Armed conflict and violence against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has persisted for years starting in the 1990s. The Eastern, Western and North-Eastern parts of the country have seen the presence of a multiplicity of armed groups that have caused an escalation of the humanitarian crisis. The United Nations, in the interest of civilian protection, peacekeeping and security sector reform in the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a mission under The United Nations Organisational Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). In spite of this mission, civilians continued in the Congo to suffer attacks and to endure human rights abuses by the armed militants that are fighting government and the government forces in shape of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC). This study examines the problematique of the mandate of MONUC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in light of the challenges that have made its success debatable. The success of MONUC has become debatable in light of the fact that in spite of its presence and implementation in the DRC, between 2007 and 2010, conflict and the violence against civilians escalated to unprecedented levels. This study examines the causalities of the failure and observes its effect while making propositions towards amelioration of the challenges and the failure of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. / Political Sciences / M.A. (International Politics)

This research makes use of a Constructivist approach to norm development, in particular the concept of the norm life cycle, to assess the emergence and development of the responsibility to protect as a norm in international society in relation to the conduct of interventions on humanitarian grounds. This study finds that the responsibility to protect emerged relatively rapidly in international society as a norm relevant to the formulation and implementation of international responses to conflict situations characterised by the commission of atrocity crimes. Indeed, between 2001 and 2010, this study finds that the responsibility to protect norm became codified and entrenched in international organisation, and could therefore have been expected to influence state behaviour, and the discourse surrounding that behaviour, in relation to the conduct of interventions on humanitarian grounds. However, through an assessment of the application of the norm through the United Nations and the African Union to the conflicts in the Darfur region of Sudan from 2003 onwards, the study finds that the norm, while featuring relatively prominently in discourse surrounding Darfur between 2007 and 2008 in the United Nations, appears to have receded thereafter, disappearing from discourse by 2009 altogether, and appears not to have been useful to the attainment of its content goal, namely preventing or halting the commission of atrocity crimes, in the case of Darfur. Indeed, the norm may even have contributed to complicating, as opposed to facilitating, international engagement on Darfur. This study explores the apparent contradiction between the emergence and entrenchment of the responsibility to protect norm in international society at the same time as the norm appears to have increasingly faded from discourse surrounding international responses to the conflicts in Darfur, and assesses the implications of this both for the future development and utility of the norm, as well as for future responses to conflicts characterised by atrocity crimes on the African continent.

<p>Rebel attacks on civilians constitute one of the gravest threats to human security in contemporary armed conflicts. But why do rebel groups kill civilians? The dissertation approaches this question from a strategic perspective, trying to understand when and why rebel groups are likely to target civilians as a conflict strategy. It combines quantitative studies using global data on rebel group violence with a case study of the civil war in Mozambique. The overall argument is that rebel groups target civilians as a way of improving their bargaining position in the war relative to the government. The dissertation consists of an introduction, which situates the study in a wider context, and four papers that all deal with different aspects of the overall research question. Paper I introduces new data on one-sided violence against civilians, presenting trends over time and comparing types of actors and conflicts. Paper II argues that democratic governments are particularly vulnerable to rebel attacks on civilians, since they are dependent on the population. Corroborating this claim, statistical evidence shows that rebels indeed kill more civilians when fighting a democratic government. Paper III argues that rebels target civilians more when losing on the battlefield, as a method of raising the costs for the government to continue fighting. A statistical analysis employing monthly data on battle outcomes and rebel violence, supports this argument. Paper IV takes a closer look at the case of Mozambique, arguing that the rebel group Renamo used large-scale violence in areas dominated by government constituents as a means for hurting the government. Taken together, these findings suggest that violence against civilians should be understood as a strategy, rather than a consequence, of war.</p>

Normatively, protecting civilians from the conduct of hostilities is grounded in the Geneva Conventions and the UN Security Council protection of civilian agenda, both of which celebrate their 70 and 20 year anniversaries in 2019. Previous research focusses heavily on protection of civilians through peacekeeping whereas this research focuses on ‘non-armed’ approaches to enhancing civilian protection in conflict. Prior research and experience reveals a high level of missingness and variation in the level of available data on civilian harm in conflict. Where civilian harm is considered in the peace and conflict literature, it is predominantly from a securitized lens of understanding insurgent recruitment strategies and more recent counter-insurgent strategies aimed at winning ‘hearts and minds’. Through a structured focused comparison of four case studies the correlation between the level of quality, timely and consistent data on civilian harm and affect on the conduct of hostilities will be reviewed and potential confounders identified. Following this the hypothesized causal mechanism will be process traced through the pathway case of Afghanistan. The findings and analysis from both methods identify support for the theory and it’s refinement with important nuances in the factors conducive to quality, timely and consistent data collection on civilian harm in armed conflict.

