DEWEAPONIZATION AND CIVIL SOCIETY

Director:
Senior Fellow, Swadesh Rana
E-mail: rana@worldpolicy.org

The Deweaponization and Civil Society Project aims to raise consciousness among policymakers and opinion leaders about the importance of actively engaging global civil society in curbing the use of small arms and light weapons in post-conflict societies. It networks technical experts with civil society representatives --particularly womens' groups-- and the economic development community; and develops and disseminates related written materials including articles in World Policy Journal. It promotes the need for the international community to engage civil society in the formulation of and ongoing efforts to ensure peace and regional stability, and to allocate greater resources to groups not traditionally seen as keepers of national security, but who are essential to peace building and conflict reduction.

Some recent examples of the increasingly visible role of non-traditional security actors from civil society include the South African dockworkers who refused to unload the arms ammunition cargo intended for a politically tense Zimbabwe; the night time vigils of Kenyan lawyers, doctors and other professionals to stop street violence; the spontaneous decision of students in Pakistan to distance themselves from home production of weapons in Durra; the human chain formed by the Indian schoolchildren in order to avert public riots in Madhya Pradesh; the silent march through the streets by monks protesting in favor of restoring civil liberties in Myanmar; and the public demonstrations in Bangkok to forestall likely violence over impending elections.

The Deweaponization and Civil Society project seeks to re-draw the policy options menu in post-conflict societies by draw attention to groups that are not traditionally seen as keepers of national security yet are essential to peace building and conflict reduction. It thus broadens the definition of national security, reframing the policy challenge –and potential solutions-- in such a way as to reduce the likelihood of military conflict.

The Deweaponization and Civil Society initiative builds on a proposal developed in 2007 by WPI Senior Fellow Swadesh M Rana, which is being implemented in collaboration with the NGO/DPI Executive Committee which represents over 1,500 NGOs affiliated worldwide with the Department of Public Information at the United Nations. Dr. Rana, a member of the Board of Directors of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee and Former Chief Conventional Arms Branch at the UN Department of Disarmament Affairs, has been designated by the NGO/ DPI Executive Committee as the focal point for coordinating the implementation of DEWs in consultation with an  advisory team which has a collective outreach into more than 125 countries, a track record of technical expertise, advocacy, experience in best practices, and skills in media relations.

Advisory team members are drawn from the Conventional Arms Branch in the Office of the Secretary-General’s High Representative for Disarmament, the Conference of NGOs in a Consultative Status with the United Nations (CONGO), the Academic Council of the UN System, the Women’s Network Coordinator of the International Action Network on Small Arms, the World Federation of UN Associations, the Quaker UN Office in Geneva, and the World Policy Institute

With close to a thousand individual and institutional members worldwide, the Academic Council of the UN System launched the project at a panel discussion in Bonn on June 6, 2008, organized and moderated by Swadesh Rana, during its annual conference. 

The Deweaponization and Civil Society initiative speaks to all three of WPI's core interest areas: promoting an engaged global civil society and effective governance, developing policies in support of an inclusive and sustainable global market economy, and collaborative approaches to global security. Democracy, economy, and security policies must all work together, for if any one area is weak, it undermines the others.