Peacekeeping and Security

Maritime transport, the backbone of international trade, is responsible for 80% of the global movement of goods. Disruptions in key global shipping route – Suez Canal, Panama Canal and Black Sea – signal unprecedented challenges for global trade affecting millions of people in every region. According to the UNCTAD report, attacks on shipping affecting the Suez Canal add to geopolitical tensions impacting shipping routes in the Black Sea, and severe drought due climate change disrupting shipping in the Panama Canal. UNCTAD estimates that transits passing the Suez Canal decreased by 42% compared to its peak. With major players in the shipping industry temporarily suspending Suez transits, weekly container ship transits have fallen by 67%, and container carrying capacity, tanker transits, and gas carriers have experienced significant declines. Meanwhile, total transits through the Panama Canal plummeted by 49% compared to its peak.

On 14 March 2022, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the establishment of a Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance (GCRG) to coordinate the global response to the widespread impacts of the war in Ukraine. The GCRG will ensure high-level political leadership to get ahead of the immense inter-connected challenges of food security, energy and financing, and put in place a coordinated global response to the ongoing crises. This brief is the result of the coordinated work of the Global Crisis Response Task Team, reporting to the Steering Committee of the GCRG. It proposes a series of immediate to longer-term recommendations to avert and respond to the triple crisis, including the need to keep markets and trade open to ensure the availability of food, agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and energy. It also calls for international financial institutions to urgently release funding for the most at-risk countries while making sure there are enough resources to build long-term resilience to such shocks.

Since the issuance of the second brief by the Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) on 8 June 2022, the impacts of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis have been felt more deeply and widely across the world. Disruptions to the global energy market are putting Governments worldwide under enormous pressure. Rising energy prices are accelerating the cost-of-living crisis and sustaining the vicious cycle of constrained household budgets; increasing food and energy poverty; and increasing social unrest. In this context, safeguarding countries’ commitments to the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will require significant efforts from all involved stakeholders. Policies that address the short-term emergency while ensuring countries’ climate-related and other sustainable development commitments must be pursued. Such policies are available to both developed and developing countries, although the mix varies depending on geography, income level and commodity status.

This study assesses the relationships between foreign direct investment (FDI), growth, natural resources, and UN peacekeeping operations (PKOs) in fragile and conflict-affected countries (FCAs). An unbalanced panel-dataset on conflict and peacekeeping covering 127 countries from 1989-2018 was created to estimate how FDI and growth are associated with periods of peace, conflict, and post-conflict, including the significance of having a PKO in the last. In conclusion, the study finds that fragility is not a major deterrent of resource-seeking FDI, largely explained by its set of unique investment determinants. Furthermore, that peacekeeping and natural resources are important overlooked factors in understanding the large country heterogeneity regarding the economic impact of conflicts and post-conflict economic recovery, and that peacekeeping could be an important measure in closing conflict-attributable GDP losses.

This brief examines how the women members of peace groups, established through a UNDP initiative in Iraq, overcame traditional barriers to play the role of peacemakers and social developers in their communities. From their perspective, the brief highlights the opportunities made available in post-conflict Iraq and identifies three realms that remained key in assuming their new roles in society: family dynamics, interactions with male community members and the media. Thus, it provides an understanding of the pathways through which women in traditional and conflict-affected societies like Iraq assumed the responsibility to rebuild their communities and initiate a structural shift in gender equality and social norms.

The 2024 war on Lebanon inflicted severe damage and left deep, long-lasting consequences. This report presents a comprehensive analysis of its immediate impacts, and is intended to outline a clear path for immediate recovery and guide medium- and long-term reform efforts. It examines the war’s direct impacts on infrastructure and economic systems, and exposes the heavy human and social toll it has taken. The report also assesses the macroeconomic implications, highlighting the worsening structural challenges and the resulting economic and social risks. It concludes with a set of public policy recommendations that serve as a solid foundation for comprehensive recovery and future-oriented reconstruction.

This comprehensive report is prepared by the Parliament of Georgia to examine laws and policies adopted in 2017-2021 to promote women’s political and economic participation, eliminate gender-based discrimination and violence, and ensure the protection of women’s rights in the labour market and the healthcare and civil sectors. Its analytical insights and recommendations serve to inform gender-sensitive policy and law-making. The research draws on a similar study conducted in 2018 to capture legislative and policy gaps across a range of fields. The research is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the frameworks of the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality funded by the Government of Sweden, the Government of the United Kingdom, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the East-West Management Institute (EWMI).

A set of studies analyses legal and procedural gaps preventing people with disabilities and representatives of ethnic minorities from getting jobs and building careers in the public sector. Key findings: One of the main barriers for Armenian- and Azerbaijani-speaking people in seeking public employment is insufficient knowledge of the Georgian language. In municipalities with a high concentration of ethnic minorities, the representation of women in the civil service is lower than the national average and does not exceed 33 percent. 1+4 internship program is an important mechanism for increasing the engagement of young people from ethnic minority groups in civil service. In the municipalities densely populated by ethnic minorities, there are certain practices for collecting data on civil servants’ ethnicity. However, this data is not consolidated at the national level in the Civil Service Bureau. The methodology used by individual municipalities is inconsistent and, in many cases, does not meet the principles of self-identification and anonymity stipulated in international standards. The employment of people with disabilities in public service is largely hindered by reasons generally considered the main barriers to employment of people with disabilities: competition in the job market and limited resources for people with disabilities, unadapted infrastructure, and stereotypes. Public service is even less accessible to people with disabilities due to high demands - in most cases, higher education is required, which is relatively rare amongpeople with disabilities. Two specific studies examine staffing and recruitment policies in the civil service. One of these researches focuses on women, people with disabilities and representatives of ethnic minorities, while the other analyses the inclusiveness and accessibility of HR.GOV.GE, the main recruitment resource of the civil service. The researches were carried out by the Civil Service Bureau in partnership with local experts and civil society organizations – the PMC Research and the Disability Research Centre (DRC) of Tbilisi State University with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UK aid from the UK Government.

The publication studies the current trends and practices in the protection of integrity and whistleblowing in the public service, as well as key attitudes and perceptions of public servants about issues of integrity and ethics. The study is based on a combined methodology of desk research and qualitative as well as quantitative surveys. Information has been collected from 219 public institutions and 242 civil servants.The research has been conducted by the Institute of Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the British Government. Key findings: - The legislation does not oblige public institutions to develop codes of ethics and practical tools (explanatory manual) for their implementation - Most public institutions stated that they had not adopted an integrity policy document, a code of ethics and practical tools for their implementation. - Most of the public institutions (87 agencies) clarified that they do not have internal channels for whistleblowing. 80 agencies abstained from answering the question, while 52 public agencies confirmed the functioning of internal disclosure channels. - 53% of respondents express a positive attitude towards the whistleblowing mechanism. - A large proportion of the surveyed public servants positively assess the environment of integrity in their organization.

This background paper reflects on some emerging trends, opportunities and challenges for responding to and overcoming today’s pandemic of injustice. Its primary aim is to stimulate and facilitate strategic conversations about UNDP’s current and future work to promote justice and the rule of law. The paper raises issues and ideas that are highly pertinent for development practitioners working across the fields of democratic governance, conflict prevention, security and human rights and others. As such the paper seeks to raise questions and present ideas that can encourage reflection, spur debate and inform positive collective action towards a more just and peaceful future.