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Newsletter
April 2011
April 2011 - Vol 1, Issue 4
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News
Training
Events
Research and Publications
Associate Fellows
Alumni
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The Security and Law Programme

 

The Centre's Security and Law Programme is committed to a number of events in Geneva. The first of these is the 3rd Annual Senior Officers' Security and Law Conference to be held at the GCSP from 4 to 7 July 2011. This is becoming a respected annual event for senior commanders (1 Star and above) and Legal Advisers. It examines legal aspects of contemporary security operations - including civil policing as well as military operations. The programme for this is being developed and will include coverage of operations in Libya.

The Programme has received funding for a pilot course in Weapons Law and Weapons Review Training and we are working in cooperation with IIHL in Sanremo with a view to such courses being a regular feature each year, both here in Geneva and as required elsewhere. The aim is to develop a standard course for military and other lawyers involved in the process of analysing the legality of new weapons, means and methods of warfare in accordance with Article 36 of the 1977 Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions. The first course is being planned for the Autumn Term.

The IIHL Sanremo Geneva Office has now been established in GCSP and we look forward to increasing cooperation with the Institute in the future. It is planned to run a workshop on Private Military and Security Companies in the Autumn Term and we are just finalizing details for the annual launch of the published Proceedings of the Sanremo Round Table held in Sanremo in September 2010.

Finally, the organisation and administration of the Air and Missile Warfare Programme of Legal Education (AMPLE) has now been established at GCSP. Our first course was run at the NATO School in Germany in April and further courses are planned for this year in the UK, the US, Australia and Poland. 

 

News 

GCSP co-organising the International Security Forum - ISF (30 May - 1 June 2011)

 

ISF logoTogether with four other institutes, the GCSP is involved in the organisation of the biannual International Security Forum (ISF) which will take place in Zurich from 30 May to 1 June 2011. This high-level conference brings together, by invitation, over 500 leading international experts and opinion shapers to discuss global and regional security challenges in a comprehensive and multidisciplinary fashion.

 

The theme of the 2011 ISF is "Regional and Global Security: Meeting Tomorrow's Challenges Today".

 

In addition to addressing current events in the Middle East and North Africa, topics will include disarmament, human security, regional dynamics, and the nature of conflicts and peacebuilding. The conference will also look into terrorism 10 years after the 9/11 attacks. Other GCSP contributions include panels on migration and security, the future of South Caucasus, nuclear disarmament, international humanitarian law, and dignity and global security. During the ISF, a Swiss chapter of the international non-governmental organisation Women in International Security (WIIS) will be established. For more information about WIIS, please contact Dr Christina Schori Liang of the GCSP ([email protected]).

 

The main organisers of the 9th ISF are the Center for Security Studies (CSS) and the International Relations and Security Network (ISN) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. A full list of sponsors and co-organisers can be found here. More information on the ISF, including a full programme, can be found at www.isf.ethz.ch. After the conference, you are welcome to download podcasts of panel presentations from the GSCP website. If you are interested in attending (limited places), please contact the ISF team at: [email protected].


 

Disarmament at the GCSP

   

Throughout 2011, the GCSP is holding a number of training courses and events on disarmament and non-proliferation. New energy has been infused into the disarmament debate over recent years and the GCSP is offering opportunities for knowledge enhancement, dialogue and debate on the key issues. Special emphasis is placed on Geneva-based activities, including non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament, the disarmament machinery and arms control-related activities in the humanitarian domain.

 

For instance, from 28 February to 3 March the GCSP offered a series of Expert Training Modules on Arms Control and Disarmament. Another training opportunity will be coming up from August to September 2011 when the second GCSP and DiploFoundation online course on disarmament will be offered, provisionally entitled "NPT and Disarmament Online Course" (details will be available soon).

 

With the support of the Swiss Confederation, the GCSP recently launched an initiative together with Reaching Critical Will, and in association with UNIDIR, entitled "The NPT Review Conference Action Plan: Implementation and Operationalization". Three events will be held in total, a first seminar in late June on dealing with peaceful uses of nuclear energy, a second seminar on non-proliferation in September 2011 and a final event in early 2012 on nuclear disarmament. The process will result in a synthesis paper that will be submitted to the Preparatory Committee of the NPT Review Conference. In addition, a workshop on missile defence will be held in November 2011 with the support of the Swiss Confederation and the GCSP will continue to offer public events for the International Geneva community on disarmament-related themes and topics.

Training

Upcoming Courses


26-29 April 2011: The GCSP will run Expert Training Modules on International Migration, Organised Crime and Cybersecurity, which are all open to the public. For more information and to register, click here.

