Annual Report 2007/2008
The Annual Report 2007/2008 sets out to provide information on how BICC is engaging throughout the world at the nexus between development and peace in the fields of applied research, consultancy and capacity-building.
We have made it our mission to contribute towards peace and development by devising measures to prevent violent conflicts and to transform such conflicts constructively. Conflicts form an overarching work area. We loop our methods and topics to link applied research, consultancy and capacity-building. The projects described in the Annual Report reflect how we are redesigning and systematically developing our key focuses in the fields of research and consultancy.
We are proud to have a very prominent guest author for this year’s Annual Report: Professor Dr. Hans Blix, Chair of the International Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction, Stockholm, and a Member of BICC’s International Board. His editorial deals with the opposing trends in global security. The data section of the Annual Report, which provides information on global trends in the field of defense expenditure, armed forces, weapons imports and militarization, confirms his view that we are experiencing “a revival of Cold War politics without the Cold War—a Cold Peace if you will.” Blix defines the supreme objective as finding new approaches to abolishing all weapons of mass destruction.
We want to contribute to this objective with our project work on small arms control as small arms are currently the most commonly used weapons of mass destruction. A special training module is devoted to (safe) stockpiling and surplus weapons, as well as to marking and tracing of small arms and ammunition. BICC also intensified its consultancy and training work on small arms control in Southern Sudan, where it advised the government on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DD&R) and organized workshops on the issue of small arms control, thereby involving civil society and the media.
BICC also offers an innovative approach to its database services. In 2007, the arms exports database (www. ruestungsexport.info) was extended to include an Internet-based maps component which provides additional multifaceted information. With its Resource Conflict Monitor (RCM), on the other hand, BICC has succeeded in developing a database on 90 countries which are rich in natural resources, but have only low or medium incomes. This database provides information on conflicts, resource governance and involvement in international treaties over the last 11 years. The RCM is part of BICC’s research work in select fields at the nexus between development and security.
Fatal Transactions, an international campaign which supports the just and fair exploitation of natural resources in Africa, is also devoted to the field of raw materials. BICC is project coordinator for Germany.
In Liberia, BICC worked within the framework of a European consortium to evaluate the UNDP program to reintegrate former combatants.
BICC’s study on the connection between security technologies and jobs, based on the example of Dusseldorf Airport, represents a very different kind of consultancy project. Other BICC projects, which come under the heading of applied research include the projects on the United Nations peace missions, the contribution made by German development cooperation to peacebuilding, as well as the role of the security sector in authoritarian regimes in Central Asia.
Finally, an international project sponsored by the European Union involves a completely new topic area for the Center. The project sets out to study the example of the Horn of Africa and consider the influence of the activities of diaspora communities on countries of origin and receiving countries as well as at the transnational level. The decision to include migration and diaspora research in its portfolio, means that for the first time BICC is now dealing with the interrelation between migration, integration, development and peace.
The sheer range of our work confronts us with special challenges which we have been able to master thanks to the high motivation of our staff, the excellent cooperation with our partners and the continued support of our funding agencies. The Annual Report 2007/2008 provides details of our work. We invite you to take part in the discussions.
Peter J. Croll
Director of BICC
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