DDR: In three steps, how to stop the war machine

In countries as far apart as Colombia, Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands, fighting men, women, and children are laying down their guns. The combatants in over 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Central America turning their backs on war are not simply deserting: They are entering into a guided process designed to give them a new life in civil society and rid their nations of armed conflict.

Under United Nations sponsorship or under observation of the Organization of American States, since their first inception in the 1980s, Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration programs, DDR, are still little known to the general public, and the first assessments of their impact, lessons learned, have only recently been coming out.

“It is estimated that solely in 2006 over 1.255.000 people were benefited with DDR programs, at a cost of approximately 2,000 million US dollars, an average investment of 1,500 US dollars per person for programs that run for an average three and a half years” said Daniel Luz, a consultant of Save the Children Sweden, and member of the Latin American Coalition for the Prevention of Armed Violence, CLAVE, points out that the cost of DDR programs per capita are a challenge for developing nations.

DDR programs involve disarmament of combatants, the adoption of gun and ammunition management measures and gun control. Combatants are demobilized by being encouraged to shed their affiliation to combat groups and take up civilian roles, this means besides laying down guns, being instructed in their rights as civilians, support to overcome war traumas, job training and being eligible for benefits for themselves and their families to begin life anew away from armed violence.

 “DDR was conceived as a tool in post conflict situations, and its goal is to contribute to security, restore confidence in the opposing sides, violence prevention, reconciliation and to free human and financial resources for social development,” according to Rebeca Perez, (left) international coordinator of the Children and Adolescent Involvement in Armed Violence program of Brazil’s Viva Rio:

"It allows you to de-militarize armed groups of opposition, or other groups such as paramilitary forces. It does not simply mean disarming the opposition, - even if theirs is a legitimate cause, combatants are the ones who must re-enter society. This takes place within the larger process of peace building. It ought to include police reform and military reform programs, especially whenever human rights violations have taken place,” Perez points out.

Demobilization at the service of development

The United Nations’ International Standards setting guidelines for practitioners in the field are only a year old, but the fact is that local realities must speak louder, and there are no two programs exactly the same:

“Procedures vary greatly, in some cases groups of people are demobilized simultaneously, in others it can happen individually, almost everywhere DDR adapted to local realities. In Colombia for example, under the observation of the Organization of American States, DDR is being used on paramilitary forces, and it is expected that eventually it will extend to the ELN and the FARC.” said Perez.

“Haiti is an exciting example of how DDR programs are forced to adapt to local realities. From the start it is not a situation of conventional armed conflict, armed groups are not well defined, you will find no uniforms, nor a clearly represented hierarchy, eventually the UN Security Council conceded, in 2006, that DDR would have to be rethought,” said Eduarda Passarelli, researcher in peace keeping operations at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, PUC-RJ.

"DDR Tourists" a majority

To some extent, DDR contributes to social development in respect to combatants who are ready and willing to give-up arms and violence for an alternative means of livelihood, believes Dr Augusta Muchai, (right) from the Institute for Security Studies, ISS, in Nairoby, Kenya: “Those who fall in this category, perhaps 30% - 40% of them, might utilize DDR programs in a positive manner and to the benefit of their families. There have been some very successful cases of DDR in West and Central Africa.”

Muchai alerts however that DDR Programs have been a ‘continuation of violence by other means’: “as some combatants move from one conflict zone or country into another and in the process they become ‘DDR Tourists.’ Such characters do not benefit as they are selfish and think of their immediate personal needs without projecting to a stable and regular alternative of livelihood.

Ghost combatants, uncooperative war lords and vanished children

Daniel Luz one of three authors of a report on DDR for Spain’s Peace Culture School, Escuela de Cultura de Paz, UAB, at the University of Barcelona, points out that most evaluations of DDR programs have been carried out on individual cases and even these by the very organizations that implemented them:

“What we have so far are lessons learned. Disarmament and Demobilization ought to ideally take a few months, and reinsertion and reintegration in general two years, despite the fact that there are always mishaps, on average they last for 3.5 years.”

