CiR2P Option 39 | Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration
DISCUSSION:
Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) of former combatants is another key task performed by international peacekeeping missions working in close cooperation with national authorities, aimed at interrupting the conflict cycle and facilitating the transition of armed groups back into civilian life.
- Disarmament in a post-conflict peacebuilding phase is aimed at the collection and destruction of existing weapons and the progressive suppression of the capacity to produce or purchase new ones.
- Demobilisation refers to the process of standing down and disbanding armed forces, which may include retaining or reclassifying some personnel, while ensuring that others are transitioned to opportunities in the community that will generate an income for them and their families.
- Reintegration involves a sustained effort to develop employment, training and education schemes and opportunities for ex-combatants in the hope of permanently detaching them from the more extreme and violent elements of their recent past.
Demobilisation and reintegration provide the most scope to graft on climate action activities.
For example, demobilisation involves reclassifying fighting forces, as for example, what occurred with the creation of the Kosovo Protection Corps in the aftermath of military operations in Bosnia. Following this logic, ex-combatants could be reclassified to form natural disaster response teams, or a ‘Green Army’ tasked with establishing large-scale reforestation and afforestation projects for the purpose of building natural assets and creating revenue streams for governments and landholders through carbon offsetting schemes.
Reintegration programs can include support for the following:
Public works programs are frequently viewed as the most effective form of reintegration activity because they tend to be within the ability of donors to deliver and reconstruction of infrastructure is often a pressing post-conflict need. These programs can involve the immediate reconstruction of buildings, roadways, bridges, farmlands, housing, energy infrastructure, and industrial facilities, all of which should be developed with a mindfulness of climate adaptation and mitigation risks and opportunities.
Vocational training schemes are essential to any reintegration effort. Support for tuition-free training in priority skills areas across mitigation and adaptation activities will help equip the country’s workforce with the future-facing expertise needed to refurbish, build, and maintain low pollution infrastructure and facilities as well as enhance climate adaptative capacity and build climate sensitive livelihoods that promote social cohesion.