Ce travail entend étudier la manière dont l’occupation allemande, au cours de la GrandeGuerre, redéfinit les configurations sociales et les interdépendances au sein des populationsciviles. La micro-analyse dans le cadre du département de l’Aisne nous offre l’opportunitéd’un carottage de la réalité sociale de l’échelle mezzo à l’échelle micro. La comparaison dessituations vécues au sein du département, à partir des nombreux récits collectés, permet dedresser les contours d’une violence propre à l’occupation qui ne se réduit pas pour autant à laviolence exercée par l’occupant. Le regard porté sur les municipalités rend compte d’unnouvel équilibre des pouvoirs au niveau local : les maires, considérés par l’occupant commeseules autorités légales, doivent trouver avec lui des modes de coopération qui soientacceptables. Dans le même temps, ils sont amenés à renouveler leurs pratiques afin derépondre aux urgences sociales comme aux injonctions des commandants. Enfin, à l’échelleindividuelle, les perceptions et les stratégies des civils sont examinées comme celles d’acteurssociaux au sein de communautés locales. Sont alors dévoilées les tensions et la duplicité desattitudes à l’égard de l’autorité d’occupation, duplicité qui n’exclut pas des formes derencontres et d’ententes avec des soldats ennemis. / This study intends to explore how German occupation during the Great War redefines socialconfigurations and interdependencies among civilian populations. Analyzing a limited arealike Aisne provides us an opportunity of drilling in social reality, from mezzo to micro scale.Comparing experiences within the 'département', on the basis of numerous accounts gathered,allows us to outline the contours of a specific violence during military occupation which is notonly the violence of German armies. The perception of municipal governments accounts for anew balance of power at local level : mayors, considered by occupier as the only legalauthorities, have to define with him acceptable ways of cooperation. At the same time, theymust renew their practices to respond to social emergencies and orders of Germancommanders. Finally, at the individual level, strategies and perceptions of civilians areexamined as those of social actors within local communities. This brings us to gauge both theextent of tensions and the duplicity towards occupying authority, duplicity which does notexclude different types of meetings and agreements with enemy soldiers.

Rebel attacks on civilians constitute one of the gravest threats to human security in contemporary armed conflicts. But why do rebel groups kill civilians? The dissertation approaches this question from a strategic perspective, trying to understand when and why rebel groups are likely to target civilians as a conflict strategy. It combines quantitative studies using global data on rebel group violence with a case study of the civil war in Mozambique. The overall argument is that rebel groups target civilians as a way of improving their bargaining position in the war relative to the government. The dissertation consists of an introduction, which situates the study in a wider context, and four papers that all deal with different aspects of the overall research question. Paper I introduces new data on one-sided violence against civilians, presenting trends over time and comparing types of actors and conflicts. Paper II argues that democratic governments are particularly vulnerable to rebel attacks on civilians, since they are dependent on the population. Corroborating this claim, statistical evidence shows that rebels indeed kill more civilians when fighting a democratic government. Paper III argues that rebels target civilians more when losing on the battlefield, as a method of raising the costs for the government to continue fighting. A statistical analysis employing monthly data on battle outcomes and rebel violence, supports this argument. Paper IV takes a closer look at the case of Mozambique, arguing that the rebel group Renamo used large-scale violence in areas dominated by government constituents as a means for hurting the government. Taken together, these findings suggest that violence against civilians should be understood as a strategy, rather than a consequence, of war.

