DEVELOPMENT: New Report Stresses Need For Reform of Security Sector

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ramesh Jaura

BONN, Nov 27 2000 (IPS) - Technical co-operation between industrial and = developing countries should be widened to include measures to strengthen = the security sector, says a new study conducted by a German think- tank.

This does not imply, however, that donor countries’ organisations = should work closely with the military, police and the crime prevention = agencies, explains the author of the report, Herbert Wulf.=20

Wulf, who heads the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), = has done the study for the German Agency for Technical Co- operation = (GTZ), which is in-charge of implementing projects on behalf of the = German Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development.=20

The report is purported to view development, not as a = compartmentalised issue, but as part of overall efforts to enforce = “global human security”, says GTZ director general Bernd = Eisenblaetter.

The concept of global human security was instituted by a Human = Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme = (UNDP) in 1994.=20

The report said: “The battle of peace has to be fought on two = fronts. The first is the security front where victory spells freedom = from fear. The second is the economic and social front where victory = means freedom from want.”=20

“Only victory on both fronts can assure the world of an enduring = peace…No provisions that can be written into the Charter will enable = the Security Council to make the world secure from war if men and women = have no security in their homes and their jobs,” said the Human = Development Report.

Wulf pleads, in his study, for the GTZ for a reform of the security = sector, which calls for implementation at several levels: political, = economic, societal and institutional. “It is necessary to introduce = reforms on each of the levels. However, the focus of technical = co-operation does not have to be on direct co-operation with the = security forces and the police.”

Reforms at the political level involve strengthening of the civil = society, enabling it to enforce a system of checks and balances.

Reforming the economic and developmental levels calls for measures = aimed at disarmament, demobilisation of armed troupes and their = re-integration into the society. Also the resources used for military = purposes should find a civilian use.

At the societal level, says the report, ways should be found to = enable civil society control of arms imports and the misuse of small = weapons.

“In case of doubt, it is purposeful to avoid a direct confrontation = with security forces and instead strengthen and support those who are = responsible for a democratic control of the security sector,” says the = author of the report for GTZ.

“Support for civilian governments, democratically elected = parliaments, officials with competency to (implement) controls and = monitor the civil society, media etc. will enable, in the long run, a = sustainable reform of the security sector – rather that than = controversial aid to the military and police,” adds Wulf.

Against this backdrop, he regards the demand for good governance – = also in the security sector – an important aspect of reform.

According to Wulf, there is a consensus among the donor countries on = the need to bring about necessary reforms in the security sector. This = is reflected in the guidelines set out by the Development Assistance = Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and = Development (OECD) in May 1998.

In a document, published earlier this year, the DAC said: “The = emerging development approach to the security-sector reform is = manifestly different from the ideologically-inclined and technocratic = approaches that create an accountable and effective security sector.=20

“Decades of corruption, led by the military forces that have governed = the country for most of the period since independence, have crippled the = economy of this oil rich country, and led to increasing despair amongst = western donors,” says the report quoted by Wulf.