IDDRS Framework

Background

Since the late 1980s, the United Nations (UN) has increasingly been called upon to support the implementation of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programmes in countries emerging from conflict. In a peacekeeping context, this trend has been part of a move towards complex operations that seek to deal with a wide variety of issues ranging from security to human rights, rule of law, elections and economic governance, rather than traditional peacekeeping where two warring parties were separated by a ceasefire line patrolled by blue- helmeted soldiers.

The changed nature of peacekeeping and post-conflict recovery strategies requires close coordination among UN departments, agencies, funds and programmes. In the past five years alone, DDR has been included in the mandates for multidimensional peacekeeping operations in Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Liberia and Sudan. Simultaneously, the UN has increased its DDR engagement in non-peacekeeping contexts, namely in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Congo, Indonesia (Aceh), Niger, Somalia, Solomon Islands and Uganda.

While the UN has acquired significant experience in the planning and management of DDR programmes, it has yet to establish a collective approach to DDR, or clear and usable policies and guidelines to facilitate coordination and cooperation among UN agencies, departments and programmes. This has resulted in poor coordination and planning and gaps in the implementation of DDR programmes.