 

2-20 May 2011: The Shifting Geopolitics of the Multilateral System: Actors, Strategies, Policies: For the sixth consecutive year, the GCSP and the Graduate Institute organise their annual three-week course on multilateralism in Geneva. The course provides the participants with strong practical skills and a comprehensive understanding of contemporary multilateralism, and is designed for diplomats and other governmental officials. More

 

4-6 May 2011: The GCSP will conduct a two-day course on Artificial Intelligence and Global Security, which aims at assessing the impacts of trends in AI on key areas of global security. More.

 

9-17 May 2011: For the third time the GCSP will organise a Defence Attach� Orientation Module in Dakar, Senegal, for French-speaking West African countries, which is hosted by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Senegal. The course includes a broad introduction to the international security environment, while the Defence Attach� training module focuses mainly on professional skills and technical DA training. For more information, please contact Mr Thierry Randon ([email protected]).

 

16-26 May 2011: 2nd Baku Course on Good Governance: Managing Transitions - Training Course for Afghan Officials will be organised in cooperation with the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA) and sponsored by the governments of Azerbaijan, Finland, Norway and Switzerland. The aim of this course in Good Governance is to develop capacity in the Afghan Government by training selected Afghan officials in key policy areas, using the experience (good and bad) of other states which have emerged as independent from war, insurgency, ethnic conflict, invasion and occupation. For more information, please contact Ms Alexandra Tokareva ([email protected]).

 

26-27 May 2011: The GCSP will run Expert Training Modules on the Role of Nationalism in Contemporary International Politics; New Frontiers in Intelligence; and Meeting the Cybersecurity Challenge, which are all open to the public. For more information about these modules and to register, click here.

 

11-14 July 2011: GCSP Summer Workshop entitled "The EU in the World: Towards Global Partnerships in Peace Operations" is targeted to PhD candidates and post-doctoral fellows working on EU security policy, with a focus on inter-institutional cooperation in the broad field of crisis management. For more information and to apply, click here.

 

 

Past Courses


15th ETC11 January 2011 - 25 March 2011: 15th European Training Course in Security Policy (ETC). The GCSP Director, Ambassador Fred Tanner, presided over the closing ceremony and introduced the keynote speaker Ambassador Marc Otte, former Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and GCSP Advisory Board Member, who spoke on "European Neighbourhood: New Challenges". More 

  

15-21 April 2011: NISC 1-Day Modules: Demography, Food Security, Climate Change, Global Public Health. More.  

Events

Upcoming Events   

 

28 April 2011: GCSP Public Discussion on "The Opium Trail: Following the Taliban's Trajectory in Drugs and Crime". The keynote speaker will be Ms Gretchen Peters, best-selling author of Seeds of Terror and Si� International Security Fellow at the Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. The discussion will be chaired by Dr Khalid Koser, Academic Dean and Head of the New Issues in Security Programme, GCSP. More.

 

29 April 2011: Roundtable on International Engagement in the Middle East and North Africa: Convened by the Centre in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), this roundtable brings together diplomats, academics, and practitioners in order to reflect jointly about the international implications of the current changes in the Arab and Muslim world with a view to identify constructive avenues of international engagement. For more information and to register, click here.

 

4 May 2011: The GCSP will organise a Public Discussion on "The Arab-Israel Conflict and Iran: Prospects for Peace and War" addressing Israeli-Palestinian dispute and the challenge of Iranian nuclear ambitions. Distinguished speakers will include Brigadier General (retd) Shlomo Brom, Senior Research Associate, The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Tel Aviv, and Dr Ahmad Samih Khalidi, Senior Associate Member of St. Antony's College, Oxford University. The welcome address will be given Dr Graeme P. Herd and the discussion will be chaired by Dr Geoffrey Kemp, Director of Regional Strategic Programs, Center for the National Interest, Washington, D.C. For more information and to register, click here.

 

24 May 2011: The GCSP will organise a Public Discussion on "Afghanistan-Pakistan: Mission Impossible?" For more information, please contact Ms Isabelle Gillet ([email protected]).

 

 

Past Events

 

Panel on Legal and Law Enforcement Systems6 April 2011: Jointly with the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), and with the support of the Swiss FDFA, the GCSP hosted a workshop on "Reinforcing Disarmament: Combating Illicit Trade in Weapons and Materials - Regional Challenges". Click here for a full summary of the event.

 

 

Dr Issaka K. Souar�, Senior Researcher, African Conflict Prevention Programme at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa7 April 2011: The GCSP and the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform (GPP) organised a Public Discussion entitled "Africa's Changing Security Challenges". For more information and to download the podcast, click here.

Research and Publications 

New Publications

 

The GCSP is proud to announce the publication of the following Policy Papers:

 

Policy PapersPolicy Paper n�14: "Strategic Pretence or Strategic Defence? Britain, France and the Common Security and Defence Policy after Libya" by Julian Lindley-French

 

Policy Paper n�13: "Transition in Arab States: Time for an 'EU-Master Plan'" by Walter Feichtinger

 

 

These publications, and all Policy Papers and Geneva Papers, are available for download on the GCSP website. If you would like a hardcopy of a Geneva Paper, please contact us at [email protected].  

