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NTS Bulletin

NTS Bulletin October 2009 (Issue 2)
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MAIN HIGHLIGHT

Human Development Report 2009
Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development (UNDP)

The 2009 Human Development Report with a special focus on migration has been released on this month in Bangkok by the United Nations Development Programme. Integral part of the 2009 report is the latest Human Development Index (HDI), which is a summary indicator of people’s well-being, combining measures of life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and GDP per capita. This year’s HDI has been calculated for 182 countries and territories-the widest coverage ever. The estimates, which rely on the most recently available data compiled by the UN and other international partners, are based on 2007 data. However, the index provides only broad brushstrokes of human progress and the complex relationship between income and well-being. The human development index ranks countries into four tiers of development from very high (HDI>-0.900) to high (0.900>HDI>-0.800) to medium (0.800>HDI>-0.500) to low (HDI<0.500). The report also investigates migration in the context of demographic changes and trends in both growth and inequality. It also presents more detailed and nuanced individual, family and village experiences, and explores less visible movements typically pursued by disadvantaged groups such as short term and seasonal migration. Finally, the report shows how a human development approach can be a means to redress some of the underlying issues that erode the potential benefits of mobility and/or force migration.

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MIGRATION

News & Commentaries

Papers & Reports

This updated document replaces the UNHCR's Policy on Refugees in Urban Areas from 1997. Within the report, the key principles of the UNHCR are outlined, along with comprehensive plans for the implementation of protection strategies, including the documentation of refugees, reaching out to refugee and host communities and how to promote self-reliance and livelihoods.

This report outlines the current debates on climate change and its effects on migration, utilizing case studies to analyse how trends and patters of migration will be altered. Several case studies are discussed, along with issues raised at recent expert meetings on climate change and migration.

Events & Announcements

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INTERNAL AND CROSS-BORDER CONFLICT

News and Commentaries

Papers & Reports

It is mainly civilians that die as a result of contemporary armed conflicts: most succumb to disease and the effects of malnutrition but a significant number are slaughtered or suffer other forms of violent death. Policies to protect civilians during warfare, however, remain incoherent conceptually and poorly implemented in practice. This working paper aims to advance debate in this area in three ways. First, it outlines a framework for thinking about the different dimensions that need to be addressed as part of a comprehensive and coherent civilian protection agenda. Second, it identifies some important gaps and tensions in the current agenda. Third, it emphasizes three issues that urgently require more detailed research.

The most disturbing headlines in the world today all seem to share something in common. Whether in Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, or elsewhere, too often these troubling news stories stem from a country too weak to control its own territory and provide opportunity for its citizens. Today these so-called “fragile states” are seen as a major contributor to (or even the cause of) many global challenges including trafficking of all sorts, piracy, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, disease pandemics, regional tensions, even genocide, and more.

On 3 April 2009, the President of the Human Rights Council established the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict with the mandate ‘to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after.’ The President appointed Justice Richard Goldstone, former judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, to head the Mission. The other three appointed members were: Professor Christine Chinkin, Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, who was a member of the high-level fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun (2008); Ms Hina Jilani, Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and former Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders, who was a member of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur (2004); and Colonel Desmond Travers, a former Officer in Ireland’s Defence Forces and member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations.

In the pursuit of security and development in Africa, more and more reference is being made to the concept of fragile states. This paper explores the meaning of this concept and considers the attention that is being paid to it as a consequence of integrating security and development into the policy of the major donor countries. In an African context state fragility is a cause of numerous conflicts, but also a major focal point of peace processes and donor interventions. This paper is intended to be a warning against a too narrow focus on security in the process of combating fragility. It pleads for an integrated policy, based on the pursuit of sustainable development and emphasises the strengthening of the authority and power of the state and the promotion of local economic and social development.

Events & Announcements

Latest Publications

By Vicenç Fisas, Patricia García, Josep María Royo, Núria Tomás, Jordi Urgell, Ana Villellas and María Villellas, et al.

2008 was a very difficult year for peace. In several conflicts, there was a clash between the demands of the International Criminal Court and the actors that were in the negotiation phase; the number of cases of contexts in which the conflict affects neighbouring countries rose; whilst the 'peace temperature', derived from monitoring a selection of 25 negotiations, is at its lowest for five years. This comprehensive document details and analyses some 70 conflicts, 57 of which have talks or formal negotiations underway. The authors explore the background to each conflict and seek to provide in-depth analysis on each respective peace process. The paper highlights the most common themes that have disrupted the past years' peace negotiations. The authors then offer a number of main conclusions from their analysis of peace processes in 2008.

By Kavitha Suthanthiraraj, Mariah Quinn, Juan Mendez, Annie Herro, et al.

The aim of this publication is to provide diverse regional perspectives on the need for UN-based standing capacity such as the United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS). Over 70 interviews were conducted in Latin America, Africa, North America and South East Asia with senior academics, current and former diplomats, UN and government officials, UN mission staff and experts from leading non-governmental organizations. This volume represents a new stage in the evolution of UNEPS project. Focusing on diverse regional perspectives, key recommendations have been incorporated to help refine the UNEPS proposal, push forward the standing capacity agenda and ensure that UN peacekeeping can respond effectively to the humanitarian and security emergencies for which it is ultimately held accountable.

