Friday 14 December, 12.00 – 14.00
Department for International Development, London
This lunchtime seminar was led by Professor Bruce Baker and Dr. Eric Scheye. Both are justice and security experts who have undertaken research and practice in security, policing and justice in Rwanda, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Southern Sudan, Yemen, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia.
Based on their experiences, they discussed the limitations of justice and security provision by states, the nature of local justice and non-state providers, and argued for a “multi layered” approach to justice and security support. Such an approach proportions assistance to state agencies, local justice and non-state providers, targets the multiple points where service occurs and strengthens the linkages between state institutions and local justice and non-state providers.
DFID work in a number of fragile states and therefore the approach to non-state providers is vital for their efforts to support sustainable development in those contexts.
Professor Baker and Dr. Scheye consider current SSR policy and practice to be largely state-centric, which is counter-intuitive to the idea of a “people-centred and locally owned approach” to providing security and justice. The current approach rests upon two fallacies: that post-conflict and fragile states are capable of delivering justice and security to the majority of their subjects; and that the state is the main provider of and actor in security and justice.
