Measuring the True Costs of War: Consensus and Controversy

Robert Muggah discusses the costs of war and a new analysis published in PLoS Medicine by Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks and colleagues that documents the number of Iraqi civilian violent deaths during 2003-2008

Distinguishing Means and Ends: The Counterintuitive Effects of UNHCR's Community Development Approach in Nepal

UNHCR's community development approach (CDA) consists of a disparate set of guidelines designed to strengthen the self-reliance of refugees during protracted displacement. It envisions refugees as agents of their own development, and aims to prepare them for a durable solution. But in the absence of basic standards and benchmarks, the CDA is being used—by implementing partners as well as specialized units with the agency—as an opportunity to advance rights-based development. This raises a number of concerns related to the desired aims of the CDA, the accountability of UNHCR and its implementing partners and its capacity to administer development while preserving its core mandate. This article casts a critical eye over CDA as experienced in Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal. It contends that UNHCR must develop appropriate standards for CDA. At the very least, the agency must move beyond basic emergency benchmarks and toward minimum standards that strengthen self-reliance and empower refugees, but do not simultaneously undermine prospects of achieving a durable solutio

Diagnosing demand: assessing the motivations and means for firearms acquisition in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea

Not availableAusAI

Las agencias multilaterales y el enfoque de «seguridad ciudadana» en América Latina

Las agencias multilaterales de desarrollo han jugado un papel muy importante en la prevención y la reducción de la violencia en América Latina, especialmente en el cambio del enfoque de la «seguridad pública» –centrado en el mantenimiento del orden público– al de la «seguridad ciudadana» –prevención y fortalecimiento de las instituciones–. Si el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) tiene la cartera de proyectos más amplia y ha sido pionero desde finales de los años noventa, el Banco Mundial ha financiado intervenciones como parte de su agenda general de desarrollo; por su parte, Naciones Unidas ha participado en diferentes áreas a través de sus múltiples agencias. Las intervenciones incluyen planes integrales relacionados con la modernización del Estado, así como estrategias concretas orientadas a reducir los homicidios. Aunque la participación de las agencias multilaterales es importante, aún existen diversos retos en la implementación, incluidos el monitoreo y la evaluación.Traductora: Ester Jiménez de Cisneros Puig

Tackling Gun Violence in India

Gun-related violence has far-reaching adverse impacts on all levels of society. In addition to murder and injury, gun violence can exacerbate cycles of highly localised urban poverty, inequality and vulnerability. India has the second largest number of homicides in the world but the issue is little discussed. In contrast to well-known gun violence in the Americas and Africa, and is absent from public security and development agendas. With criminal violence generating at least ten times more deaths and injuries in India than terrorism and conflict, there is an urgent need to re-orient policies towards preventative frameworks and to focus efforts on rapidly growing mid-size cities suffering from under-resourced police forces and rising youth unemployment

Where there is no information: IDP vulnerability assessments in Sri Lanka’s borderlands

A third of the estimated 600,000 IDPs in Sri Lanka live in areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). Displaced people within these so-called ‘un-cleared’ or ‘liberated areas’ (termsused by the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE respectively) are at especial risk. Their situation highlights the difficulties of assessing protection and assistance in the context of conflict

[Brazil] Deconstructing Cyber Security in Brazil: Threats and Responses

Brazil is doubling down on its cyber-security architecture while simultaneously consolidating its emerging power status. Although organized crime is one of the major threats to Brazilian cyberspace, resources are focused instead on military solutions better suited to the exceptional case of warfare. There is less emphasis on expanding law enforcement capabilities to identify and respond to cyber-crime and related digital malfeasance. Due to the absence of a unified government position on the issue or reliable data, Brazil has evolved an imbalanced approach to cyber-security. If Brazil is to rebalance its approach, it needs to fill knowledge gaps. At a minimum, policy makers require a better understanding of the strategies, tactics and resources of hackers and cyber-crime groups, the ways in which traditional crime is migrating online and the implications of new surveillance technologies. The government should also encourage a broad debate with a clear communications strategy about the requirements of cyber-security and what forms this might take. More critical reflection on the form and content of measured and efficient strategies to engage cyber threats is also needed. Improved coordination between state police forces to better anticipate and respond to cyber-crime is essential. If Brazil is to build a robust and effective cyber-security strategy, an informed debate must begin immediately

Researching the urban dilemma : urbanization, poverty and violence

Agencies such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations and the World Bank continue to privilege national over municipal statistical datasets. The paucity of reliable subnational data and analysis limits theory-building and inhibits the design, implementation and monitoring of effective interventions in urban violence. The evidence base for what works and what does not is extremely thin. This paper assembles competing and complimentary theories, evidence and practical examples on the complex relationships between urbanization, poverty and violence

Investigando el dilema urbano : urbanización, pobreza y violencia; resumen

Versión en inglés disponible en la Biblioteca Digital del IDRCVersión en francés disponible en la Biblioteca Digital del IDRCEl resumen que sigue destaca los resultados clave del estudio de referencia Investigando el dilema urbano: urbanización, pobreza y violencia. Este estudio tenía por objeto revisar el estado de la evidencia y la teoría sobre la conexión entre la violencia urbana y la reducción de la pobreza y el impacto y eficacia de las distintas intervenciones. El estudio concluye que existe considerable interés en los asuntos relativos a la urbanización, la pobreza y la violencia urbanas entre los científicos sociales. También se sabe mucho sobre la escala y distribución del crecimiento urbano y el carácter del empobrecimiento y la desigualdad urbanos. Finalmente, hay bastante investigación sobre los costos y consecuencias, tanto percibidos como reales, de la violencia urbana en una gama de contextos de ingresos bajos y medios. Sin embargo, el estudio revela que la investigación y el debate siguen en gran medida segmentados y compartimentados en ciertas disciplinas y contextos geográficos y que existen lagunas importantes relativas a la interacción entre la pobreza y la violencia urbanas. Este resumen destaca una muestra de intervenciones concebidas para prevenir y reducir la violencia urbana, pero señala que aún falta probar la eficacia de muchas de las intervenciones destinadas a mitigar y reducir la inseguridad y la pobreza en ciudades de ingresos medios y bajos. El resumen termina examinando vacíos de conocimiento e interrogantes clave para la investigación futura