July 4th , 2008
Symposium on “Human security and National Security: From small arms, gender and SSR perspectives” – Summary –

On June 6th the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention (JCCP) held a symposium on human security, and the roles small arms, gender and SSR play in it.

40 participants attended the symposium, including individuals from NGOs, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, Ministry of Defense, Japan International Cooperation Agency, university students, teachers, and people from the private sector.

-Speakers-
Mr. Mitsuro Donowaki (The board chairmen of the Japanese Center for Conflict Prevention (JCCP), Former Special Assistant to Minister for Foreign Affairs – Disarmament)
“Opening”

Mr.Yasumitsu Kida （Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department)
“Aspects on Small Arms: Cases in Japan and Cambodia”

Ms.Miho Fukui (Researcher, Secretariat of International Peace Cooperation Headquarter, Cabinet Office)
“Aspects on Gender / Gender-issues”

Ms.Rumiko Seya (Secretary General, Japan Center for Conflict Prevention)
“Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), Security Sector Reform (SSR): Cases in Afghanistan and Africa”

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Opening Mr. Mitsuro Donowaki from JCCP made the opening remarks on “Individual and National Safety: From the viewpoint of Small Arms, Gender and Governance Reform”.

Points:

• In the past conflict often took place between countries in the form of inter-state war. However, since the collapse of the Soviet Union –the last 20 years—the world has changed, and no longer are inter-state wars the primary vehicle of fighting in the world. Intrastate conflict due to ethnic, religious and political reasons has become the primary form of conflict in the world. These conflicts are waged using small arms. During the 1990s alone, these conflicts using small arms were responsible for the deaths of over 3,000,000 people – many times over the number of people killed by atomic bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Small arms have become the new weapons of mass destruction.
• To bring about world peace we must not only look at ending discord between countries, but we must also address intra-country conflict.
• The previous models of security that focus on the state are important, but they fail to sufficiently address the security of the individual. Human security needs to be addressed more in our growingly global world.
• Japan is in the process of addressing human security more seriously. And those that are gathered here today are a testament that people are beginning to treat human security issues more seriously.

Aspects on Small Arms: Cases in Japan and Cambodia The first speaker was Mr. Yasumitsu Kida from MOFA. Mr. Yasumitsu has extensive experience in the public sector, and he previously worked for JSAC (Japan Assistance Team for Small Arms Management project in Cambodia).

Points:

• Every year over 500,000 people die from small arms. Small arms are the new weapons of mass destruction.
• There are many forms of small arms. While many small arms are tools for killing, others (especially anti-personnel mines) are designed to main and cripple victims.
• In a country like Japan it is possible to establish and enforce a moratorium on small arms. However, in many other countries, especially those that are developing or that have been engaged in civil wars, it is very difficult to create and enforce laws banning small arms.
• A two pillar approach exists to combat the problem of small arms.
  1.The first pillar focuses on international rules and norms and works to address small arms supply. This approach looks at maintaining rules and norms on the manufacturing and importing of weapons, and relies heavily upon the international community for coherence.
  2.The second pillar focuses on specific victim country projects and small arms demand. This pillar focuses on the gathering and destruction of weapons and deals with individual countries and the specific challenges they face.
  
• One of these examples of victim country projects is “The Japan Assistance Team for Small Arms Management” (JSAC) ODA project in Cambodia
• The goal of JSAC was to provide incentives to local inhabitants for turning in weapons. If enough weapons are turned in, then JSAC helps infrastructure projects that the local inhabitants want (schools, bridges, etc).
• From JSAC’s inception in 2003 to this year (2008), the project was responsible for the collection of over 28,000 tons of weapons, and the destruction of over 34,000 tons of weapons.
• During civil wars and conflicts people often stockpile large quantities of weapons in hiding places. These stockpiles remain today in many areas.
• It is important to consider why people still keep their weapons. In situations where there is a deep-rooted culture of violence, or where weapons are important to ensuring one’s safety, it is often difficult and unrealistic to conduct weapon collection and destruction projects.
• The JSAC project was conducted primarily through workshops. After going over the JSAC project and gaining cooperation at prefectural and regional levels, the JSAC staff went to villages and conduct local community workshops. The workshops served as a vehicle to explain the function of JSAC and it’s goals.
• In addition to holding workshops, JSAC also placed an importance on training local police and law enforcement. These training sessions aimed at instilling a greater awareness of responsibility and professionalism.
• The workshops focused around providing infrastructure building incentives for gathering weapons at the local level. If communities could bring in certain quantities of weapons then the JSAC program would help to build schools, bridges, etc. in the community.
• One difficulty with the project was the potential for the confiscated weapons to be stolen or sold by military or security personnel. Therefore, part of the JSAC project also involved personnel training as well as using locks and hard security devices for confiscated weapons.
• In the end, the safest and most assured way to dispose of the weapons was to destroy them. The weapon destruction process was often conducted by gathering the villagers together and then burning the weapons in front of them. This was also a psychological event aimed at dispelling any remaining culture of violence.
• One of the most important lessons of this project was that to successfully complete the project, it was essential to work with people from a broad spectrum of professions and specializations.

