Publications
Research and evidence-based reporting are key components of our work. Below you will find publications related to advocacy, research initiatives, training, country-specific reports, and our annual Institute reports.
Advocacy
-
Since 2015, the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security has been working with security sector actors, government ministries and civil society organizations in the DRC to prevent children from being recruited and used in conflict. We are the only international non-governmental organization (INGO) that conducts child-centered, scenario-based trainings that integrate gender-responsive prevention measures into security sector doctrine in the DRC. Read more about our work in the DRC by downloading this brief.
-
While the Dallaire Institute is headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, it has an African Centre of Excellence (ACoE) located in Rwanda, a Latin American Centre of Excellence (LACoE), located in Uruguay as well as a direct partnership with the Dallaire Centre of Excellence within the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF CoE), based in Ottawa, Canada. These Regional Centres of Excellence (CoEs) are hubs for the Dallaire Institute’s security sector trainings, community engagement programs, advocacy, and applied research on preventing the recruitment and use of children in armed violence. Download this brief to learn about how the Dallaire Institute works with local partners to develop programs that are contextually relevant and culturally sensitive.
-
Research has shown that armed violence dramatically increases children’s vulnerability to being recruited and used by armed groups. Exploiting children and exposing them to violence can increase the likelihood that they will engage in violent behavior in the future. Preventing recruitment and use in the first place is therefore paramount to breaking cycles of violence and improving the protection of children and communities in fragile and vulnerable environments. Effective prevention requires timely, reliable, and systematic data on what makes children susceptible to recruitment and use. Check out this brief to learn more about the Dallaire Institute’s early warning to early action system.
-
Women in South Sudan lack meaningful participation in the country's peace and security processes. To address levels of mistrust between women and the security sector in South Sudan, the Dallaire Institute piloted an innovative project (thanks to the Fund for Innovation and Transformation, FIT) that created a collaborative approach to the prevention of the recruitment and use of children and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) by creating space for women’s contributions and leadership in child protection.
-
A policy checklist on what governments and leaders need to understand about a Children, Peace and Security (CPS) agenda and how it relates to the broader global peace and security agenda. Download the brochure.
Research Publications
-
The Dallaire Institute held its 4th Annual International Knowledge for Prevention (K4P) Symposium in Montevideo, Uruguay from November 29 - December 1, 2022 with the support of the Government of Uruguay’s Ministry of National Defense. The symposium officially launched the Dallaire Institute’s Latin American Centre of Excellence (LACoE) based in Montevideo and presented the Dallaire Institute with an opportunity to engage with key regional subject matter experts, build new partnerships and discuss early warning capabilities for preventing the recruitment and use of children in armed violence. A collective of security sector actors, academics, policymakers, and youth came together to discuss the importance of prioritizing children’s protection in regional peace and security efforts in a region where armed violence is a grave concern that has led to high levels of homicides that have directly and indirectly impacted children. Contextualizing the Dallaire Institute’s Children, Peace and Security agenda in Latin America and understanding how to prevent such armed violence is critical to break generational cycles of violence.
El Instituto Dallaire celebró su Cuarto Simposio Internacional Anual sobre Conocimiento para Prevención (K4P por sus siglas en ingles) en Montevideo, Uruguay entre el 29 de noviembre y el 1 de diciembre de 2022, con el apoyo del gobierno de Uruguay y, específicamente, del Ministerio de Defensa Nacional de Uruguay. En el simposio se inauguró el Centro de Excelencia para América Latina (LACoE, por sus siglas en inglés) del Instituto Dallaire con base en Montevideo, y así mismo, el simposio ofreció al Instituto Dallaire la oportunidad de: interactuar con expertos regionales, establecer nuevas asociaciones con personal y representantes del sector de seguridad y de la sociedad civil y debatir sobre el potencial de las alertas tempranas para prevenir el reclutamiento y uso de niños en situaciones de violencia armada. El Simposio K4P reunió a un colectivo regional de actores del sector de seguridad, investigadores, funcionarios responsables de formular políticas públicas, representantes de la juventud y la sociedad civil para debatir sobre la importancia de priorizar la protección de los niños en las iniciativas de paz y seguridad, en una región donde la violencia armada es una gran preocupación debido a los altos índices de inseguridad y homicidios que directa e indirectamente afectan a la infancia. Contextualizar una agenda de Paz y Seguridad para la Infancia en América Latina es una tarea urgente para romper los ciclos generacionales de violencia.