DDR pitfalls include exaggerated estimates number of combatants due to inefficient planning, as was the case with Afghanistan, or ‘ghost soldiers’ non-combatants who join the program in search of benefits as found in Cambodia and the DR Congo. Uncooperative war lords also may withhold guns during disarmament, or even pressure combatants against demobilizing. Too many combatants may be retrained in the same skills such as in Afghanistan leading to job shortages- and then there is the case of vanishing children, when child soldiers are not acknowledged, in Sierra Leona.

The R in DDR is also critical, especially in when intertwined with the local justice system:

“We need to think the role of justice, truth and reconciliation. In Colombia for example, human rights champions have been criticizing its Lei de Justicia y Paz (Justice and Peace Law) because it is generating a great deal of impunity. This leaves us the task of working out how far it is possible to carry out reconciliation without which peace is impossible, and how to deal with impunity,” said Rebeca Perez.

Overmilitarization in place of a bottom-up approach

“The other undoing of DDR Programs that is anti-development is the short-coming of concentrating with some war/conflict criminals who are used by their masters for self-gain,” warns Muchai, from the ISS based out of Kenya, adding that: “Too much focus is accorded to ex-combatants who are mainly male, a few females, and handful of child-soldiers at the expense of holistic approach of the entire community that is affected by the violence. This is indeed counter productive and anti-development.”

Part of the trouble, as Muchai points out, is that DDR programs originate in places far from the heat of the conflict:

“In most cases, the DDR are developed by foreign experts and the input of local knowledge and information is often ignored or compromised. A model developed in a European University is not only unrealistic but also fails before application in a real world situation. This is so because there are factors of culture, language, environmental adaptation, etc that must be considered in the development of a DDR Program. When DDR Programs are hastily planned and implemented, all these factors are over-looked. Development must be a bottom-up approach as the locals know best what would work favorably in their circumstance as opposed to assumptions of what would work best as conceived by foreign experts who may little or no experience in an African setting.”

UN increases DDR programs in non-peacekeeping operations
 

The formalization of the DDR process, despite its varied forms that must adapt to local realities has lead the United Nations to create the Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards, or IDDRS to guide all involved in the field.

"The UN has been involved in supporting disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs since the late 1980s. Over the past 5 years, DDR has been included in the mandates for peacekeeping operations in Burundi, the Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Liberia and Sudan, including Darfur. In these countries alone there is an expected case-load of over 417,000 combatants.

 The UN also has increased its DDR engagement in non-peacekeeping contexts, such as Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Indonesia (Aceh), Kosovo, Niger, Somalia, the Solomon Islands and Uganda."

Japan and the United States, head the list of nations funding DDR

So how is it all financed? DDR programs are most heavily financed by the World Bank, and among nations, the single greatest financer is Japan.

“We lack straight figures for most DDR programs, not to mention the effects of delays or increase in beneficiaries, which makes it difficult to arrive at definitive conclusions,” said Daniel Luz.

According to a report he co-authored in 2006, by the NEP the World Bank lead investments in DDR programs in 2005, in close to 12 countries, especially in the DR of the Congo (200 million dollars) followed by the European Union with 100 million dollars. In terms of individual nations Japan has invested over 200 million dollars especially in Afghanistan and the Philippines and the United States of America, disbursing approximately 113 million dollars in eight nations.

As the three step formula for defusing conflict enters its third decade of existence, Muchai is clear about what is necessary for the success of DDR programs:

“There are three things without which DDR programs will not work, these are: A holistic approach; it is not only ex-combatants that are affected by violence but the entire community. Comprehensive and all inclusive planning, and lastly, local cultural and behavioral considerations must be taking into account in the planning process.”

From Comunidad Segura:

Impressions of a demobilization, part 1: the group, a visit to Colombia's DDR program, article by Marianna Olinger

Less guns, more peace in Haiti, an interview with the head of the National DDR Commission in Haiti

Is DDR possible in Brazil? (PDF) An article by Rebeca Perez, COAV international, Viva Rio.

Read Further:

About the United Nations DDR Program

UN DDR Photos

Análisis de los programas de Desarme, Desmobilización y Reintegración (DDR) existentes en el mundo durante 2005, by Daniel Luz, Vicenç Fisas, Albert Caramés

Escuela de Cultura de Paz (UAB)