Policy and Research Papers

In a changing strategic environment characterized by a trend towards the militarization of security, several countries are keeping their commitment to civilian crisis management and to multilateral police missions in particular. At the European Union (EU) level for example, the 2022 EU Strategic Compass for Security and Defence emphasizes the EU-wide commitment to strengthen
civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions and to renew the civilian CSDP Compact.

While demand for officers to participate in missions is rapidly growing, the supply of available officers has stagnated or even declined. Several studies have demonstrated that one of the reasons is that police institutions do not yet fully recognize the internal-external security nexus and fail to fully maximize the benefits of seconding staff to international missions.

The governments of France and the Netherlands have commissioned this study to contribute to the sharing of good practices and experiences, and to initiate further discussions between interested countries.

This report presents a range of good practices employed by states to maximize the benefits of mission participation to police institutions and serve internal security objectives when making officers available. It also aims to inform discussions around ongoing efforts to develop the roadmap towards the Civilian Compact 2.0 by EU Member States (EUMS).

The occupied Palestinian Territory is facing a range of climate and environmental risks which directly affect human security. From rising temperatures and increasing aridity to water scarcity and widespread pollution,the combined effects of climate change and human pressures on the environment are contributing to local tensions and increasing the fragility of both communities and local ecosystems in the West Bank, which was the geographic focus of this study. This is an executive summary of the full report. 

The occupied Palestinian Territory is facing a range of climate and environmental risks which directly affect human security. From rising temperatures and increasing aridity to water scarcity and widespread pollution,the combined effects of climate change and human pressures on the environment are contributing to local tensions and increasing the fragility of both communities and local ecosystems in the West Bank, which was the geographic focus of this study. 

ISSAT's this stocktaking study has found significant potential for SSG/R programming to improve service delivery of security institutions with regards to mitigating the impact of climate and environmental risks on communities and the environment, as well as strengthening social cohesion and contributing to sustainable peace. While international partners in their SSG/R programming tend to not yet fully maximize the potential of this area, findings place SSG/R’s role on climate and environmental security at the heart of the triple nexus between humanitarian needs, development and security. Moreover, working at this nexus is relevant in the context of the sustaining peace and prevention agenda, commitments to mainstream DRR into all sectors under the Sendai Framework, as well as the Paris Agreement’s Global Goal on Adaptation

The security sector governance and reform (SSG/R) agenda has been influenced by the concept of human security since it was conceived in the 1990s. Putting people’s needs at the heart of reform processes has been the underlying premise of international assistance programming. However, over two decades since its conceptual conception, SSG/R programming has shown a disconnect between the ‘statebuilding’ approach and grassroots-focused peacebuilding efforts. Both types of approach aimed to tackle the underlying causes of violence, harm, crime, and conflict and build more efficient, effective, legitimate, transparent and accountable mechanisms for providing security and justice services.

Today, donor-assisted statebuilding efforts are flailing in many contexts: populism and criticism of the state and its role is rising globally. An honest examination of donors’ engagement in and legacy of assisting SSG/R is clearly needed. Dwindling financial resources for SSG/R, the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the considerable threats of political unrest and increasing fragility should give the international community the opportunity to strengthen coherence in assisting SSG/R processes. The members of the Governing Board of DCAF's International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT) face a shared challenge in ensuring that its international funding does not lead to a plethora of programming with uncoordinated initiatives and results.

This mandate allows the Knowledge and Outreach Team within DCAF's ISSAT to analyse its governing board members’ policies and programming to give an accurate reflection of what has been done in this area. ISSAT’s role is then to tap into donors’ collective learning on SSG/R and to generate guidance and evidence for reconstructing the model of SSG/R to ensure that donor programming stems from communities’ concerns but includes the political, governance and institutional aspects necessary for any reform process. This report is the final product of a stocktaking mandate taking place November 2021 - April 2022.