Annual Report 2009/2010
The 2010 peace and disarmament policy agenda is vast. In March, the United States and Russia agreed a START follow-up agreement. In April, a summit on nuclear security took place in Washington, followed by the 8th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in New York in May. In Summer, UN conferences will deliberate small arms control and the international arms trade; in Autumn, NATO will approve a new strategic concept at its summit meeting. After eight years, Germany will once again submit an application for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the period 2011/2012.
Several more items could be added to the list. Although a certain skepticism is still necessary in some cases, this agenda is nevertheless an indicator that advances are at last being made in the field of peace and disarmament.
BICC is working at the nexus between peace and development. Here too it is important to meet the new challenges with innovative, applied research approaches and concrete practical projects. This is demonstrated by the selection of BICC’s projects which we are presenting in this Annual Report—published for the first time in two languages.
In the field of global arms control, BICC has systematically continued its critical appraisal of German arms exports on the basis of the EU Code of Conduct. The Global Militarization Index (GMI) illustrates the significance of state military apparatuses compared with society as a whole, and serves as an objective instrument for analysis and policy advice.
Another of BICC’s projects deals with the commercialization of security in developing countries in the context of the overarching issue of how to establish security in post-conflict societies. It considers the implications for development policy of the increasing involvement of private security companies in security tasks in many partner countries.
One of BICC’s most important advisory projects is devoted to the demobilization of former combatants in South Sudan. BICC has been supporting this process on behalf of the Federal Foreign Office and the Bank for Reconstruction (KfW) since the beginning of 2010 and has sent an expert as a long-term advisor to the South Sudan Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Commission (SSDDRC).
A research project on wartime rape focuses on developing a typology of this form of violence in war, particularly in order to contribute to a better understanding of the diverse consequences following the end of the war.
The Annual Report provides details of two projects in the focus area of “Migration and Security”: On the one hand, BICC is a member of a transatlantic study team which is examining climate-induced migration. On the other hand, it is also studying the transnational engagement of African migrant organizations in North Rhine-Westphalia.
At the beginning of 2010, BICC took over the International Secretariat of the Fatal Transactions campaign, a group of European NGOs which is committed to the fair use of natural resources in Sub-Saharan Africa. A BICC study on the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipiline entitled “’We were promised development and all we got is misery’—The Influence of Petroleum on Conflict Dynamics in Chad“ also deals with the topic of “Natural Resources and Conflicts”.
A further article in this year’s Annual Report asks: How much conversion will we be seeing in the years to come? Base closures and reductions within the framework of the Bundeswehr’s structural reform and the downsizing of foreign troops are having a considerable economic effect on the Lander and local communities concerned and are also influencing regional planning and development.
BICC conducts applied research and provides advisory and training services in the field of capacitybuilding. In Spring 2010, we also entered into a new partnership with the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), which we intend to progressively extend.
The anniversary conference of the “Alternative Nobel Prize” (Right Livelihood Award), which will be held in Bonn in September 2010, also deals with concrete projects and innovative thinking and acting. The title of this meeting of Alternative Nobel Laureates from the past 30 years is “CHANGINGcourse—reclaiming our future.“ BICC will play an active role in organizing the cluster event: “Peace on earth? – Initiatives for disarmament, non-violence and dialogue”. We hope that this international exchange will also provide a further stimulus to peace and disarmament!
I hope that you will find BICC’s 2010 Annual Report stimulating reading and invite you to send us your comments.
Peter J. Croll
Director BICC
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