-
This report presents preliminary findings from a literature review, interviews with Canadian Armed Forces Veterans and an introductory workshop with Participatory Action Research Participants. The Effects of Exposure to Children in Armed Conflict During Military Service is a multi-phased research project that was inspired by Lt General (ret’d) Roméo Dallaire’s experience encountering children engaged in armed violence during the genocide in Rwanda. The purpose of this project is to understand the experiences of Canadian Armed Forces Veterans who have had experiences with children in armed conflict, and particularly with those recruited and used as soldiers. The aim is to better understand the nature of encountering children during military service, the mental health impacts of encountering children, whether these experiences differ for specific groups of people, and what kinds of training and supports are needed for military personnel who may be deployed in regions where children are engaged in armed violence.
-
From 3 to 5 May 2022, the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace, and Security and the International Peace Institute held a workshop at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center in Accra, Ghana on Gender, Childhood, and Community Engagement in Peacekeeping. Thirty-two participants from eight countries convened to share lessons learned on how to fill the gaps and address the challenges in our current state of knowledge and practice on community engagement in peacekeeping with respect to gender and childhood.
-
In order to advance knowledge on conflict prevention, and particularly recruitment prevention, the Dallaire Institute hosted a roundtable on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) agendas on August 18, 2021. Over sixty (60) professionals from academia, government, and civil society organizations attended to share their expertise. The event focused on the significant advances in research, policy, and practice in both the WPS and CAAC agendas, and new research findings contributing to more transformative and empirically informed approaches in policy in recent years.
-
The use of children in maritime piratical activities remains an understudied phenomenon. As such, this paper explores three key objectives: (1) to raise the awareness of the failure to address the question of the involvement of children and youth by those involved in either studying or addressing piracy; (2) to provide a rationale for the collection and accessibility of disaggregated data on those Children and Youth in Marine Piracy: Causes, Consequences and the Way Forward committing piracy by those who are capturing, releasing, reporting and prosecuting those involved in piracy activity; and (3) to provide possible alternatives to addressing marine piracy by focusing on the challenges posed by the involvement of children and youth.
-
-
In June 2015, the Dallaire Initiative hosted a roundtable with military chaplains from Canada, the UK, and New Zealand. The objectives of the roundtable event were to provide chaplains with a detailed understanding of why child soldiers are a security concern; consider how knowledge on issues related to child soldiers can help foster resilience through a security sector approach; and explore entry points for the discussion of child soldiers within the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service training and education programs.
-
-
-
Canada currently receives between 240,000 and 265,000 immigrants annually, many of whom have experienced extreme poverty, natural disasters, and armed conflict. Often overlooked is the fact that many immigrants, are refugees who have been used in armed conflict as child soldiers.
-
Knowledge mobilisation (KMb), also known as knowledge translation or knowledge exchange, is a process that shares academic research and other forms of knowing with the goal of informing service delivery, community practice and public policy.
-
Despite attempts to define early warning, a precise and comprehensive definition of what constitutes early warning is still elusive.
-
-
-
-
-
The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the work the Initiative has done in the DRC.
-
While it may be intuited that human trafficking is an ineluctable component of the child soldiering experience, very little research exists to illustrate the tangible connections between these two.
-
It is important to understand youth engagement as central to any best practice intervention.
-
The international community has continued to respond to the resurgence in piracy with an array of strategies that involve tactical, social, political, and economic responses. However, one trend the international community has largely overlooked is the proliferation of juvenile piracy.
-
-
Today, it is estimated that 250,000 child soldiers are taking part in armed conflicts around the world.1 In 2009, there were over 50 parties, state and non-state, listed by the Special Representative for the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict for using child soldiers.
-
The original purpose for research in the DRC was to identify tactics utilized by perpetrators who command, recruit, and control child soldiers. The aim was to build a deeper understanding of new approaches towards the eradication of the use of child soldiers.
-
There has been a great deal of attention placed upon the incidents of piracy that have occurred in the Gulf of Aden in the last two years. It has sparked media and academics to look at the issue from security and economic perspectives.
Training Publications
-
-
-
Implementing the Guidelines: A Toolkit to Guide Understanding and Implementation of the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use During Armed Conflict. These guidelines were co-developed by the Rom.