Armed Violence Prevention and Reduction
The AVPP multi-agency programme aims to facilitate the development of coherent and evidence-based approaches to preventing and reducing armed violence, in line with the ONE UN approach. It brings together UNDP, UN-HABITAT, UNICEF, UNODA, UNODC and WHO.
RDB approaches armed violence prevention and reduction through a small arms control lens: it contributes to AVPP programming through the control of the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons and in the reduction of the uncontrolled proliferation of these weapons.
RDB’s Regional Centres mainstream armed violence and its inter-linkages with development in all their activities. For instance, the curriculum of the Inter-Institutional Training Course (IITC) on combating illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons includes armed violence prevention as a cross-cutting issue and devotes a specific session to the different impacts of the excessive proliferation and unlawful use of firearms on armed violence in both armed conflict and crime contexts.
The Regional Centres also implement projects that focus on armed violence prevention and reduction:
- Lessons learned and best practice seminars on armed violence and development in partnership with UNDP and the Geneva Declaration Secretariat.
- A comparative study on armed violence in school in Latin America and the Caribbean, which aims at facilitating institutional responses to firearms proliferation and armed violence in schools.
- Armed violence and peace education projects for civil society and youth.
Security Sector Reform (SSR)
The UN Inter-Agency Task Force on SSR is composed of 11 UN agencies and departments addressing different dimensions of security sector reform processes. The SSR Task Force’s website can be accessed
here
.
The Regional Centres:
-
Conduct capacity-building and training activities on human rights, international humanitarian law, law enforcement within the rule of law, and civilian-military relations. Cross-cutting issues such as women, peace and security are also included in these trainings destined to armed and security forces, civilian administrators and civil society See www.youtube.com/odaunrec and the webpage of the
African Security Sector Reform Programme (ASSEREP)
. - Developped several codes of conduct for armed and security forces in Africa.
- Conduct capacity-building workshops for parliamentarians that include an SSR component in the form of training on the democratic control and oversight of the security sector and of the executive branch.
Women, Peace and Security
The goal of the Standing Committee on Women, Peace and Security of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) is to play a catalytic role in global policy development, advocacy, and strategic policy advisory support to global programming, coordination, monitoring and reporting of the United Nations system’s joint response to the issue of women, peace and security based on Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and ensuing resolutions on women, peace and security
*
, and in line with the Beijing Platform for Action and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The Standing Committee works in partnership with Member States, regional organizations and non-governmental organizations.
RDB continues to implement
ODA’s Gender Action Plan
, Security Council Resolution
1325 (2000)
and ensuing resolutions, and
A/RES/67/48
. The branch mainstreams gender in all its programmes and activities, in particular through:
- Awareness-raising, advocacy and outreach, including elements on UNSCR 1325 in training activities;
- Promotion of women’s and women’s organisations’ participation in conferences, workshops, trainings, etc.;
- Support and assistance to women’s organisations and networks; and
- Integration of a gender perspective in its activities
The Regional Centres have also conducted specific women-only trainings and projects specifically focused on women, peace and security:
- Women’s only training courses on combating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons;
- Briefing package on the implementation of resolution 1325 in Latin America and the Caribbean (in partnership with UN-INSTRAW);
- Contribution to the elaboration of National Action Plans (NAP) on 1325;
- Support for the launch of women’s subregional and national networks on peace and security; and
- Research and publications on women, peace and security.