Suchergebnisse

The last few years have seen a lot of activity within the Nordic mining industry. New mines have opened, but there have also been cases of bankruptcies. Heightened activity has in turn led to discussions on the role of legislation and taxation in ensuring that mining contributes to sustainable development. At the same time, a number of voluntary sustainability initiatives have appeared. For historic reasons, the Nordic countries share a lot of similarities with regards to legislation. And not least with regards to environmental laws, the EU has contributed to further harmonisation, even among the non-member states Iceland and Norway. Yet important differences exist. Legal revisions are sometimes the result of much-publicised problems, so experiences in each country plays an important role. An overview of taxation also indicates both similarities and differences.

In October 2000, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1325 which reaffirmed the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts as well as in post-conflict reconstruction. Since the resolution was passed, the Swedish Armed Forces have gone through an impressive process of change that has set the agenda for instituting Resolution 1325 in militaries throughout the world. What began as a project of limited scope within the Swedish armed forces has steadily evolved to mainstream a gender perspective, conduct training, and to establish specific gender-related functions and institutions such as Gender Field Advisors, Gender Focal Points and the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations. Through extensive interviews and analyses of internal documents, this study provides a unique understanding of these organizational processes, the driving factors and the roadblocks within the armed forces, as well as the impact of a gender perspective in the field of operations. This insight, and the resulting lessons learned, is not only essential for the continued process of implementation in the Swedish case, but also for similar processes in the armed forces and other security related organizations around the world.

In early 2008, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) released a hundred page document entitled: "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines". The Peacekeeping Best Practices Section of the UN DPKO and the Training for Peace Programme at NUPI, with support from the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized a seminar in Oslo, on 14-15 May 2008, with the aim of providing a small but globally representative group of researchers the opportunity to discuss the new doctrine with the drafters. The aim of the seminar was to create an opportunity for the research community to engage the authors of the doctrine, to facilitate a dialogue on the key issues contained in the doctrine, and to stimulate further knowledge development about the future of UN peacekeeping operations. ; Utenriksdepartementet