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News

Improving the gender-responsiveness of armed forces in Lebanon

Recently DCAF trained 800 new recruits at the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) Academy in Beirut on conflict sensitivity, mediation skills, and how to take a gender-inclusive approach to their work. The training is part of a project funded by Global Affairs Canada to increase gender-responsive security provision in Lebanon. The training curriculum was based on lessons learned from previous DCAF trainings with the ISF and other Lebanese security agencies. This comes in the context of the first major recruitment of women into the ranks of the ISF since 2011-2012, which is part of its commitment to foster a security sector that is inclusive and identifies and responds to the different needs of women, men, girls, and boys in the communities they serve.

07 Feb 2025

Protecting the rights of armed forces personnel

DCAF had the pleasure of welcoming Sylvia Schär Hahn and Stefan Junger (2nd and 3rd from left), co-heads of the Confidence Center for the Swiss Armed Forces, for their first formal exchange with our Director Nathalie Chuard and members of our team working on ombuds institutions, Hans Born and Daniel Reimers. They discussed future avenues for collaboration in an exchange that highlighted our shared commitment to fostering accountability and the protection of human rights of armed forces personnel as a cornerstone of good security sector governance.

05 Feb 2025

Contributing to the Peacebuilding Architecture Review

Through our Policy & Research team, DCAF has been feeding key lessons from research and our SSG/R programmes around the world into the ongoing conversation on how to strengthen the UN’s efforts on violence prevention and peacebuilding. Among our recommendations: Member States should have national prevention strategies that tackle systemic drivers of violence and have good governance at the core. And we must look for greater coherence across the UN pillars to achieve sustainable and impactful results, including by better integrating issues such as the prevention of violent extremism into broader peacebuilding efforts.

03 Feb 2025

Strengthening accountability in the Gambian Immigration Department

Over the past three years, the Immigration Department has undergone significant reforms including modernising the legal and policy framework, improving internal oversight mechanisms, and mainstreaming gender equality through the institution. This short video documentary features interviews with officers and other key stakeholders to highlight the collaborative efforts behind the Department’s transformation into a more efficient and accountable institution. Our multi-year project in Gambia is possible thanks to the generosity of Switzerland.

31 Jan 2025

Welcoming Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Intelligence

Our Director, Nathalie Chuard and team welcomed Maj General Emmanuel Undiandeye to discuss our support for Nigerian stakeholders - including the Ministry of Interior, the Security and Civil Defence Corps, the African Law Foundation, the private sector, and civil society organisations - in their work to strengthen governance over private security companies. The discussion also touched on our innovative collaboration with Privacy International on private surveillance, currently being piloted in Nigeria. This bodes well for impactful partnership opportunities in 2025 to further promote human rights and good security governance.

30 Jan 2025