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News

Trust Fund for North Africa steering committee meets

Recently we convened the 24th edition of the Steering Committee Meeting for the Trust Fund for North Africa (TFNA) in Tunis, Tunisia. Established in 2012, TFNA supports the reform of security sectors in Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya, especially the creation of policy and legal frameworks that promote transparency, accountability, and human rights within the region’s security and justice sectors. The TFNA’s collaborative and people-centered approach aims to support long-term stability and public trust in state institutions across the region. The current members of the TFNA are France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

31 May 2024

Supporting Moldova on Women, Peace and Security

DCAF was pleased to join the conference on "Empowering women – strengthening peace and security” in Moldova last week. Over 80 law makers, government officials, and representatives of security institutions, civil society, and international organizations came together help advance the National Program for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace And Security for 2023-2027. DCAF presented our project to strengthen security sector governance in the country, which works with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to, among other things, improve gender equality in law enforcement and security institutions.

30 May 2024

Strengthening accountability of private military and security companies

Last week, DCAF’s interim Head of Business and Security, Jean Michel Rousseau (2nd left), was in New York at the UN’s Protection of Civilians Week supporting a closed-door expert discussion on how to improve oversight of private security companies (PMSC). Protection risks to civilians resulting from the behavior and operations of PMSCs are not new but the increase in their presence, scale and form in recent years has led to additional harm to civilians, including risks of extrajudicial killing, torture, arbitrary detention, disappearance, and sexual violence. Resources and political will on the part of States are critical to ensuring companies respect human rights, especially in fragile and conflict settings.

29 May 2024

Building bridges for better civilian oversight in North Macedonia

As part of our work to enhance civilian oversight of the security sector in North Macedonia, DCAF recently met with the Ombudsperson office, civil society, and members of the media to explore key legal frameworks and principles of international law aimed at enhancing the good governance of security forces. Our workshop discussions indicated the necessity of new legislative solutions to mandate and support civil society's increased involvement in security sector reform. The session also highlighted the need for better coordination and information-sharing to enable these three players in civilian oversight to be more effective in the role.

28 May 2024

Supporting inclusive security and justice in Libya

Recently, the European Union and the Swiss Government co-hosted a briefing for the diplomatic community in Tripoli to share key findings from DCAF’s project, Building Bridges Through Security Sector Reform in Libya. Months of engagement with Libyan stakeholders and a three-day technical dialogue in Geneva fed into the recommendations that will guide collaborative efforts with Libyan institutions towards effective and inclusive security provision across the country. This work was possible thanks to the generosity of the European Union's Foreign Policy Instrument and the Swiss Peace and Human Rights Division.

27 May 2024