The armed conflicts to humanity for centuries. Almost always the reason for armed conflict dominion over certain territories. If we focus on armed conflicts closest to us history, it is clear that these include first and second World War. These two wars have caused thousands of deaths on all sides and great hardship of the civilian population. After World War II it seemed that the end of armed conflicts. Nevertheless, followed by the war in Korea or Vietnam, where once again innocent civilians died. But this is more than fifty years of history. Unfortunately, the armed conflict is still repeated, and since 1990 there were more than a hundred and twenty. Although not a war of such magnitude, which is involved in the entire world, but they have also been responsible for hundreds of deaths. The trend of conflict after the Cold War is undoubtedly the killing of civilians. Unfortunately, the loss ratio for the armed forces and civilians dramatically changed. Particularly in Africa are relatively small losses on fighting units. But civilians are dying by the hundreds of thousands. Reasons for armed conflict after the Cold War are different. In most cases, however, it is the territory and related ethnic cleansing, or wealth, which are eg. in Africa diamonds. The purpose of my thesis was draw attention to the constant threats to fundamental human rights in armed conflicts are totally ignored. The theoretical part describes international humanitarian law, which should be the basis for armed conflict. And describes the basic principles of international humanitarian law and the types of armed conflict under international humanitarian law. The theoretical part also describes some of the articles of the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols to the armed conflict since 1990 are the most commonly used and are very serious. Due to the number of armed conflicts since 1990, which was more than 120, is shown in the work of ten selected armed conflicts. In selected conflicts are described various war crimes that were committed against the civilian population. These crimes are similar in countries that are a common culture or mentality. In African countries is the same crimes. The difference is mostly in scale committing these war crimes. The same is true even in the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. In this thesis were consumed interviews with some participants armed conflicts, which greatly helps us to better understand the war crimes that were committed during the armed conflict. Processing and evaluation of the results was done in MS Word and MS Excel.

Submitted by Oliveira Santos Dilzaná (dilznana@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-04-25T12:30:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO de Pedro de Oliveira Junior.pdf: 1403430 bytes, checksum: f44bb4c7ba69da814a7fc94ea3317841 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Portela (anapoli@ufba.br) on 2014-05-06T13:45:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO de Pedro de Oliveira Junior.pdf: 1403430 bytes, checksum: f44bb4c7ba69da814a7fc94ea3317841 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-06T13:45:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO de Pedro de Oliveira Junior.pdf: 1403430 bytes, checksum: f44bb4c7ba69da814a7fc94ea3317841 (MD5) / O presente estudo tem como escopo compreender as reações e respostas entre famílias de vítimas de homicídios perpetrados por policiais militares em Salvador. Para atingir os objetivos dessa pesquisa, foram selecionados 12 casos de homicídios para a investigação e coleta de dados: 8 casos acompanhados por duas organizações não governamentais, 1 assistido por um projeto social e os demais, 3 casos, foram selecionados entre aqueles em que os familiares das vítimas não receberam ou, atualmente, não recebem assistência de redes sociais e institucionais de apoio. São casos de homicídios, predominantemente, de jovens, de 15 a 24 anos, perpetrados por policiais militares em serviço e fora de serviço. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de entrevistas não estruturadas (abertas), semiestruturadas, observação direta e análise documental. Como ponto de partida, o estudo tece uma discussão acerca do enfrentamento dos homicídios no contexto baiano, a partir da biopolítica de segurança pública desenvolvida no estado da Bahia e a violência letal oficial produzida. Como resultado, a pesquisa discute uma vitimização indireta por homicídio, marcada por uma violação do Eu dos familiares das vítimas, num nível bastante profundo: o Eu foi “abatido” pela perda violenta, inexplicavelmente repentina e considerada injusta. Diante desse impacto, a perda configurou um longo e complexo processo de mudanças em suas vidas, assinalado por fases. Primeiramente, uma fase de confusão foi experienciada a partir de uma série de alterações significativas e inesperadas promovidas em seu cotidiano. Uma fase de desorganização configurou-se quando eles começaram a reagir, reconhecendo os problemas advindos com a morte do membro familiar. E esta reação atinge a fase de reorganização por meio dos sentidos atribuídos à perda e a canalização da dor e dos sentimentos negativos que os sobrecarregam emocionalmente – como a raiva, ódio e a vingança. A pesquisa procura demonstrar que nesse processo, a busca por justiça, junto ao sistema de justiça criminal, exerceu um papel essencial. Ela emergiu no processo de reação a perda, como uma resposta a violência oficial perpetrada contra o ente querido, e contribuiu, ainda que de forma ambígua e dolorosa, na recuperação de si e da vida cotidiana dos familiares. A guisa de conclusão, o estudo apresenta um padrão de homicídio em que a magnitude dos efeitos da vitimização indireta é mais elevada e as reações mais complexas. A pesquisa evidencia que, ao lado das perdas materiais e alterações psicoemocionais significativas e da busca por justiça, os familiares das vítimas vivenciaram mudanças no próprio Eu e em seu esquema de imagens para julgar a si mesmo, aos outros e o mundo que vive. Eles vivenciam episódios de abatimento do Eu e de sua representação social. This project has the objective to understand the reactions and responses among families of victims murdered by military police in Salvador. To achieve the objectives of this research, we selected twelve homicide cases for examination and data collection: eight cases assisted by two non-governmental organizations, one assisted by a social project, and the remaining three cases were selected from those in which relatives of the victims have not received or are not currently receiving assistance from social and institutional support networks. The homicide cases are predominantly of youngsters, 15-24 years old, perpetrated by military police on duty and off duty. Data collection was done through unstructured interviews (open interviews), semi-structured, direct observation and document analysis. As a starting point, the study initiates a discussion about coping with homicide in the context of Bahia, based on the biopolitics of public security developed by the state and the official lethal violence produced. As a result, the research presents indirect victimization by homicide, marked by a violation of the victims' families self, at a deep level: the self was "hit" by the violent loss, inexplicably sudden and considered unfair. Given this impact, the loss set up a long and complex process of changes in their lives, marked by phases. First, a phase of confusion was experienced due to a number of significant and unexpected changes occurring in their daily lives. A phase of disorganization unfolded when they began to react, recognizing the problems caused by the death of the family member. And this reaction reaches the stage of reorganization through the senses attributed to the loss and the channeling of pain and negative feelings that overwhelm them emotionally - as anger, hatred and revenge. The research aims to demonstrate that this process, the search for justice, through the criminal justice system, played an essential role. It emerged in the process of reacting to loss, as a response to official violence perpetrated against the loved one, and contributed, although in an ambiguous and painful way, to recover oneself and the family’s everyday life. As a conclusion, the study shows a homicide pattern in which the magnitude of the indirect victimization effects is higher and the reactions are more complex. The research shows that, alongside the material losses and significant psycho-emotional changes and the search for justice, the families of the victims experienced changes in their own self and on their image scheme to judge oneself, others and the world that live in. They experience episodes of collapse of the self and their social representation.

