UN Launches New Standards for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration
The 15-member Inter-Agency Working Group on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) launched the UN Integrated DDR Standards on 18 December 2006 at simultaneous events in New York and Geneva. These standards, the product of two years of work at headquarters and in the field, constitute the definitive policies and procedures for all UN DDR operations and represent a concrete example of the UN delivering as one.
The Geneva launch, held at the Palais des Nations and coordinated by the ILO, featured a high-level group of speakers and attracted a large audience from UN agencies, NGOs, and the diplomatic corps. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva, chaired the event. After his introduction, attention turned to a live video broadcast from the New York launch, where Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown offered his thoughts on the Standards and their promise to improve understanding and coordination in DDR programmes. Mr. Malloch Brown then officially launched the Standards by unveiling the online UN DDR Resource Centre, www.unddr.org.
Back in Geneva, the programme continued with a panel discussion on DDR. Mr. Kari Tapiola, Executive Director of the ILO, and Ms. Pierrette Vu Thi, Deputy Director of the Office of Emergency Programmes of UNICEF, gave a joint presentation on the principles and goals of the Standards and their achievements in harmonizing UN work on DDR. Mr. Jonas Alberoth, representing the Government of Sweden, then spoke on that country’s DDR initiatives. Sweden has played a leading role in researching and funding various elements of DDR, to the benefit of practitioners around the world. Finally, after a question and answer session, Mr. Ordzhonikidze closed the event with a short talk on the next steps for the UN.
The Integrated Standards contain 26 modules on topics ranging from DDR planning to HIV/AIDS. The ILO contributed substantially to two modules: Social and Economic Reintegration and Youth and DDR. The weighty IDDRS are accompanied by two lighter volumes: an Operational Guide to the IDDRS, which summarizes each module and points the way toward more detailed information, and a Briefing Note for Senior Managers, which sums up the Standards in a short pamphlet.
The ILO, as a member of the Inter-Agency Working Group, intends to continue its full participation in the new, coordinated UN approach to DDR. Priority areas include DDR field operations, where the ILO can deploy its expertise on the socio-economic reintegration of ex-combatants, research and tools development, and training on the Standards.
Photograph from the event
Further information
|
)