Relations between the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) are at a turning point in their history. The EU is pushing for a renewed partnership that entails an enhanced responsibility from its African partners, who in turn stress the need not to base the relationship on migration-related issues. The fifth AU-EU Summit, which took […]

The concept of Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) has become an important part of the normative framework related to peace and conflict. While its operationalisation remains a challenge, the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU) and civil society organisations have developed new policies, tools and mechanisms to improve the use and effectiveness of this principle. […]

Over the past ten years, peacebuilding and development actors have developed a more sophisticated understanding of why young people, in particular, are driven to participate in (or resist) violent extremist groups. However, understanding those drivers is only the first step. There is also a pressing need to gather evidence of “what works” in reducing violence […]

The EU’s military training mission in the Central African Republic (EUTM RCA) was launched in July 2016. Its second operational objective is to ‘contribute to Central African armed forces (FACA) capability to become credible, accountable, ethnically balanced and under democratic control.’ The international humanitarian law (IHL) and prevention of sexual violence (PSV) component of the […]

It is a common assumption that only armed military or police can do the work of peacekeeping. However, unarmed civilians have been successfully ‘keeping the peace’ in situations of violent conflict all over the world, and their numbers are increasing. Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) is a growing field practice, implemented by more than 40 organisations […]