Since 1948, and the birth of modern peacekeeping, the United Nations has been engaged in over 70 peacekeeping (and numerous political) missions in countries experiencing violent conflict. The 14 current operations (and 11 field-based Special Political Missions) involve personnel from over 125 countries in increasingly proactive engagement, with the UN finding itself a protagonist in […]
United Nations (UN) peace operations have always faced complex challenges, and in the current international environment, these are set to increase. The process of designing and delivering a peace operation is exceptionally challenging and profoundly political – from the initial mandate design and approval, the involvement of multiple actors (both UN and non-UN), through to […]
Plan Colombia – one of the largest security assistance programmes ever undertaken – is widely seen as successful. It helped construct modern, effective armed forces in Colombia capable of tackling the drug trafficking and insurgency threats. But what is usually overlooked is the link between the Plan and corruption issues: the impact that corruption had […]
Corruption and conflict are bedfellows and their coexistence feeds a vicious circle of violence and instability. Military interventions in fragile and conflict states will need to contend with corrupt practices that can undermine the purpose of the mission, perpetuate insecurity, and cause misery for whole societies. Whether corruption undermines mission goals depends to a large […]
As international interventions – from stabilisation missions and peacekeeping contributions to security assistance – frequently take place in environments affected by corruption and conflict, they will need to grapple with corruption issues, including the particularly destructive form corruption can take in defence and security forces. Their design and implementation will need to take corruption risks […]
The Niger Delta is the most important oil-producing region in Africa, with its oil providing 70 per cent of Nigeria’s government revenue. However, alongside the legitimate trade in the Delta’s oil products, there is a lucrative and organised illicit oil trade that reportedly loses Nigeria 200,000 barrels of oil every day. Participants in oil theft, […]
Following several years of debate, Tunisia finally has strong legislation regarding access to information. The government adopted a law to this effect in 2016, praised by many as being one of the most progressive access to information laws in the world. However, the law has faced limitations to its application, which include overzealous application of […]
Problems in Ukraine’s defence housing are costly to Ukraine’s societal and political security. Unless changes are made to the current conditions, it could take over 600 years for the Ministry of Defence to resolve its defence housing problem and provide housing for personnel waiting for homes. Moreover, damages incurred to Ukraine’s budget, as a result […]
Ukraine’s defence sector scored a ‘D’ in the 2015 edition of Transparency International’s Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index (GI); signifying low transparency and a ‘high’ risk of corruption. Defence procurement scored even lower and was highlighted as the most opaque and corruption-prone area in the defence sector. To help improve this, NAKO has studied the phenomenon […]
The global defence sector is both enormous and highly vulnerable to corruption. Over the last decade, both exporting governments and industry players have taken important steps to prevent corruption, but despite the many advances in law and compliance, corruption in the international arms trade persists. More needs to be done to tackle this issue and […]
Corruption undermines the success of international interventions, reducing mission effectiveness, diminishing public trust in intervention forces. Where intervention forces lack adequate oversight and control, for example, or procurement is based on the interests of a single individual or state rather than the requirements of the organisation, its ability to respond to crises suffers. International organisations […]
The “Global Standards” initiative envisages the creation of an international political declaration, which would universalise norms around what it means to be a responsible power in the 21st Century, including commitments to basic transparency and accountability in one of the most opaque and closed-off sectors in the world. Such a global consensus would set a […]