Tough trade-offs: integrating drugs, development and peacebuilding

In light of the widely acknowledged shortcomings of the War on drugs, there’s a growing call for drugs, development and peacebuilding policies to be better integrated – to prioritise pro-poor development and align drug policy with the Sustainable Development Goals. But much work remains to be done. And the relationship between counter-narcotics, pro-poor development and peacebuilding is neither straightforward, nor necessarily complementary.

This event brings together actors from the drugs, development and peacebuilding fields to explore the tensions and trade-offs that exist between these different policy fields and the uneven distribution of costs and benefits of interventions.

How can we rethink the relationship between drugs, development and violence in war-to-peace transitions? What are the big trade-offs that need to be tackled? How can we better incorporate the voices and perspectives of those involved in illicit economies into policy debates?

The event will also launch the flagship publication of the Drugs & (dis)order research project ‘Voices from the borderlands 2020’, bringing to light experiences and perspectives of people involved in illicit drug economies in seven borderland communities in Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar.

Speakers:

Orzala Nemat, Director, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (Moderator)

David Keen, Professor of Conflict Studies, London School of Economics

Ann Fordham, Executive Director, International Drug Policy Consortium

Estefanía Ciro Rodríguez, Universidad de los Andes

Presenting voices from the borderlands:

Francisco Gutierrez, Professor, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Jasmine Bhatia, Research Fellow, SOAS

To be confirmed, Kachinland Research Centre

The webinar will be on Wednesday, 29 July 2020 from 15:00 to 16:30 CEST.

Please follow this link to register.