The International Council on Security and Development

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International Council on Security and Development
AbbreviationICOS
Formation2002 (2002)
Type International relations think tank
Location
President and Founder
 Norine MacDonald
Website www.icosgroup.net

The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) is an international think tank that focuses on Afghanistan and other conflict zones all over the world such as Iraq [2] [3] , Syria and Somalia. [4] [5] ICOS is a project of the Network of European Foundations' The Mercator Fund. [6] The organization was originally named the Senlis Council [7] in 2002 but later in 2013 renamed as the International Council on Security and Development to reflect the interest and activities of the organization. [8]

Contents

The organization works on security and development issues and states that its objective is "to promote open debate to alleviate current governance, development and economic crises and ensure policymaking in these areas is informed, humanitarian and delivers impact." [9]

The organization currently runs five programs: Human Security and Youth Inclusion, Education and Employment,Public Safety and Citizenship,Global Food Security andThe Rome Consensus for a Humanitarian Drug Policy. [10]

ICOS programs

The program on Human Security and Youth Inclusion focuses on contemporary conflict zones, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Somalia. Reports have noted the problem of unemployment leading to "Angry Young Men" becoming involved in insurgency actions. [11] [12] The 2010 field research in Afghanistan showed how Afghans were unaware of 11 September attacks, [13] and the negative views held by Afghan citizens against the foreign forces. [14] Reports have drawn controversy, with NATO spokesmen disputing an ICOS report's findings on the extent of the Taliban presence in Afghanistan. [15] The findings on the ineffectiveness of Canadian development aid in Kandahar were also disputed by CIDA officials, regarding food aid and hospitals. [16]

The Public Safety and Citizenship initiative "identifies global challenges for public safety in the 21st century". [17] ICOS supports social and economic development, using a "Policy Labs" tool of participatory decision-making. It has conducted a pilot project in Asuncion, Paraguay, addressing the problem of crack consumption and trafficking, and it has also worked in Farmiga, a community in the Tijuca neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, on improving public safety in cooperation with the local Pacifying Police Unit. [18]

The program on Global Food Security, in collaboration with the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and CINI, examines the intersection between food security, development, and state security. It currently focuses on India and Brazil, while maintaining a central aggregation website for information on food security. [19]

Directors and spokesmen

Norine MacDonald QC is Founder and President of ICOS. [20]

Emmanuel Reinert is executive director and works out of the Rio de Janeiro office. [21]

Poppy licensing

One of the major policy recommendations is the licensing of opium in Afghanistan for pharmaceutical purposes. [22] They argue that it is based on the premise that there are two problems that need to be solved:

  1. Afghanistan's reliance on opium.
  2. A lack of opiate-based medicines available for pharmaceutical purposes

They contend that this would be a short-to-medium-term solution to address the opium crisis that is occurring in Afghanistan since alternative livelihood programs in the country will take many years to come to fruition and no crop matches the agronomic properties of opium. [23] Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organization there are unmet needs for morphine in developed countries [24] and this is an even greater problem in developing countries, compounded by the growing rates of HIV/AIDS and cancer around the world. [25]

Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureate John Charles Polanyi and Stéphane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, have expressed their support for the poppy for medicines project. [26]

Food aid in Afghanistan

The organization has carried out some food aid activities in informal internal refugee camps in the provinces of Kandahar and Helmand in southern Afghanistan. [27]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opium</span> Dried latex obtained from the opium poppy

Opium is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade. The latex also contains the closely related opiates codeine and thebaine, and non-analgesic alkaloids such as papaverine and noscapine. The traditional, labor-intensive method of obtaining the latex is to scratch ("score") the immature seed pods (fruits) by hand; the latex leaks out and dries to a sticky yellowish residue that is later scraped off and dehydrated. The word meconium historically referred to related, weaker preparations made from other parts of the opium poppy or different species of poppies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taliban</span> Islamic political and armed movement founded in Afghanistan

The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist and Pashtun nationalist militant political movement in Afghanistan. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the American invasion. It recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 following the departure of most coalition forces, after nearly 20 years of insurgency, and currently controls all of the country. However, its government is not recognized by any country. The Taliban government has been criticized for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women and girls to work and to have an education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Security Assistance Force</span> NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan from 2001–2014

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386 pursuant to the Bonn Agreement, which outlined the establishment of a permanent Afghan government following the U.S. invasion in October 2001. ISAF's primary goal was to train the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and assist Afghanistan in rebuilding key government institutions; it gradually took part in the broader war in Afghanistan against the Taliban insurgency.

