Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration

UN personnel at a site for disarmament of ex-combatants.

Photo: UN Photo/Steen Johansen

The signing of a peace agreement in a country affected by violent conflict marks the beginning of a sensitive transitional period from war to peace. This commonly entails the dismantling of armed groups, the collection and destruction of illegal weapons, and projects aimed at helping former combatants reintegrate into civilian life, for example through support to find housing and employment or reuniting with missing family members.

Programmes for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants form an important part of efforts to rebuild war-torn societies.

Peace treaties often include an agreement on the creation and design of a DDR programme. An external, international actor such as the UN is commonly tasked with implementing or overseeing such a programme.

A successful DDR process helps reduce the risk of ex-combatants taking up arms again, and thus reduces the risk of renewed armed conflict.

What does the FBA do?

Training and advice
FBA offers training and advice on DDR. For example, FBA has given advice on DDR to the parties of the peace process in Colombia. FBA also played an important role in the creation of the UN guidelines for DDR in 2006, and supports the UN’s continuous work to update the guidelines.
Research
FBA conducts and supports international research on DDR.
Secondments
FBA seconds personnel working within the field of DDR to international peace operations that Sweden contributes to, led by the EU, UN and OSCE. Click here to see a map of where our personnel is currently deployed.
Our partner countries
Within the framework of Sweden’s international development aid, FBA carries out projects concerning DDR. Click here to read more about the countries where we work.

Support to civil society
FBA grants yearly funds to Swedish civil society organizations working to promote dialogue and debate and to spread knowledge about peace and security related issues, for example issues concerning disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants.

Making the voices of the Afghan people heard in the peace talks between the Taliban and the government

Historic peace talks between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban movement have just begun. But how will the voices of the Afghan people be brought to the negotiation table? A new platform, run by the Afghan civil society with practical support from the FBA and funding from the EU, will bring together the concerns and desires of the Afghans, and transmit them to the negotiators.

2020-09-16 10:05

On international deployment

Kristian Edqvist

Training manager in Brussels

Linnéa Lindberg

Adviser to the UN in Myanmar

Johan Chytraeus

Monitoring officer in Ukraine

Karolina Riedel

Statistician in election observation missions

Vanda Dahlbom

Analyst in Iraq

Björn Tedeman

Election observer

Johan Fredborn Larsson

Political adviser in Mali

Read our publications

Mitigating Election Violence through Dialogue and Mediation in West Africa

This brief discusses the role that dialogue and mediation training can play in addressing electoral violence, a serious problem to human life and democracy in many countries. Over fifty percent of the African states have experienced electoral violence since the 1990s.

Documents

Mitigating Election Violence through Dialogue and Mediation in West Africa.pdf

More Publications

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South Sudan 2013
The prop-plane bounces through turbulence and I am awoken. I gaze out the window at the landing strip. From high above it looks busy, with many aircraft on the tarmac. When we land I realize that all of the cargo planes, troop carriers, and small aircraft are actually all destroyed and the fuselages have merely been pushed to the side of the mortar-potted runway. The wounds of war are still fresh here.

After several hours ... Read entire post »
2020-07-08 08:37