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Home»Governance»Security & justice

Security & justice

Safety, security & justice topic guide

GESI Dimensions of Human Smuggling and Trafficking in East Africa

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
January 2026

This K4DD Rapid Evidence Review looks at the gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) dimensions of human smuggling and trafficking in five countries in East Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan (in their role as source countries), and Kenya (as a transit/destination country). It finds consistent evidence that women/girls and refugees/IDPs, in particular, as well as ...» more

Serious and Organised Crime in Tanzania

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
July 2025

This K4DD Rapid Evidence Review explores the main serious and organised crime (SOC) markets, actors and dynamics in Tanzania. The review draws largely on grey literature, notably reports by think tanks and practitioners. Literature and data is limited due to the illicit nature of the subject. Given this and the limited timeframe for this work, this review should be ...» more

Serious and Organised Crime in South Africa

Helpdesk Report
  • Siân Herbert
July 2025

This K4DD Rapid Evidence Review explores the main serious and organised crime (SOC) markets, actors, and dynamics in South Africa. It particularly draws on literature from think tanks and practitioner sources, due to the applied nature of the question and its proximity to foreign policy and security interests, as well as academic and policy sources. Literature and data are ...» more

Nigeria’s Role in World War Two

Helpdesk Report
  • Arol Dut,
  • William Avis
July 2025

This K4DD Rapid Evidence Review collates available evidence on Nigeria’s role in World War Two. The review draws upon an eclectic evidence base that includes historic sources of information, contemporary accounts and both academic and grey literature. The evidence base is limited and diffuse in relation to the contribution of Nigerian (and African) soldiers during World War ...» more

Serious and Organised Crime in Mozambique

Helpdesk Report
  • Siân Herbert
June 2025

This K4DD Rapid Evidence Review explores the main serious and organised crime (SOC) markets, actors, and dynamics in Mozambique. It particularly draws on literature from think tanks and practitioner sources, due to the applied nature of the question and its proximity to foreign policy and security interests, as well as academic and policy sources. Literature and data is ...» more

Using the 20th Anniversary of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to Progress Atrocity Prevention

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
May 2025

This K4DD Rapid Evidence Review brings together recommendations on atrocity prevention and implementing the Responsibility to Protect recommendations. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a global political commitment to protect people from atrocity crimes, a term which encompasses genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity. It places responsibilities ...» more

Challenges and Limitations to Entering the Workforce in Jordan for People with Disabilities

Conflict Analysis
  • William Avis
April 2025

This K4DD Rapid Evidence Review collates available evidence on challenges and limitations to entering the workforce in Jordan for people with disabilities (PWDs). The review draws upon an expanding evidence base that includes academic and grey literature. The evidence base is evolving as provisions for PWDs are extended. Whilst the review identified a progressive commitment ...» more

Decriminalisation of Cannabis Among States in Southern & East Africa

Helpdesk Report
  • William Avis
February 2025

This K4DD Rapid Evidence Review collates available evidence on decriminalisation of cannabis among states in South & East Africa. The review draws upon information in the public domain and should be considered illustrative of current status of decriminalisation across the focus region. The evidence base on the impact of decriminalisation of cannabis on other countries is ...» more

Donor Support for the Human Rights of LGBT+

Helpdesk Report
  • Laura Bolton
December 2021

This rapid review synthesises evidence on the bilateral and multilateral donors promoting and protecting the human rights of LGBT+ people on a global scale. It focusses on those donors that have policies, implementation plans and programmes on LGBT+ rights.   This review also examines the evidence on the impact of their work. The bilateral donors providing the most ...» more

Interventions to Address Discrimination against LGBTQi Persons

Helpdesk Report
  • Topua Lesinko,
  • Zenobia Ismail
July 2021

Most of the programmes and interventions that are mentioned in the literature address LGBTQi rights by ensuring that men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people have access to healthcare that is funded by international aid. The other main conduit of support is to use aid funds to provide financial and technical support to organisations and activists who advocate for ...» more

Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
March 2021

Freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is a fundamental human right. However, the general global the trend in recent years is towards increased FoRB violations by both government and non-government actors. Notable exceptions are Sudan and Uzbekistan, which have shown significant improvement in promoting FoRB, while smaller-scale positive developments have been seen in a number ...» more

Gender, countering violent extremism and women, peace and security in Kenya

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
January 2021

Kenya ranks 109 out of 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, with a score of 0.671. There are significant inequalities between males and females in education attainment, health outcomes, representation in parliament, and labour force participation. This Factsheet outlines some of the top-line information on gender, countering violent extremism and women, peace and ...» more

Border Disputes and Micro-Conflicts in South and Southeast Asia

Helpdesk Report
  • William Avis
December 2020

This rapid literature review presents the key literature on border disputes and micro-conflicts in South and Southeast Asia. The focus is on recent ideas that are prevalent in literature from post2010. The literature review draws on both academic and grey literature. The report finds that conflicts have become more complex and protracted often linked to global challenges ...» more

Gender and countering violent extremism (CVE) in the Kenya Mozambique region

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
November 2020

This evidence synthesis drew on a mixture of academic and grey literature. While the literature on Kenyan women and Al-Shabaab was quite extensive (albeit with gaps, e.g. on returnees), nothing was found on women and Ansar al-Sunnah/violent extremist groups operating in northeastern Mozambique and the Mozambique-Tanzania cross-border region. This report should be read in ...» more

Key Drivers of Modern Slavery

Helpdesk Report
  • William Avis
August 2020

This rapid literature review provides evidence of key drivers of modern slavery. It draws on a mixture of academic and grey literature from multinational and bilateral institutions as well as non-government organisations (NGOs) and think tanks. Given the rapidly developing global context, it also draws on emerging opinions from blog posts and journalistic reports to provide ...» more

Impact of COVID-19 on Child Labour in South Asia

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
June 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has not (to date) hit South Asia as badly in terms of infections and deaths as some other parts of the world (notably Europe). However, it is having a profound negative economic impact on the region. Experience of previous epidemics/financial crises suggests that the current crisis will lead to a rise in child labour across the developing world, including ...» more

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Response on Violent Extremist Recruitment and Radicalisation

Helpdesk Report
  • William Avis
May 2020

This rapid evidence review provides evidence on the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and response on violent extremist recruitment and radicalisation. It draws on a mixture of academic and grey literature from multinational and bilateral institutions as well as nongovernment organisations (NGOs) and think tanks. Given the rapidly developing global context, it also ...» more

Water security beyond Covid-19

Helpdesk Report
  • Rachel Cooper
May 2020

Strengthening water security is essential for preventing and combatting future pandemics. Measures to supress the Covid-19 pandemic, including hand-washing, selfisolating and lockdowns assume that societies, communities and households have sustainable access to acceptable amounts of adequate quality water. However, across developing countries, water insecurity is increasing, ...» more

Justice systems in the Sahel

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
May 2020

This review looks at justice provision in four countries in the Sahel: Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad. All feature formal (state) justice systems alongside customary/religious justice, with the latter typically being seen by citizens as more accessible, cheaper and less corrupt. State justice systems in all the countries face similar challenges: corruption, resource and ...» more

Responding to popular protests in the MENA region

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
April 2020

This review looks at government responses to violent protests in a selection of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Focusing on the 2011 Arab Spring protests, it finds that the initial response of most regimes was violent repression – Tunisia where the president stepped down, and Morocco and Jordan where the respective monarchies promised reform, are the only ...» more

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Outputs supported by DFID are © DFID Crown Copyright 2026; outputs supported by the Australian Government are © Australian Government 2026; and outputs supported by the European Commission are © European Union 2026

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