The Inter-Agency Working Group (IAWG) on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) met for its first ever retreat and workshop on 2-4 May 2007 at Glen Cove, NY. The main aim of this event was to review the Group’s workplan and gather lessons learned from the work undertaken so far with a view to discussing how the United Nations can further improve its work on DDR.
The IAWG, consisting of 15 United Nations agencies, departments, funds and programmes and the IOM was set-up in early 2005 further to a decision by the Executive Committee on Peace and Security, (ECPS) to establish a working group on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) in a peacekeeping environment. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) joined early in 2007, becoming the sixteenth member.
During the retreat, IAWG members examined the main opportunities and challenges the Organisation is facing on DDR and how best to support DDR programmes in the field. The workshop helped to identify the challenges and lessons learned during the first two years of the IAWG and the Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards (IDDRS) development process. It also looked at how best to capitalize on the IDDRS and how to complete and improve this comprehensive set of policies, guidelines and procedures on DDR.
Having reviewed the IAWG’s work, purpose and mandate, the IAWG established a working plan for the next two years. The report for the retreat and other documents emanating from this event can be found here.
IAWG members