Sorcha MacLeod, a global expert on the regulation of mercenaries and private military and security companies (PMSCs) is DCAF’s new Visiting Fellow 2024-2026. Sorcha leads the MERCURY project at the University of Copenhagen which combines data-driven mapping and analysis of mercenary operations with legal and qualitative analysis. Findings from the MERCURY project will feed into DCAF’s Legislative Guidance Tool on PMSCs, and a capacity-building tool for national and regional accountability mechanisms. DCAF’s Visiting Fellows are leading academic experts. We partner with them to help apply their research results in practical security sector reform and good governance initiatives on the ground.
23 Sep 2024DCAF and the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA) continue their work together for business, security and human rights with the signing this week of a Memorandum of Understanding. In many conflict-affected places, businesses, humanitarian organizations, embassies and even governments hire private security companies to deal with their complex security problems. But they cannot be certain that they are not linked to armed groups or criminal networks. DCAF and ICoCA's 10 year partnership highlights our combined efforts to improve accountability and protect human rights through the creation and enforcement of international oversight standards and regulations for the private security industry.
20 Sep 2024We are pleased to announce that our project supporting the Moldovan government to strengthen security sector governance has been extended for another three years, until December 2028. New partners and stakeholders have been introduced to the project as we enter this second phase of work enhancing the country’s security and resilience, and supporting its progress toward joining the European Union. To mark the occasion, we held an event with partners and donors, including officials from the Embassy of Sweden to the Republic of Moldova, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moldova, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations of Moldova, and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency.
19 Sep 2024As part of DCAF’s regional project, ‘Reconfiguring Police-Press Relations’, representatives of Mexican media organizations, police officials, and the Secretariat of Citizen Security of Mexico City recently gathered for a roundtable discussion. It capped a year-long series of joint activities, trainings, and focus groups designed to improve security provision towards journalists and social leaders in compliance with international norms and good practices. With the support of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, DCAF is helping establish more effective democratic oversight of the security sector through the police-media relations project running in Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
17 Sep 2024We are proud to collaborate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia to raise awareness and build capacity for gender mainstreaming within the country’s security institutions. For over two decades, DCAF has supported security sector reform and good governance in more than 70 countries, and now we are helping Latvia as they advance their National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security. It includes key areas like how to increase the number of women leaders in security institutions, and how to create a more gender-responsive sector as a whole.
16 Sep 2024