Limited systematic research has investigated how conflict events shape the spatial-temporal variation of insurgent violence against civilians. Although previous research has investigated how degrees of territorial control relate to general levels of violence against civilians, it remains largely an open question how the dynamics within territorial control determine violence against civilians by insurgents. This study aims to address this gap by hypothesizing that (1) insurgents become more likely to commit fatal violence against civilians, and (2) kill more civilians in contested areas when they lose territorial control. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset (ACLED) was used along with Peace Research Institute Oslo’s (PRIO) GRID Dataset to create a novel data frame of all territorially contested area-weeks on the African continent between 1997 and 2017 (n = 3035). Contrary to theoretical expectations, logistic regressions indicate a lower risk of insurgent violence against civilians in contested areas following an insurgent territorial loss than following a break-even. Zero-inflated negative binomial regressions moreover tentatively indicate that insurgents kill more civilians following territorial wins in the short-term, and following territorial loss in the long-term. These results suggest that proactive counterinsurgency campaigns are in the interest of civilians in civil war.

Dans le cadre de cette recherche doctorale, les analystes locales civiles, travaillant au sein de diverses zones de police belges, ont été étudiées dans la mesure où leur fonction est censée être au cœur de changements annoncés comme essentiels dans le fonctionnement de l’institution policière, en particulier en matière de planification de la politique policière et des activités opérationnelles.Au travers d’une étude empirique inductive et compréhensive du travail et des interactions des analystes au sein de divers états-majors policiers, ont ainsi été étudiés des pratiques et outils organisationnels de pilotage et d’évaluation de l’action policière, mais surtout les pratiques de celles et (plus rarement) ceux chargés d’en assumer la réalisation et d’appuyer la prise de décision par les hiérarchies policières. Cet examen éclaire au passage les activités organisatrices de la hiérarchie et celles d’acteurs opérationnels, à la fois opérateurs et premiers affectés par de telles pratiques et outils gestionnaires, que ce soit en devant les alimenter ou en voyant leurs tâches affectées par les usages qui en sont faits par la hiérarchie.La démarche adoptée est ainsi celle d’une investigation « par le bas » du sens d’une fonction, c’est-à-dire au travers de sa mise en œuvre concrète et quotidienne, et dans une large mesure éminemment technique, par ses acteurs attitrés. L’approche retenue s’est dès lors traduite par un travail combinant description ethnographique et théorisation ancrée à partir d’un matériau empirique constitué d’observations, d’entretiens et de documents glanés dans le cadre de cas sélectionnés en vertu d’un principe d’échantillonnage théorique, au fur et à mesure de l’avancement de l’analyse. / Doctorat en Criminologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished