Non-state armed groups often emerge where states are unable or unwilling to provide effective security, challenging the idea of the state’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force. These actors—including state-backed forces, militias, vigilante groups and community self-defence organizations—can provide short-term security benefits but maintain complex and shifting relationships with state authorities and the communities they purport to protect.
Evidence from cases such as Colombia, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Nigeria highlights both the value of these forces in filling protection gaps and the risks they pose, particularly with regard to human rights, criminal activity, conflict escalation and the creation of parallel power structures. As engagement with these groups becomes more common, governments and international actors need clear legal frameworks, strong oversight and context-specific risk-mitigation and transition strategies to protect civilians and support sustainable security outcomes.
Hosted by the United Nations Peacebuilding and Peace Support Office, the webinar will seek to facilitate knowledge exchange and comparative analysis of non-state security actors—including their operational logic, relationships with the state and impact on conflict dynamics—to inform actionable recommendations for governments, regional organizations and UN actors working in the same operational environments.
Speakers
- Daniel Herrera Kelly, Associate Analysis Manager, Armed Conflict Location and Event Data
- Siobhan O’Neil, Head of the Managing Exits from Armed Conflict project, UNIDIR
- Oyewole Oginni, Senior Researcher, the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies
- Stefan Åstrom, Senior Adviser on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) and Transitional Security Arrangements, Folke Bernadotte Academy
- Pedro Braum, Human Security Coordinator, Via Rio
When and where
Tuesday, 7 July 2026 | 15:30–17:00 CET | Online
Check your local time here.
Participants
The event is open to the public. Access the event here.
Further information
For further information, please contact Mario Nascimento, DDR Team Leader, at nascimentom@un.org.
In partnership with
