In “Atrocity Prevention at the State Level,” Jonas Claes examines how states can mitigate the internal risk of atrocities through security sector reform and improved horizontal equality.

Summary

  • Security Sector Reform (SSR) encompasses activities aimed at improving a country’s capacity to deliver justice and security in a transparent, accountable, and professional manner. Horizontal equality strategies include a broad range of policy measures to increase actual and perceived equity in the distribution of assets, income, and opportunity between groups.
  • When properly implemented these structural measures may enhance state capacity to prevent large-scale violence committed by non-state perpetrators while reducing the risk that state actors become complicit in the atrocities themselves. If poorly implemented these reform efforts may reinforce existing patterns of political or economic competition and marginalization, increasing the risk of civil conflict and atrocities.
  • The impact of domestic security sector reform and the promotion of horizontal equality will depend on the desire of both regime and population to incorporate these measures in a comprehensive reform strategy. SSR practices particularly relevant to mitigate the risk of mass violence include the assurance of civilian oversight and the promotion of individual professionalism amongst uniformed personnel. Relevant development policy measures need not only include redistribution mechanisms, but also consider employment and safety net programs for marginalized groups, reform to reduce corruption linked to identity, and efforts to build national identity and transcend societal divisions.
  • Including an atrocity prevention lens in national SSR campaigns and development strategies implies awareness of the local sources of risk and resilience, as well as the potential utility and constraints of reform activities in areas considered at risk of atrocities. At the same time, effective risk assessments will identify the most salient inequalities and security challenges experienced by potential victim groups.

About this Brief

About 25 policymakers, scholars, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) leaders participated in an input session organized by the U.S. Institute of Peace on April 2, 2013. The participants analyzed the utility of internal security sector reform and the domestic promotion of horizontal equality for the prevention of mass atrocities or R2P crimes. This Peace Brief describes the key findings and conclusions from the working meeting, and serves as input for the U.N. Secretary-General’s report in advance of the U.N. General Assembly’s interactive dialogue this summer on the protection responsibilities of the State in accordance with the Responsibility to Protect principle.

Related Publications

To Counter Boko Haram, Nigeria Pastor Urges, Step Into 'Dark Arenas'

To Counter Boko Haram, Nigeria Pastor Urges, Step Into 'Dark Arenas'

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

By: USIP Staff

Nigeria’s next government needs to have the political will to act decisively against the Boko Haram extremist group, said Pastor Esther Abimiku Ibanga ahead of the country’s March 28 presidential election. Ibanga, a civil society leader from northern Nigeria’s Plateau state, was recently awarded the prestigious Niwano Peace Prize, which honors significant contributions to inter-religious cooperation, for her efforts to promote women’s empowerment and peace.

Type: Blog

Religion

A Counterterrorism Role for Pakistan’s Police Stations

A Counterterrorism Role for Pakistan’s Police Stations

Monday, August 18, 2014

By: Robert Perito;  Tariq Parvez

Violence is escalating in Pakistan, both in its megacities and along the border with Afghanistan—from terrorism, to secessionist insurgency, to sectarian conflict, to ethnic turf wars. The police station and the police who staff it, despite their historic role as a symbol of government authority and responsibility for public order, are woefully ill prepared and ill equipped to meet these challenges. This report, part of a project to increase Pakistan’s capacity to combat terrorism, explores t...

Type: Special Report

Civil Defense Groups

Civil Defense Groups

Thursday, July 31, 2014

By: Bruce “Ossie” Oswald

More than three hundred defense groups provide security to local communities in states around the world. While it is true that such groups can be a resource-efficient means for states to provide law and order to their communities, it is also true that they can worsen security.

Type: Special Report

Twitter Chat: How Will Iraq Confront Militant Group Sweeping in from Syria?

Twitter Chat: How Will Iraq Confront Militant Group Sweeping in from Syria?

Friday, June 13, 2014

By: Steven Ruder;  Sarhang Hamasaeed

Anti-government Sunni militants have swept across western and northern Iraq over the past week, gaining control of the cities of Mosul and Tikrit. Operating mainly under the banner of the State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or also known as ISIS), in many places they seemed to have faced little to no resistance from the official Iraqi army, who, according to reports, laid down their arms and melted into the countryside. As they neared Baghdad, Kurdish paramilitary pesh merga fighters took con...

Type: Blog

View All Publications