Recently DCAF brought members of the Dutch Royal Army to meet with representatives of the North Macedonian Ministry of Defence and share their experience implementing a gender action plan in their institution. The Netherlands is widely regarded as a leader in this field, having successfully implemented its Defence Action Plan and demonstrated a strong commitment to embedding gender perspectives across all levels of its military sector. The consultation offered the North Macedonian’s a unique opportunity to learn from another armed force how to integrate gender perspectives into military operations and organizational culture.
14 Jan 2025DCAF was in Latin America recently as part of our five-country regional programme to try to improve relations between police and the media. As we have seen in other contexts this will, in turn, increase respect for human rights and result in more effective citizen oversight of the security sector. In Honduras, we conducted a focus group with journalists and police from Valle and Choluteca. In Mexico, we met with police officials from Tlaxcala and nine municipalities from Nuevo León, and Nuevo Leon Human Rights Commission to review the progress of the project, share the first recommendations for journalists, and plan activities for 2025. This work is possible thanks to the support of the German government.
10 Jan 2025Recently, DCAF supported the National Commission for Lebanese Women to hold consultation workshops on improving gender equality in the Lebanese security and defence sectors. Representatives of security institutions, civil society and international organizations, and universities discussed priorities and provided recommendations for the drafting of the second Lebanese National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. Like all such plans, it’s based on the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 which urged actors to increase the participation of women and incorporate gender perspectives in all peace and security efforts. These consultations were possible thanks to the generous support of Canada.
09 Jan 2025The ill effects of climate change and the resulting insecurity for people and communities – environmental disasters and degradation, scarcity-driven conflict – always hit the most vulnerable, the hardest. In most countries, that means women. In Colombia, Mali, and Yemen DCAF worked with more than 60 women’s organizations to help their voices be heard more loudly in policy and public debates about how to address climate and insecurity. Read more in this recent article in à propos, the KOFF Peacebuilding Magazine.
08 Jan 2025We are thrilled this year to mark a quarter of a century of work putting security governance at the heart of the conversation. Since our founding, DCAF has worked in more than 70 countries providing expertise and advice to national and international partners on how to more effectively oversee military, police and other security sector actors and, in turn, make communities and states more safe and secure. As a pioneer in developing SSG/R policies and best practices, DCAF has fueled the evolution of security sector governance on the international stage, and grown alongside it. Thank you for joining us on this journey and marking this milestone with us.
06 Jan 2025