By Chandra Lekha Sriram, Olga Martin-Ortega & Johanna Herman.

This is an innovative new inter-disciplinary textbook, combining aspects of law, politics and conflict analysis to examine the relationship between human rights and armed conflict. Making use of both theoretical and practical approaches, this book examines the tensions and complementarities between protection of human rights and resolution of conflict - the competing political demands and the challenges posed by internal armed conflict; explores the scope and effects of human rights violations in contemporary armed conflicts, such as in Sierra Leone, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the former Yugoslavia, as well as the 'Global War on Terror'; assesses the legal and institutional accountability mechanisms developed in the wake of armed conflict to punish violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law such as the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the International Criminal Court; discusses continuing and emergent global trends and challenges in the fields of human rights and conflict analysis.

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING

News & Commentaries

Papers & Reports

This manual on fighting trafficking is unique in that it specifically focuses on children, includes a special emphasis on labour issues, and is geared towards training. It is comprised of textbooks for self study and an exercise book with a menu of assignment options that trainers can choose from for tailor-made training courses. It also includes a facilitators' guide for use by those facilitating training. The manual addresses the needs of governments; workers' and employers' organizations; and NGOs and international agencies working at the policy and outreach level. The publication is the result of an Expert Group Initiative on child trafficking, led by ILO and UNICEF, and implemented under the United Nations Global Initiative to fight trafficking.

According to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons trafficking in persons is an under-detected crime in Europe and that response to human trafficking in terms of number of convictions recorded per year is still weak, especially compared to the number of victims that are estimated to be trafficked in Europe, which is estimated to be around 250,000 per year. Most European countries record national conviction rates for human trafficking below one convict per 100,000 people. On a positive note, the report shows that in the past six years, in other words since the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, came into force in December 2003, most European countries have criminalized trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced labour.

Events & Announcements

Latest Publications

By Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

This bookdescribes the plight of women in developing countries as the most important moral and economic issue facing the world today. Through their journalistic research, the husband and wife team of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn provide extensive data showing the enormity of human rights abuses committed against women across Africa and Asia. Women are raped, beaten, sold into brothels, and married off as young children; they suffer genital mutilation, are denied medical attention, and are stoned to death for violating their culture’s concepts of family honour. Kristof and WuDunn humanize this data with heart wrenching, yet common, stories of women that they have met and interviewed who have experienced and overcome unimaginable abuses. The authors call for a more engaged awareness and help from developed countries, providing a list of groups that specialize in supporting women in developing countries. The title of the book is a reference to an old Chinese proverb that says, “Women hold up half the sky.”

By Georgina Vaz Cabral, et al.

The International Framework for Action to Implement the Trafficking in Persons Protocol is a technical assistance tool that aims to assist United Nations Member States in the effective implementation of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (United Nations Trafficking Protocol). The Framework for Action consists of a narrative part and a set of tables. The narrative describes key challenges in the implementation of the United Nations Trafficking Protocol and proposes general measures that can be taken in order to more effectively address these challenges. The set of tables details these measures further, through five pillars containing practical actions to support the implementation of the United Nations Trafficking Protocol.

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WATER SECURITY

News and Commentaries

Papers & Reports

Why is diarrhoea, an easily preventable and treatable disease, one that in the developed world is considered little more than an inconvenience, causing an estimated 1.5 million under-five deaths every year? According to this report, diarrhoea is more prevalent in the developing world due, in large part, to the lack of safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, as well as poorer overall health and nutritional status. According to the latest available figures, an estimated 2.5 billion people lack improved sanitation facilities, and nearly one billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. These unsanitary environments allow diarrhoea-causing pathogens to spread more easily. This report sets out a 7-point strategy for comprehensive diarrhoea control that includes a treatment package to reduce child deaths, and a prevention package to reduce the number of diarrhoea cases for years to come. The report looks at treatment options such as low-osmolarity ORS and zinc tablets, as well as prevention measures such as the promotion of breastfeeding, vitamin A supplementation, immunization against rotavirus – a leading cause of diarrhoea – and proven methods of improving water, sanitation and hygiene practices.

Shahrazad Abu Ghazleh, Jens Hartmann, Nils Jansen and Stephan Kempe, ‘Water Input Requirements of the Rapidly Shrinking Dead Sea’, Naturwissenschaften, vol. 96, no. 5, Springer Berlin/Heidelberg, May 2009. 

The deepest point on Earth, the Dead Sea level, has been dropping alarmingly since 1978 by 0.7 m/a on average due to the accelerating water consumption in the Jordan catchment and stood in 2008 at 420 m below sea level. In this study, a terrain model of the surface area and water volume of the Dead Sea was developed from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data using ArcGIS. The model shows that the lake shrinks on average by 4 km2/a in area and by 0.47 km3/a in volume, amounting to a cumulative loss of 14 km3 in the last 30 years.

