Disarmament is the collection, documentation, control and disposal of the small arms, ammunition, explosives and weapons
of combatants and often the civilian population. Disarmament also includes the development of responsible arms management programmes.
Demobilization is the formal and controlled discharge of active combatants from armed forces or other armed groups. The
first stage of demobilization can extend from the processing of individual combatants in temporary centres to the massing of troops in camps designated for this purpose (cantonment sites, encampments, assembly areas or barracks). A transitional process of assistance, termed reinsertion, is offered to ex-combatants during demobilization but prior to the longer term process of reintegration. This assistance helps cover the basic needs of ex-combatants and their families and can include allowances, food, clothes, shelter, medical services, short-term education, training and employment and can last for up to one year.
Reintegration is the process by which ex-combatants acquire civilian status and gain sustainable employment and income.
Reintegration is essentially a social and economic process with an open time frame, primarily taking place in communities at the local level. It is part of the general development of a country and a national responsibility, and often necessitates long-term external assistance.170,171,172
activities can have potentially destabilising effects locally, nationally and regionally.167,168 DDR efforts in
Liberia have illustrated both the risks and opportunities that natural resources represent for employment opportunities for ex-combatants. Liberia’s most recent DDR programme began in 2003, following the 14-year civil war. By 2004, an estimated 101,000 ex-combatants had been disarmed and demobilized. However, several “reintegration hotspots” remained, many of them areas with weak State authority where ex-combatants and other youth at risk were engaged in illegal exploitation of natural resources as a means of livelihood.
For example, in Liberia unemployed ex-combatants took control of two large rubber plantations, Guthrie and Sinoe, and began commercial rubber production using their former rebel command structures (see Case Study 15). The rubber generated significant revenues for these ex-combatants, making it difficult to attract them into formal forms of employment.169 Due to the
potential economic benefits associated with natural resources, some commanders may even seek political appointments to legitimize their role in continued resource exploitation.
In 2006, the Liberian Government and the UN responded by forming the Liberian Rubber Plantation Task Force (RPTF) chaired by the Liberian President and the UNMIL Special Representative of the Secretary- General. In response to the RPTF’s initial report on the situation, the President requested the RPTF to re- establish State authority in rubber plantations occupied by ex-combatants and curtail other illegal activity. UNMIL’s role was to ensure security in and around the plantations in question; support the Government in the process of negotiation with illegal occupants; coordinate and encourage socio-economic interventions to consolidate the transitions in and around the plantations; and coordinate related UN efforts. The RPTF convinced most ex-combatants to leave the plantations by renegotiating the takeover of the areas and providing alternative livelihood assistance. The formalization
of the plantations, for which the Government signed concession agreements with various private companies, provided job opportunities for ex-combatants and community members alike and helped the development of the concession areas. UNMIL continues to follow up with the Government to support the establishment of consultative mechanisms to address emerging social issues in concessions with a view to consolidate the gains of the RPTF (see Case Study 15).
In other cases, former combatants that are integrated within national armies may continue to exert control over resource-rich areas in order to continue profiting from their illegal exploitation. In the DRC, for example, a report by the Group of Experts monitoring UN sanctions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has implicated former CNDP (Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple) soldiers, now part of the FARDC (Congolese Armed Forces), in the illegal exploitation of mineral resources in eastern Congo. The report says that units of the former CNDP in FARDC have gained military control over many of the strategic areas rich in natural resources in the Kivus, presenting a challenge to their integration into FARDC and to resource governance in the region (see Case Study 16).173,174
Apart from risks represented by natural resources to DDR programmes, they are also critically important as the foundation for emergency employment and sustainable livelihoods for former combatants. In general, there are four main sectors where both the reinsertion and reintegration phases of DDR have directly or indirectly involved natural resources: repair of infrastructure (energy, water and waste), environmental rehabilitation, agriculture and bio trade and protected areas.
Restoring infrastructure can be a critical component of emergency employment as well as the foundation for economic recovery. A focus on infrastructure repair and rehabilitation projects in the energy, water and waste sectors during the reinsertion process of DDR programmes can provide ex-combatants with structured, low-skilled employment opportunities. Similarly, environmental rehabilitation programmes such as reforestation, restoration of rivers and watersheds, recovery of agricultural areas, and the removal/recycling of waste can be made into labour-intensive public works.
For example, in Sudan, a partnership with a private recycling company has been developed by UNDP and UNEP to support employment opportunities for ex-combatants to work in waste management and recycling.175 The Recovery, Employment and Stability
Programme for Ex-combatants and Communities in Timor Leste (RESPECT) focused on infrastructure rehabilitation in urban and rural communities.176
The Liberia Community Infrastructure Programme attempted to encourage labour intensive and labour based activities to provide maximum opportunities for mass employment. A component of the programme, designed to provide immediate employment to ex- combatants, also involved the rehabilitation of water
wells and irrigation infrastructure.177 The MINUSTAH-
led Community Violence Reduction Programme has implemented over 100 projects to support debris removal efforts and infrastructure rehabilitation including the rehabilitation of 56 drainage canals and 15 water management systems in high-risk flooding areas in Port-au-Prince. These projects, which employed 44,000 at risk individuals, built over 3,000 dry-stone dams over a length of 45 kilometres of ravines and rehabilitated 26 kilometres of canals.178 The Afghanistan
Conservation Corps (ACC) has also focused on hiring ex-combatants and vulnerable populations to conduct reforestation activities in the pistachio woodlands and the eastern conifer forests among other projects. From 2003-2009, the ACC implemented 350 projects in 23 provinces, and generated about 400,000 labour days. The ACC has rehabilitated 108 nurseries, restored 32 public parks, planted pistachio seeds on 3,200 hectares of former woodland (see Case Study 22). These labour- intensive “green jobs” can give ex-combatants an opportunity to develop basic skills and confidence, work with community members to rebuild trust, improve the resource base and contribute to long-term reintegration goals.
In a Joint UNDP-UNEP study conducted on DDR and natural resources, an average of 50 percent of ex-combatants opted for reintegration support in the agriculture sector, and in some cases it was up to 80 percent.179 While all reintergration programmes include a
major focus on agriculture, few reintegration programmes actually address the sustainability of agricultural livelihoods. Apart from tools, seeds and training, critical issues such as land and water rights, dispute resolution and grievance mechanisms and access to credit, markets and transport are not explicitly addressed. Among the many implications of these gaps, an ex-combatants’ access to land may be a key determining factor affecting his or her successful reintegration into a community.180
In Northern Uganda, for example, interviews with ex- combatants from the Lord’s Resistance Army revealed that 93 percent of males were unable to access land upon their return. There were 43 percent which indicated that the death of an elder in their family meant they lost access to their land; 20 percent noted their land had been sold by another relative and 17 percent reported land grabs by other community members.181 While a DDR programme
cannot take the place of larger land reform process, DDR practitioners can be aware of the challenges for reintegration related to land access and tenure.
Employment opportunities in the agricultural sector can also stem from further development of the value chain including the processing of “premium products” that target the fair trade and/or organic markets. One example is the UNCTAD-UNDP Joint Initiative on BioTrade and Reintegration. In Aceh, Indonesia for example this initiative is assessing opportunities to further develop the nutmeg value chain in order to provide employment for male and female ex-combatants. This project completed a pilot phase in 2011 and determined strong market potential for the production of essential oils.