Recent Developments in Japan’s International Peace Cooperation Under the Second Abe Government 2012–2020

This chapter will consider the noteworthy changes in Japan’s peacekeeping policy under the second Abe administration (2012–2020), with special emphasis on the period between 2013 and 2017. Since its outset in the early 1990s, Japan’s peacekeeping policy had been gradually shaped by the trends of “integration” and the “robustness” in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKOs), but various problems remained unsolved, especially in terms of “robustness.” With the return of Prime Minister Abe at the end of 2012, reforms to follow the trend of “robustness” were carried out as part of his all-inclusive renovation of Japan’s security policy, namely the Peace and Security Legislation, to resolve numerous long-standing problems in the field. With this in mind, this chapter starts by considering new developments in Japan’s security policy as a whole before examining how these sweeping reforms transformed the quality of Japan’s peacekeeping, paying special attention to the newly added roles, such as the “coming-to-aid” duty. This chapter will also trace moves toward “integration,” especially regarding the “All Japan” approach.

Web Application based Image Geolocation Analysis to Detect Human Trafficking

Migrant smuggling is a dangerous phenomenon threatening international peace and security. This global concern for many countries is mainly due to the high use of multimedia devices and social media. There are great demands to specify an in depth gathering of information about a suspect’s mobile device while investigating cases of human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The primary purpose of this study is to help resolve the human trafficking problem that currently faces Sudan. In this paper we cover the steps used to geolocate images captured from suspects and victims’ mobile devices cameras. The obtained images are then analyzed using our specialized developed web application. This latter is built using open-source tools such as the Laravel framework and a Google Maps API which is considered as the main component of the web application. The results of the developed web application on a real case in Sudan has proven its usefulness in easing and speeding up the digital investigation process.

The Role of Wali Nanggroe Institution to Realize Peace in the Asymmetric Decentralization: the Case of Indonesia

<p><em>This article aimed to analyze the role and chances of the Wali Nanggroe in its involvement in international peace and its relation to the implementation of special autonomy in Aceh. One of the functions mandated by the qanun (local laws) of Wali Nanggroe Institution is participation in local, national, and international peace. The participation of Wali Nanggroe Institution to be part of regional, national and international peace is an exciting study because most of Wali Nanggroe's members are currently former officials and former combatants of the Free Aceh Movement. This research will analyze the opportunities of the Wali Nanggroe Institute in its involvement in the world and its relation to the implementation of special autonomy in Aceh. This research shows the peace will continue after the peace agreement because many Acehnese leaders, former GAM leaders, believe that the MOU can bring Aceh to a self-government system through a peaceful and democratic process.</em> <em>that several opportunities can be used by it to carry out the function of peace, among others, the first is strong support from local political parties because Wali Nanggroe is an "old man" in Aceh; Third, good relations between Wali Nanggroe and foreign countries or bodies, as well as Wali Nanggroe's own experience in the negotiation process with the Government of Indonesia to realize the understanding of the Helsinki MoU in Finland.</em></p>

International Legal Documents on Preventing and Combating Terrorist Crimes

One of the most serious forms of violence in the contemporary world is terrorism. The detrimental level of terrorist offences is extremely high. It is determined, on the one hand, by the fact that given crimes threaten public security, peace, human security, transport, public authorities and state security, as well as life, health, integrity, personal freedom, heritage and the environment and, on the other hand, by the fact that those offences have recently become widespread. These serious crimes can only be combated through fruitful international cooperation and collaboration. Only in this way is it possible to protect security and international peace.

Reseña de Congreso: Una Nueva Normalidad es Posible y Necesaria. XII Congreso Latinoamericano de Investigación para la Paz, CLAIP 2021

Durante los pasados días 3, 4, 5, 6 y 7 de agosto de 2021 se celebró el XII Congreso Latinoamericano de Investigación para la Paz del Consejo Latinoamericano de Investigación para la Paz (CLAIP), por vez primera, en modalidad 100% Online y libre de costo para todo tipo de participantes. El evento fue co-organizado por la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH) a través del Área de Paz del Instituto Universitario en Democracia, Paz y Seguridad (IUDPAS) y por el Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias (CRIM) de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). El desarrollo del congreso contó como entidades co-convocantes con la Revista Latinoamericana Estudios de la Paz y el Conflicto (ReLaPaC), con el Instituto Pensamiento y Cultura en América Latina (IPECAL), con la Red Interuniversitaria por la Paz de Colombia (REDIPAZ), con el Grupo de Estudos de Paz e Segurança Mundial (GEPASM), y con el Centro de Estudios e Investigación para la paz (CEIP); y, asimismo, con el auspicio de la International Peace Research Association (IPRA) y de 68 instituciones, centros de estudio e investigación, Grupos de Trabajo CLACSO, redes académicas, movimientos y organizaciones sociales firmantes del Manifiesto por Una Nueva Normalidad (CLAIP, 2020), investigadores e investigadoras, artistas y activistas por la paz de América Latina.

The UN Security Council’s Response to COVID-19: From the Centre to the Periphery?

This article examines the UN Security Council’s response to the escalating COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which has been criticised as hesitant and half-hearted. It argues that the Council’s inability to respond more assertively to the COVID threat was more predictable than surprising. Indeed, the Council’s approach to the COVID threat tended to follow, rather than diverge from, its past practice, exhibiting three increasingly entrenched features of Council decision-making in a crisis. First, the Council is hesitant and ill-equipped to respond to non-traditional or unorthodox threats to international peace and security, even where relevant precedents exist to support such a response. Second, the Council struggles to act when there is friction between permanent members. Third, when all else fails, the Council can still do reliably well on process.