Publikasjoner
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
• Women appear to be disproportionately affected by Covid-19 • Pushback on global commitment to gender equality • Gender equality and human development are correlated: focussing on gender equality will have a catalytic effect on the SDGs • The increasing strain on peace operations is likely to have a negative effect on the WPS agenda.
COVID-19 will change the way the UN conducts peacekeeping operations in the future
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted UN peacekeeping operations. In the short-term, activities have been reduced to the most critical, rotations have been frozen, and most staff are working remotely. Most of the missions have adapted remarkably well, but even more extreme changes are likely in the medium term, as the global economic recession that will follow in the wake of the virus may force UN peace operations to drastically contract in size and scope.
Handelen med medisinske varer og Covid-19
Koronaepidemien har synliggjort sårbarhet for medisiner og medisinsk utstyr. Skaper globalisering større eller mindre sårbarhet? - Flertallet av verdens land importerer sin medisin, og bare 18 land er netto eksportører. - Eksporten er dominert av Vest-Europa, med Kina og India et stykke ned på listen. - Globalisering har ført til spredning av risiko for medisinske varer med flere leverandørland og mindre konsentrasjon av eksporten. En hovedgrunn er økt eksport fra små land i Europa. - På mer detaljert varenivå er bildet mer blandet, med økt konsentrasjon i en del tilfeller. - Eksportrestriksjoner bidrar til markedskollaps og økte priser, som særlig rammer fattige land som importerer alt de trenger. - For Norge er europeisk samarbeid viktig for medisinsk beredskap.
Working paper on EU’s policies and instruments for PVE
This working paper maps and analyses the toolbox of the EU and a handful of European countries by providing a comprehensive overview of existing measures aimed at preventing violent extremism (PVE) within and outside the EU. It lists the institutional set-up, the decisionmaking processes and coordinating practices at both the EU and state levels. In addition to an analysis of counter-terrorism and PVE strategies at the level of EU institutions, the toolbox of four EU member states (Germany, France, Ireland, Spain) and one former member state (UK) is analysed because of their particular experiences with and competences in the area of prevention of violent extremism.
Norway: Crisis highlights normality in bilateral relations with China
Kapittelet beskriver situasjonen for Norge og er del av en større rapport om Kinas relasjoner til europeiske land under COVID-19 pandemien. Situasjonen i Norge har vært preget av mindre støy og kontroverser enn tilfellet har vært i flere andre land. Kina har bidratt med smittevernsutstyr til Norge i form av kommersielle og veldedige leveranser. Kinas rolle i pandemien har vært debattert også i norske medier, og kinesiske representanter brukt tradisjonelle og sosiale medier til å imøtegå kritikk og fremme sine syn.
Preventing Organized Crime. The Need for a Context-Sensitive, System-Wide Approach.
Recent years have seen important developments regarding the UN Security Council and the UN Secretariat. The Security Council, which has increasingly recognized organized crime as a serious threat to international peace and security—especially in relation to terrorism—has begun using sanctions to deal with organized crime and trafficking in Mali and Libya. Further, serious and organized crime (SOC) police units have been established in several UN field operations, including in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Mali. However, there is still no UN-wide policy on organized crime, and the issue has been conspicuously absent from recent strategic documents such as the Action for Peacekeeping Declaration (A4P). This report argues that there is need for a UN system-wide approach to peace operations for preventing and addressing organized crime, and its links to terrorism. To achieve this, UN member states and the UN Secretariat should seek to consolidate and broaden its nascent law enforcement capacity- building police approach into a context sensitive, system-wide approach. Six specific recommendations for the way forward are offered.
Covid-19 og globalisering: Et fattigdomsperspektiv på turisme og inntektsoverføring fra migranter
• Reduserte inntektsoverføringer og fall i turisme vil ha effekter for de norske hovedsamarbeidslandene. • Effektene er store og vil trolig vare en tid (flere år). • Bortfall av turisme kan i disse landene ramme 9 millioner direkte, og 23 millioner i et bredere perspektiv. • Fall i inntektsoverføringer kan ha store negative effekter, og er spesielt viktig for Nepal, Ghana, Myanmar og Uganda. • Økonomiske tiltak i OECD-landene er innrettet slik at de kompenserer arbeidsfolk og små bedrifter for tap som følge av nedstenging av aktivitetene de lever av. Et lignende prinsipp kan legges til grunn for kortsiktig bistand for å avverge at flere faller under fattigdomsgrensen.
Lessons from the Ebola Crisis in West Africa: Community engagement, crisis communication and countering rumours
What lessons can we draw from the 2014-2016 Ebola crisis in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone? While both the outbreak itself and the context is different, there are enough similarities between the Ebola crisis and COVID-19 to extract useful lessons and best practices. In this research note, the focus is on three key lessons from the Ebola experience: community engagement, crisis communication and countering the rumour mill. In the world’s most fragile states, an uncontrolled outbreak of COVID-19 would have devastating consequences for the population. In a scenario where the spread of the coronavirus is under control in large parts of the world, the survival of COVID-19 in fragile states would also most certainly be a source for new waves of infections to the rest of the world. Not only do fragile states lack capacity to react adequately on their own, but their ability to utilise external support and assistance is limited due to low absorption capacity.
China, India and the political economy of medical supplies
• The pandemic and lockdowns threaten the supply of medicines, especially from India • Poor countries relying on supplies of cheap Indian medicines are especially vulnerable • New medicines and vaccines are likely to be developed and patented by Western companies and will be expensive. • Norway should help fund the supply of medicines and promote reforms of patent rules to make medicines more affordable
The impact of COVID-19 on the performance of peace operations
Between the African Union, European Union, OSCE, NATO and United Nations there are approximately 160,000 civilian, police and military personnel deployed in more than 50 missions. These missions have all been forced to take unprecedented steps to adapt and cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. This may be just the beginning and much more significant reductions and changes in the way these operations function may be needed over the coming months.