Aspects on Gender / Gender-issues The second speaker was Ms. Miho Fukui from the Japanese Secretariat of International Peace Cooperation Headquarters Cabinet Office. Ms. Fukui has over 7 years of experience working for humanitarian aid with NGOs in West Africa, Balkan and Afghanistan.

Points:

• Conflict is a very broad subject, and encompasses many different elements. One important element among these is the issue of gender.
• It is often said that war is more dangerous for women than for soldiers. Women and children alone account for over 80% of civilian casualties.
• Roughly 10% of war deaths in Africa occur during battle, while the remaining 90% occur outside of battle.
• Two kinds of violence are directed towards women. The first kind of violence includes direct humanitarian crimes such as rape, physical violence, etc. The second kind includes opportunistically using the conflict environment to commit violence relating to gender.
• Women face challenges in gaining sufficient access to education, job jobs and health care. Therefore, in Africa women have less access to education are also less likely to be able to find good jobs and therefore have less economic ability, and are more prone to disease.
• In the past Peacekeeping Operations (PKOs) were responsible for reporting humanitarian crimes. However, since it has become more common for NGOs such as Save the Children to also report humanitarian crimes, the number of reported crimes has risen drastically. The number of allegations directed against PKOs themselves has also risen drastically.
• There are many acronyms in the world of gender and violence. The first is GBV, or Gender Based Violence. This concept covers a wide range of violence such as physical, mental, sexual and spiritual. Another acronym is SEA, or Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
• Between 2004 and 2006 there was a rise in the number of humanitarian crimes committed by PKOs. In 2005 and 2006 there were roughly 370 instances of humanitarian crimes, up from around 150 in 2004. The biggest difference between the figures reported in 2005 and 2006 was that in 2005 it was estimated that there about 190 unreported crimes, while in 2006 that number dropped to about 90.
• Ms. Fukui then went to show us two examples of projects aimed at helping women in conflict. The first was a project that was conduced in a town and was aimed at reducing the instances where PKOs and NGO members were abusing their roles of power and interacting inappropriately with local women. The second program worked to address the problem of PKOs, NGOs and International Organizations abusing their relationships with female members of the refugee camp they were based in.
• Lastly it should be noted that there is a power balance that exists in areas of conflict, with PKOs, NGO members and other UN/helper organizations at the top and civilians/refugees at the bottom. Women refugees or civilians are especially vulnerable, and their plight needs to be recognized.

Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), Security Sector Reform (SSR): Cases in Afghanistan and Africa The last speaker was Ms. Rumiko Seya from JCCP. Ms. Seya has experience working for both the UN and NGOs, and has spent time working on projects in places such as Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. Ms. Seya’s expertise lies in issues of Human Security as well as State Security, especially Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR).

Points:

• Conflict has different stages, and each stage is accompanied by appropriate peace building activities and international response.
• “Peace Diplomacy” and DDR are most applicable during the period where the fighting has just stopped.
• Afghanistan is similar to the warring period in mid 16th century in Japan, where there were an assortment of leaders each commanding their own military forces.
• Sierra Leone is different from Afghanistan in that the conflict was more or less divided between government and a single rebel force commanded small number of commanders.
• In Afghanistan an assortment of problems exists despite the fact that conflict was stopped. A culture of conflict still exists, different actors expect aid, people are afraid of returning to their original homes and different kinds of influences and relations exist between the various actors.
• Difficulties also exist for the government side. Now that conflict has disappeared, how to handle the transition to peace? How to conduct governance? How to carry out justice? What to do about reconciliation?
• There is also the large problem of the Afghani economy. Infrastructure is more or less in shambles. There is large degree of unemployment. Roughly 85% of the poppies in the world are made in Afghanistan which makes the majority of people rely upon the poppy crop for livelihood.
• During the transition to peace it is essential to work out issues of governance, transitional justice, long-term peace building preparations etc. In addition to the Afghan government working on these issues, US, UK, German and Italian groups are also involved in SSR besides Japan and UN.
• The DDR process consists of six steps – Pre-cantonment, Cantonment, Disarmament, Demobilization, Reinsertion and Community Reintegration.
• Many former combatants who go through the DDR process go on to work in agriculture or take jobs as skill trainers.