Humanitarian aid workers belonging to United Nations organisations, PVOs / NGOs or the Red Cross / Red Crescent have traditionally enjoyed both international legal protection, and de facto immunity from attack by belligerent parties. However, ' attacks on humanitarian workers have occasionally occurred, and become more frequent since the 1990s and 2000s. In 2017, the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD) documented 139 humanitarian workers killed in intentional attacks out of the estimated global population of 569,700 workers. In every year since 2013, more than 100 humanitarian workers were killed. This is attributed to a number of factors, including the increasing number of humanitarian workers deployed, the increasingly unstable environments in which they work, and the erosion of the perception of neutrality and independence. In 2012 road travel was seen to be the most dangerous context, with kidnappings of aid workers quadrupling in the last decade, reaching more aid workers victims than any other form of attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Wali Karzai</span> Afghan politician

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan</span> Ongoing UN peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan is a UN Special Political Mission tasked with assisting the people of Afghanistan.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul</span> Five stars hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan

The Inter-Continental is a five star hotel located in the Karte Parwan neighbourhood in western Kabul, Afghanistan. It served as the nation's first international luxury hotel, one of the most visited by foreigners since its opening in 1969, built nearby the Bagh-e Bala Palace. The hotel has 200 rooms and is equipped with a swimming pool, a gym, and about four restaurants for dine in or room service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opium production in Afghanistan</span> Overview of illicit drug production in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has long had a history of opium poppy cultivation and harvest. As of 2021, Afghanistan's harvest produces more than 90% of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95% of the European supply. More land is used for opium in Afghanistan than is used for coca cultivation in Latin America. The country has been the world's leading illicit drug producer since 2001. In 2007, 93% of the non-pharmaceutical-grade opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan. By 2019 Afghanistan still produced about 84% of the world market. This amounts to an export value of about US $4 billion, with a quarter being earned by opium farmers and the rest going to district officials, insurgents, warlords, and drug traffickers. In the seven years (1994–2000) prior to a Taliban opium ban, the Afghan farmers' share of gross income from opium was divided among 200,000 families. As of 2017, opium production provides about 400,000 jobs in Afghanistan, more than the Afghan National Security Forces. In addition to opium, Afghanistan is also the world's leading producer of hashish.

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Opium licensing is a policy instrument used to counter illegal drug cultivation and production. It has been used in countries such as Turkey and India to curb illegal opium production. The main mechanism used under opium licensing is a shift from cultivation and/or production for the illegal market towards legal uses such as the production of essential medicines such as morphine and codeine.

Afghan morphine or "Poppy for Medicine" is an alternative development solution put forward to combat the poverty and public disenchantment caused by international counter-narcotics eradication policies in Afghanistan. Licensing opium poppy cultivation in order to locally manufacture and market Afghan morphine, according to this proposal, would create the economic conditions to empower poverty stricken rural Afghans and cut their ties with the illicit poppy trade.

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References

  1. ↑ "About Us - ICOS" . Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ "Angry Hearts and Angry Minds". www.ecoi.net/en. 1 June 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  4. ↑ ICOS Report: Chronic Failures of the War on Terror Archived 23 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ ICOS website
  6. ↑ http://www.nefic.org Archived 9 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "ICOS – International Council on Security and Development (formerly: Senlis Council) – Source description – ecoi.net". www.ecoi.net. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  8. ↑ "ICOS – International Council on Security and Development (formerly: Senlis Council) – Source description – ecoi.net". www.ecoi.net. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  9. ↑ "Unemployment among Emirati youth - findings of Emirates Foundation sponsored research | Emirates Foundation | AMEinfo.com". Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  10. ↑ Global Food Security Initiative Archived 19 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ "Iraq report: Job prospects would combat insurgency". TheGuardian.com . 26 June 2008.
  12. ↑ "AKI - Adnkronos international Iraq: Angry youth are new recruits for extremists, says report". Archived from the original on 1 July 2008.
  13. ↑ "Few Afghans know reason for war, new study shows". Reuters . Archived from the original on 6 November 2022.
  14. ↑ "NATO not winning Afghan hearts and minds: poll". Reuters . Archived from the original on 16 May 2023.
  15. ↑ "Report: Taliban 'noose' around Kabul - CNN". Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  16. ↑ "Welcome to Vanguard Canada". Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  17. ↑ The ICOS Centre of Excellence on Public Security and Citizenship Official Site
  18. ↑ "ICOS Citizenship - Urban Labs". www.citizenship.icosgroup.net. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012.
  19. ↑ Global Food Security Official Website
  20. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. ↑ "Home". poppyformedicine.net.
  23. ↑ ""Poppy for Medicine in Afghanistan" by Romesh Bhattacharji and Jorrit E.M. Kamminga". Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  24. ↑ "WHO | Medicines: access to controlled medicines (narcotic and psychotropic substances)". Archived from the original on 18 July 2010.
  25. ↑ "Annals of Oncology - Journal - Elsevier".
  26. ↑ The Globe and Mail, "There's a way to end Afghanistan's and the world's pain" (23 September 2006) Registration required
  27. ↑ Esprit de Corps,"From the ground up" Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine (11 February 2007)
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