Dr. Afyare A. Elmi is an associate professor at Qatar University’s Gulf Studies Program. His research interests include international and maritime security, state-building/peace-building, governance institutions, conflict
For the last three decades the Somali people have experienced multi-layered political, economic, ... more For the last three decades the Somali people have experienced multi-layered political, economic, and religious conflicts. A legitimate and Somali-owned constitution would help address or contain many of these problems. However, controversy surrounds how the UN has approached and controlled the constitution-making process of the country. The process is fundamentally flawed because political expedience, secrecy, exclusion and hastiness mar the mandate and selection of the commission members, the drafting of the document and the adoption of the draft constitution. Therefore, like the previous charter, the current draft-constitution has legitimacy-deficit. It does not express the aspirations of the Somali people, regulate individual and group conflicts effectively and peacefully, or prescribe context-appropriate institutions that are necessary for building durable peace and a functioning state in Somalia. This leads me to conclude that the constitution-making process that was employed w...
Many Muslims, Arabs, and other minority communities in Canada experienced the backlash of the Sep... more Many Muslims, Arabs, and other minority communities in Canada experienced the backlash of the September 11, 2001 events. Although these groups were discriminated against in a number of institutions, Muslim children in secondary schools in particular experienced different types of discrimination and violence. In order to help reduce incidents of discrimination in schools, with the help of academics at the Ontario Institute for Studies of Education (OISE), the Classroom Connections (non-for profit organization) developed a peace education program, the Cultivating Peace. Using qualitative methods, this paper examines the perceptions of teachers who used the Cultivating Peace program. Four themes emerged from the data collected for this research: flexibility, utility, relevance, and challenges. The findings reveal that educators believe the Cultivating Peace program promotes a culture of peace in Canada. Teachers find the Cultivating Peace flexible in that it fits well in the curriculum...
Abstract Employing secondary research and semi-structured interviews, this article examines the u... more Abstract Employing secondary research and semi-structured interviews, this article examines the use of private maritime security companies (PMSC) in providing maritime security services in the Horn of Africa. It consists of four parts. The first part explains the origins and development of the use of PMSC in the Horn of Africa. The second section discusses the regulation of the private security industry, paying particular attention to the maritime context. Part three examines the challenges associated with the use of maritime PMSC in the Horn of Africa, including negative human rights implications, compromising the innocent passage of commercial ships, and creating confusion in the hierarchical control of ships. Finally, the paper analyses the findings and concludes that PMSC, despite their apparent short-term effectiveness, cannot be regarded as a long-term solution to the piracy phenomenon in the Horn of Africa.
The United Nations Security Council, through multiple resolutions, called for all nations to crim... more The United Nations Security Council, through multiple resolutions, called for all nations to criminalize the crime of piracy. In particular, the SC demanded from the Somali government to enact anti-piracy legislation and declare an exclusive economic zone that is in agreement with the UNCLOS treaty. Although it has been notoriously slow, Somalia has recently proclaimed its EEZ by recalling the already existing 1989 Somali Law of the Sea. However, the Somali government has failed to enact anti-piracy legislation and establish institutions. As a result, international navies capture and states in the region (Kenya, Seychelles and Mauritius) try convict and often incarcerate pirates. In this paper, we examine the factors that have prevented Somalia to pass anti-piracy law. Based on interviews with different actors, archival research and content analyses of the four past and relevant legislations on the issue, we argue that lack of institutional memory, public belief that Kenya was annexing Somali territories and resources, poor capacity, and the international community’s practice of .outsourcing the functions of the Somali state explain the slow base of the development of anti-piracy legislation
For the last three decades the Somali people have experienced multi-layered political, economic, ... more For the last three decades the Somali people have experienced multi-layered political, economic, and religious conflicts. A legitimate and Somali-owned constitution would help address or contain many of these problems. However, controversy surrounds how the UN has approached and controlled the constitution-making process of the country. The process is fundamentally flawed because political expedience, secrecy, exclusion and hastiness mar the mandate and selection of the commission members, the drafting of the document and the adoption of the draft constitution. Therefore, like the previous charter, the current draft-constitution has legitimacy-deficit. It does not express the aspirations of the Somali people, regulate individual and group conflicts effectively and peacefully, or prescribe context-appropriate institutions that are necessary for building durable peace and a functioning state in Somalia. This leads me to conclude that the constitution-making process that was employed w...
Many Muslims, Arabs, and other minority communities in Canada experienced the backlash of the Sep... more Many Muslims, Arabs, and other minority communities in Canada experienced the backlash of the September 11, 2001 events. Although these groups were discriminated against in a number of institutions, Muslim children in secondary schools in particular experienced different types of discrimination and violence. In order to help reduce incidents of discrimination in schools, with the help of academics at the Ontario Institute for Studies of Education (OISE), the Classroom Connections (non-for profit organization) developed a peace education program, the Cultivating Peace. Using qualitative methods, this paper examines the perceptions of teachers who used the Cultivating Peace program. Four themes emerged from the data collected for this research: flexibility, utility, relevance, and challenges. The findings reveal that educators believe the Cultivating Peace program promotes a culture of peace in Canada. Teachers find the Cultivating Peace flexible in that it fits well in the curriculum...
Abstract Employing secondary research and semi-structured interviews, this article examines the u... more Abstract Employing secondary research and semi-structured interviews, this article examines the use of private maritime security companies (PMSC) in providing maritime security services in the Horn of Africa. It consists of four parts. The first part explains the origins and development of the use of PMSC in the Horn of Africa. The second section discusses the regulation of the private security industry, paying particular attention to the maritime context. Part three examines the challenges associated with the use of maritime PMSC in the Horn of Africa, including negative human rights implications, compromising the innocent passage of commercial ships, and creating confusion in the hierarchical control of ships. Finally, the paper analyses the findings and concludes that PMSC, despite their apparent short-term effectiveness, cannot be regarded as a long-term solution to the piracy phenomenon in the Horn of Africa.
The United Nations Security Council, through multiple resolutions, called for all nations to crim... more The United Nations Security Council, through multiple resolutions, called for all nations to criminalize the crime of piracy. In particular, the SC demanded from the Somali government to enact anti-piracy legislation and declare an exclusive economic zone that is in agreement with the UNCLOS treaty. Although it has been notoriously slow, Somalia has recently proclaimed its EEZ by recalling the already existing 1989 Somali Law of the Sea. However, the Somali government has failed to enact anti-piracy legislation and establish institutions. As a result, international navies capture and states in the region (Kenya, Seychelles and Mauritius) try convict and often incarcerate pirates. In this paper, we examine the factors that have prevented Somalia to pass anti-piracy law. Based on interviews with different actors, archival research and content analyses of the four past and relevant legislations on the issue, we argue that lack of institutional memory, public belief that Kenya was annexing Somali territories and resources, poor capacity, and the international community’s practice of .outsourcing the functions of the Somali state explain the slow base of the development of anti-piracy legislation
This report provides a summary of the "Environmental Politics in the Middle East" research initia... more This report provides a summary of the "Environmental Politics in the Middle East" research initiative, which explores the geopolitics of natural resources in the Middle East in an attempt to expand the focus to include the region’s many natural resources other than natural gas, such as land, air, water, and food. Some of the issues under investigation include a focus on water scarcity, which is a global issue but one that is particularly acute in the Middle East; its impacts are examined through a case study on Yemen. Food security is studied in the case of Syria, which before the civil war began, in 2011, was one of the region’s notable food exporters. Aside from acute food shortages within Syria, the conflict has had ripple effects on the region and has led to rising food prices in neighboring states, such as Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq.
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