Associate Fellows

New Visiting Fellow 

 

Laura HammondDr Laura Hammond
Senior Lecturer in Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London

Laura Hammond joined the GCSP as a Visiting Fellow on 1 January 2011 for twelve months. She has been teaching on various GSCP-organized courses for the past three years, including the New Issues in Security Course (NISC), the 11th Annual Course on International Security (2009) and the 15th European Training Course in Security Policy (ETC 2011). She lectures on issues related to food security, including the relationship between food security and conflict, migration and security.
 
Laura is an anthropologist who specialises in the Horn of Africa. She teaches and does research on issues related to food security, conflict and forced migration. She received a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) in 2000. She lived in Ethiopia and Somalia from 1993-2000 and worked as a consultant for a variety of development and humanitarian organisations, including the UN Development Programme (Ethiopia and Somalia), United States Agency for International Development, M�decins Sans Fronti�res and gtz. She has also consulted for the World Food Programme, International Committee of the Red Cross, the Food Economy Group, British Red Cross, Oxfam, and the World Bank. Since 2001, she has been teaching development studies, first at Clark University (2001-2005), then at the University of Reading (2006-2007) and now at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) (2007-present). At SOAS she is the convenor of the MSc programme in Migration, Mobility and Development and also teaches a course on Famine and Food Security. She is the author of This Place Will Become Home: Refugee Repatriation to Ethiopia (2004: Cornell University Press) and, with Christopher Cramer and Johan Pottier, editor of Researching Violence in Africa: Ethical and Methodological Challenges (2011: Brill Publishers); she has also written several book chapters and journal articles.

 

Testimonial
"I have enjoyed the chance to lecture to a wide range of professionals at the GCSP. It gives me the opportunity to get feedback on my ideas, and to bring my research on food security, conflict and migration to a wider audience than in a more traditional academic setting. The discussions and range of interests of the seminar participants has helped me expand my own research and has benefited my research and teaching at SOAS as well".

 

- Dr Laura Hammond 

Alumni

GCSP Alumnus Profile 

 

General Jef Van den putGeneral Jef Van den put

Head of the Royal Military Household of H.M. the King of the Belgians

 

Jef Van den put, born in Antwerp (Belgium) in June 1950, started his military career in 1968 at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels. Upon graduation as Master in Social and Military Sciences, end 1973, he joined the Artillery. Between 1974 and 1995, he served in different field-artillery units, schools and staff-positions in Belgium, the Belgian Forces in Germany and the USA. He graduated as a General Staff Officer at the Belgian Defence College in 1990. From 1993 to 1995 he commanded the Belgian Horse Artillery Regiment stationed in Germany.

 

After attending the 10th International Training Course on Security Policy (in those days still at the "Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales" - Geneva), Colonel Van den put was appointed Adviser to the Crown Prince of Belgium, in September 1996. Having joined the Eurocorps Headquarters (Strasbourg) as Head of the Public Information Office, in December 1999, he deployed to Kosovo where he co-ordinated with UNMIK, OSCE and KFOR for securing the first (municipal) elections (October 2000). Promoted to Major-General end 2001, he commanded the Belgian Royal Defence Institute. As "Head of the Royal Military Household", from April 2005 onwards, he is the security and defence adviser of H.M. King Albert II, who commissioned him to the rank of General in December 2006.


Testimonial  

"Having served as an artillery officer in operational positions for more than 20 years, the 10th ITC was a real eye-opener. The curriculum that was offered, the dedication of staff and faculty, the positions and quality of the speakers, the general surroundings of 'International Geneva' and - most of all - the opportunity to meet and discuss with mid-career diplomats, officers and civil servants from so many different countries was fascinating and extremely stimulating. The interactive approach of the faculty and numerous exchanges of views with my fellow-students, each of them with their own (national) background, concerns and aspirations, broadened my horizon and gave me a much better understanding of the position of the different players in the geopolitical arena. The ITC was like a school of life, a school for modesty and respect, for listening and understanding others' views and motives.

 

It would not be exaggerated, I think, to say that the GCSP (whose birth we witnessed in 1996) brought about a turning point in my career. Having put the army business behind me, I have held positions ever since where I have had to deal with international security and global defence issues, and my GCSP experience has served me well. Most of all, the GCSP has blessed me with a network of friends whom I continue to see and consult if need be. My wife and I think back with happiness of our stay in Geneva. It is always pleasant to go back or to welcome the GCSP or its individual alumni to Brussels, where the 'Belgian GSCP Alumni Association' tries to pursue the open-minded dialogue started in Geneva...".

 

- General Jef Van den put