Online Guest Lectures by members of the SCID Panel of Experts will be uploaded here every two months, on a range of subjects related to security, conflict and international development. Each lecture will be followed by a period of up to two weeks in which the Expert who delivered the lecture will respond to questions and discuss issues raised – along with other SCID Panel members, students and staff.

Conor Foley presents the first Online Guest Lecture. He discusses the legal aspects of Peace Support Operations (PSOs) by considering the relevant bodies of law in peacekeeping, principally: the UN Charter and UN Security Council Resolutions; International Humanitarian Law (IHL); International Human Rights Law; Refugee Law; Host state law; and the State of Forces Agreements (SOPAs). Conor’s Lecture concludes by reflecting upon the issues of peacekeeper accountability and the principle of immunity, before reflecting upon the UN Human Rights Due Diligence policy.

Click on the link below to access Conor’s Lecture (it is large so it will take a while to download). Please submit any questions or comments within the next two weeks for Conor’s attention and/or discussion by other SCID Panel members, students and staff.

Peace support operations legal aspects – for SCID Blog

Coming from a country (Cote d’Ivoire) that is going through a stabilisation process since 2011 (post conflict), i have a few ideas to share with you on this issue.
1/ From my point of view and based on the ivorian (cote d’ivoire) case, political reconciliation and political control are two different things. Political control is a result of political reconciliation. indeed unless parties in a post conflict context, sit together and agree on a realistic roadmap for true reconciliation, then political control is possible. So reconciliation is a prerequisite to stabilisation which itself is a condition for political control.
2/ Reconstruction and stabilisation are simultaneoulsy conducted in a post conflict context in order to foster social peace, reconciliation and economic growth.
3/ Stabilisation in order to be effective must be multidimensional and inclusive. indeed stabilisation in the case of cote d’Ivoire is mainly based on a DDR program and a economic reconstruction plan. My view is that this is a limited vision of the matter.
“Justice for all” or “fair justice” is a pilar of stabilisation. More than that, democratic governance is another major condition to stabilisation.
4/ Stability relies upon justice, reconciliation, good governance, social and economic reconstruction, political will from the “winner” and SSR national policy implementation.
5/ The case of Côte d’Ivoire is a good example since we are achieving economic recovery, social reconstruction and security reforms. therefore we are failing to provide sustainable signs of a fair legal system and a true national reconciliation between people. Besides, security issues are taken into consideration but not sufficiently. For instance there is a lack of unity and confidence among the forces in charge of security and defence. Parts of the country are still facing security threats because the causes are not tackled seriously by the governement.
6/ The last point which seems important to me in a stabilisation context is mediation from exterior partners. For instance the role of France in contributing to achieve stability in Côte d’ivoire is noteworthy. More than that, the role of international actors like Human Rights Watch, the United Nations and others to monitor the evolution of major issues in post conflict countries is also noticeable.

Conflict cycle practitioners will recognise the word ‘Stabilisation’ and inherently feel they know what it means, but defining the term conceptually is, perhaps, not quite so easy.  

The term ‘Stabilisation’ is one of many in a new lexicon that has grown alongside post-conflict (and here I mean post-armed conflict) intervention but it is only recently that there has been much thought given to what it means and what it actually comprises.

But isn’t it obvious what Stabilisation is for? To bring stability. If one looks a bit further into how this is done, however, it reveals some rather difficult choices. Fundamentally, I would suggest, these choices are informed by the nature of the intervention. Is the intervening state doing so as a means of power projection to gain political control or is it solely a means to create mechanisms for conflict management that are not violent? Even if the latter, are the choices made consistent with local context and circumstances or are they based on an imposition of values and systems that relate to the intervening state’s interests and therefore in reality reflect the former.

What compromises should be made to effect the achievement of ‘stability’ and what is it that ‘stability’ comprises. Is it a balance of co-optive and coercive practices or a mediation between existing power elites? Is the aim to introduce systems that replicate those of the intervening state to bring routes to ‘justice’, ‘rule of law’ and so on. If so, who are the chosen ones who will implement it? And if the aim is to stop violence and introduce systems where violence free conflict management can be achieved, can this be done without political prejudice (and is that the aim)?

I am probably one of the first to post a comment, so I don’t know quite what is expected in terms of length or depth, but I will use this excuse to keep this first note brief and to the point.  

Nothing in an intervention of this type is more than fuzzy grey when on the ground and directly before taking action. I am sure also that no-one expects absolute clarity of action within the intervention itself due to the frictions of implementation. But would it not be helpful to have clarity before the event to know what Stabilisation actually means in this context?

The debate has already begun in other fora, but would it be helpful to have a stream of thoughts here too?

Malcolm Russell

SSR is Security Sector Reform. Based on the ivorian (Cote d’Ivoire) experience how can a SSR national strategy be built efficiently? What are the major steps?
1/ National ownership and understanding of the SSR process is a prerequisite
2/ Political will to conduct a real SSR is a priority
3/ A comprehensive review and overview of the national actors involved must be conducted
4/ A new national security Policy (defence and security) must be written based on the diagnosis made earlier
5/ A dedicated budget to SSR is more than necessary
6/ The SSR cross-cutting process must be inclusive and participatory
7/ The SSR actors must be entirely involved in the implementation of the national SSR strategy
8/ The SSR national strategy must be coordonated and monitored by a National Security Council chaired by a prime minister or a President for effectiveness
9/ Each SSR actor must create a SSR dedicated cell in order to implement the reforms
10/ International support for the implementation of SSR national strategy is required

Welcome to the blog for students on the MSc Security, Conflict and International Development (SCID) Course offered by the Department of Criminology, University of Leicester (UoL), its staff and members of the SCID Panel of Experts. The purpose of the blog is to share information, views and questions on issues related to security, conflict and international development. Posts can inform others of developments in the field, new publications or opportunities. The blog can also be used to post questions, comments or reflections on Course-related issues and themes, or discuss current developments in conflict prevention and recovery and related subjects.

The SCID Blog will also be used as the forum in which online guest lectures will be posted (as well as the Blackboard site and App) with a short introduction or reflective piece by the person who has delivered the lecture or presentation. Each time a lecture is posted (approximately every two months) there will follow a period of up to two weeks where students and Panel members can post questions or comments and a discussion on the subject of the lecture can proceed. Aside from supporting audio files and discussions, the benefit of hosting the online lectures on the blog is that SCID students can continue to contribute to the blog after graduation, if they wish.

Please post as much or as little as you would like: post updates, news, opinions, reflective pieces, questions, or other information that you feel other SCID students, staff or members of the Panel of Experts would be interested in. The aim of this Blog and the broader SCID Course is to provoke discussion and critical thought, ultimately in order to be better equipped to build peace and security in post-conflict environments and, more broadly, contribute to building sustainable peace in conflict-affected and conflict-vulnerable environments.

Dr Eleanor Gordon (SCID Course Developer and Tutor)

SCID Course link, Brochure and iTunes link: http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/criminology/dlcourses/pgdlcourses/msc_security_conflict_international_development, http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/criminology/documents/SCID%20brochure.pdf and https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/scid-course/id503579966?mt=8

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