Events & Announcements

Latest Publications

By Dale Lightfoot.

This study found that over 100,000 people in northern Iraq have been forced to evacuate their homes since 2005 because of severe water shortages. Drought and excessive well pumping have drawn down aquifer levels in the region, causing a dramatic decline of water flow in ancient underground aqueducts, known in Iraq as karez, upon which hundreds of communities depend. The study is the first to document the effects of the ongoing drought on the karez systems, which thousands of Iraqis have depended upon for their drinking water and farming for centuries. Designed especially for the arid climate, karez are renowned for their ability to remain productive even during dry spells. However, this study confirms that since the onset of drought four years ago, 70 per cent of the active karez have dried up.

By Barbara van Koppen, Stef Smits, Patrick Moriarty, Frits Penning de Vries, Monique Mikhail & Eline Boelee.

Since the early 2000s, multiple-use water services have emerged as a new approach to water services in rural and peri-urban areas in low- and middle-income countries. The concept of multiple-use services (MUS) is based on the truism that people use water from multiple sources for multiple uses. People’s demand is multi-purpose. Yet, water services are usually provided by ‘domestic’ or ‘irrigation’ or ‘fisheries’ sub-sectors for a single use only. The structuring of the public water sector according to single-use mandates leads to ‘projects’ that operate in parallel with each other, even when they serve the same user at the same site. MUS move beyond these narrow sector boundaries and seeks to align water services with people’s multiple needs for the integrated resource water.

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TRANSNATIONAL CRIME

News and Commentaries

Papers & Reports

Illegal trade in natural resources is a serious global problem. Illegal fishing and logging, and the international trade in illegally sourced fish and wood products, causes environmental damage, costs governments billions of dollars in lost revenue, promotes corruption, and undermines the rule of law and good governance. It retards sustainable development in some of the poorest countries of the world. Between them, the value of illegal fish and timber could be as much as $40 billion a year, one-eighth of the value of the illegal trade in narcotics. In response to the global problem of illegal logging and fishing, and the failure of the international community effectively to address the problem, the European Union has moved to tighten its own regulations. The EU regulation to combat illegal fishing introduces comprehensive certification and traceability requirements for anyone wishing to import fish products into the EU, and provides for extensive enforcement measures that can be used by European authorities to ensure compliance with the regulation.

The publication shows the devastating consequences that the opium and heroin that are trafficked from Afghanistan every year have on the health and security of countries along the Balkan and Eurasian drug routes, all the way to countries in Europe, as well as China, India and the Russian Federation. It documents how the world's deadliest drug has created a market worth billions of dollars, catering to millions of addicts, causing thousands of deaths per year, spreading HIV at an unprecedented rate and, not least, funding criminal groups, insurgents and terrorists. This report offers a perspective that is both deeper in scope and broader in geographical coverage than earlier UNODC work on Afghanistan.

Events & Announcements

Latest Publications

By UNDOC in cooperation with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

This compendium, compiled by UNODC and PricewaterhouseCoopers, looks at what companies in the Fortune 500 Global Index (2008) are doing to fight corruption. It highlights a range of measures, and different approaches. While there is no one-size-fits-all, businesses should not go below international standards contained in the United Nations Convention against Corruption. For example, a facilitation payment is simply another term for a bribe, yet some companies allow them up to certain threshold or under certain circumstances - or even consider them tax deductible. Some companies provide whistleblowers full anonymity; others promise that such employees will not be exposed to retaliation. Greater harmonization is needed, in line with international standards, to protect businesses and their employees against corruption.

The private sector plays a pivotal role in fighting corruption worldwide. Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report 2009 documents in unique detail the many corruption risks for businesses, ranging from small entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa to multinationals from Europe and North America. More than 75 experts examine the scale, scope and devastating consequences of a wide range of corruption issues, including bribery and policy capture, corporate fraud, cartels, corruption in supply chains and transnational transactions, emerging challenges for carbon trading markets, sovereign wealth funds and growing economic centres, such as Brazil, China and India. The Global Corruption Report 2009 also discusses the most promising tools to tackle corruption in business, identifies pressing areas for reform and outlines how companies, governments, investors, consumers and other stakeholders can contribute to raising corporate integrity and meeting the challenges that corruption poses to sustainable economic growth and development.

By Frank Madsen.

With organized crime estimated to generate billions of dollars every year through illegal activities such as money laundering, smuggling of people and goods, extortion, robbery, fraud and insider trading, authorities are increasingly working together to combat this increasing threat to international security and stability. In this book former police officer Frank Madsen provides a much needed, short and accessible introduction to transnational organized crime, explaining its history and the key current issues and clearly examining the economics and practices of crime in the era of globalization. Key issues discussed include the war on drugs, anti-money laundering efforts, the relationship between organized crime and terrorism, development of ‘Internet based’ criminal activity, and international response to transnational organized crime.

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About Us
The Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies is a research centre of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Please visit the Centre’s website at www.rsis.edu.sg/nts/home.html, for more information or email us at NTS_Centre@ntu.edu.sg.

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