Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces
Encyclopedia
| Logo | |
| Director | Ambassador Ambassador An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization.... Theodor H. Winklerhttp://www.dcaf.ch/about/staff/details.cfm?lng=en&id=28584&nav1=1&nav2=4 (since 2000) |
| Foundation | October 2000 by Swiss government |
| DCAF Member States | 60 (incl. Canton of Geneva Canton of Geneva The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. As is the case in several other Swiss cantons The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland,... )http://www.dcaf.ch/about/foundation_council.cfm |
| Headquarters | Geneva Geneva Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland... (Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... ) |
| Offices | Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union... , Ramallah Ramallah Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority... and Beirut Beirut Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan... |
| Website Website A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet... |
http://www.dcaf.ch/ |
Mission
The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) is one of the world’s leading institutions in the areas of security sector reformSecurity sector reform
Security Sector Reform is a concept to reform or rebuild a state's security sector that emerged first in the 1990s in Eastern Europe. It starts where a dysfunctional security sector is unable to provide security to the state and its people effectively and under democratic principles. Even worse,...
(SSR) and security sector governance (SSG). DCAF provides in-country advisory support and practical assistance programmes, develops and
promotes appropriate democratic norms at the international and national levels, advocates good practices and makes policy recommendations to
ensure effective democratic governance of the security sector.
DCAF’s advantages are:
- neutrality and impartiality;
- the combination of strong operational capability with policy-oriented research;
- flexibility and intergovernmental support;
- expertise across the entire spectrum of SSR / SSG issues.
Organisation
DCAF was established in 2000 at the initiative of the Swiss government. 60 governments have joined DCAF's Foundation Council (Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Senegal, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the Canton of Geneva) as of August 2011. DCAF's main divisions are Operations Europe, Operations Middle East and Africa, Research, Special Programmes (of which there is currently only one: Gender and Security), and the International Security Sectorn Advisory Team (ISSAT). The staff numbers over 100 employees from some 30 countries. DCAF’s head office is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The Centre also has permanent offices in Brussels, Ljubljana, Ramallah and Beirut.Thematic Programmes
1. Security Governance ProgrammeAssisting the international community in the
development of SSG / SSR norms, concepts and
policies.
2. Government Advisory Programme
Providing advice on the restructuring of security
sector institutions.
3. Parliamentary Assistance Programme
Developing legal frameworks, advising
parliaments and providing staff training to
enhance parliamentary oversight of the security
sector.
4. Defence Reform Programme
Developing programming and products to
support defence reform in transition countries.
5. Border Security Programme
Providing assistance in organising professional
border security structures.
6. Intelligence Reform Programme
Assisting the reform of intelligence services to
embed accountability mechanisms.
7. Police Reform Programme
Assisting police reform in transition countries.
8. Civil Society Programme
Capacity-building on security sector oversight
issues for civil society organisations and the
media.
9. Gender and Security Programme
Integrating the gender
dimension into the SSR / SSG agenda.
Regional Programmes
1. South-Eastern Europe ProgrammeComprehensive SSR programming in the
Western Balkans with emphasis on fostering
regional security cooperation, border security
and police reform, parliamentary oversight and
intelligence accountability.
2. New Independent States Programme
Defence, intelligence and law enforcement
reform programming and capacity-building for
parliamentarians, ombuds institutions, civil
society and security sector in the Caucasus,
Central Asia, Ukraine and Moldova.
3. Middle East and North Africa Programme
Disseminating SSR / SSG standards and assisting
the development of oversight capacity at
executive, legislative and civil society level in
the Arab region, in particular in Palestine and
Lebanon.
4. Africa Programme
Setting norms and standards and building
parliamentary and civil society oversight
capacity in West and Southern Africa.
DCAF also conducts SSR-related projects in Asia (Afghanistan, Nepal, Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia) and in Latin America