisoners of war regime.

Feminist revision of oral history methodology for the study of armed conflicts

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-69
Author(s):  
Zuriñe Rodríguez Lara ◽  
Sergio Villanueva Baselga
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Feminist Epistemology ◽  
Oral Histories ◽  
The People ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
Oral Information

This article sets out presenting the methodological toolbox created for the study of very specific reality: the gathering of oral information in the study of armed conflicts. Taking as a valid reference the oral history technique, we explored new methodological processes that allowed us to reach the lives and stories of the people interviewed more deeply, with a closer approach to their lives, but at the same time respecting and ensuring maximum access and confidentiality. To do this, the oral history methodology was reviewed with the main contributions of feminist epistemology. Thereby, we created ex profeso new methodological processes adapted to study the role of women as violence perpetrators in armed conflicts. Our proposal expands up to 5 different phases with either technical or emotional functions. The validity of this new methodological toolbox has been tested through an extensive research in the armed conflict of the Basque Country (Spain) performing oral histories to 25 women and 10 men.

Various mechanisms and approaches for implementing international humanitarian law and protecting and assisting war victims

2009 ◽  
Vol 91 (874) ◽  
pp. 279-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toni Pfanner
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
War Victims

AbstractThis article presents an overview of the various mechanisms to improve the situation of people affected by armed conflict. Some are anchored in international humanitarian law, but numerous actors are increasingly contributing to its implementation outside the original framework established for that purpose. Human rights monitoring bodies, the diverse organs and agencies of the United Nations and regional organizations, and governmental and non-governmental organizations are seeking to address situations of armed conflict. However, humanitarian action unattached to any political agenda and combining protection and assistance is often the only remedy for the plight of the victims of armed conflicts.

scholarly journals Re-thinking Inclusion as a Discursive Practice: the Case of Hamas in the Israeli Discourse after 2006

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Giovanni Pasquali
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Conflict Management ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
International Negotiations ◽  
Discursive Practice ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Official Discourse ◽  
Linguistic Level

The role of ‘inclusiveness’ in assessing the legitimacy of international negotiations assumes a central position in both theoretical and empirical studies of conflict-management and resolution. The focus of this scholarship, however, has been often restricted to the dynamics of physical participation and reciprocal communication without paying due attention to the discursive and linguistic level at which intersubjective understanding occurs. This article re-conceptualizes inclusiveness as a discursive practice and develops a multidimensional framework to assess its implications within the context of international conflict resolution. Building on previous work on linguistics and metaphor analysis, we develop four categories that are used to assess the level discursive inclusiveness of Hamas in the Israeli government’s official statements after 2006 and preceding the 2010 peace talks: (i) war-like; (ii) criminal-like; (iii) evil-like; and (iv) adversary-like. Furthermore, we show how the circumstances in which statements were made (i.e. their field of action) further influence the metaphorical structure of the Israeli official discourse.

scholarly journals The Process of Conflict Resolution in Public Project Disputes: Analysis by Settlement Methods

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-170
Author(s):  
Kim Hun Min
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Public Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Government Regulations ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Selection For

This study examines thirteen recent public dispute cases in Korea with the objective of analyzing the process of conflict resolution and thereby assessing the role of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in public disputes. The focus is on dispute cases related to development of, or site selection for, public projects. Based on detailed accounts of events, the nature of the conflict, parties involved, pattern of actions taken, and final outcomes are analyzed. Only five cases were settled by ADR methods, indicating that ADR is rather ineffective in public conflicts. ADR seems to work better in locally confined, structured conflicts where participatory processes are used. An identifiable pattern in attempts at ADR is that ad-hoc committees are formed but often fail to reach agreement or are seen as lacking legitimacy, authority, and impartiality. Policy implications drawn from this study are that a higher priority should be given to developing community-based conflict resolution programs, that ADR should be incorporated into local government regulations to acquire greater legitimacy, and that conflict prevention procedures are a prerequisite for the success of conflict resolution programs.

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