Ce rapport soutient – et justifie – que, à court et à moyen terme, de meilleurs résultats en matière de justice ne peuvent être atteints qu’en stimulant une meilleure reconnaissance mutuelle, et en développant des synergies, entre  les systèmes judiciaires coutumiers et étatiques au Mali, tous deux étant dès lors considérés comme des composantes à peu près égales.

Gender equality has been an important theme for the policies of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs on fragile and conflict-affected states since 1995.

This has been reflected most prominently in the establishment of two Dutch National Action Plans (NAPs) to implement United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

A notable characteristic of several of the most intractable conflicts in the world today is the presence of more than one sort of violence. In cases such as Syria, Mali and Libya the lines between armed conflict and other forms of organised violence have blurred. Conflicts that originated in political divisions have assumed criminal dimensions. At the same time highly criminalised parts of Central America and Mexico have witnessed the coercion of the state and society by groups whose methods resemble the military strategies of an insurgency.

There is no easy way for a Europe-based humanitarian organisation to negotiate access to areas controlled by an armed group whose ideology positions it in opposition to Western power and values. In Somalia between 2009 and 2013 al-Shabaab’s violent and zealous religious disposition, rejection of foreign interference and distrust of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seriously challenged humanitarian organisations’ attempts to negotiate access.

Within the international community, disagreements remain regarding the “real “origins of the 2012 Malian crisis, its gravity and, by extension, the preferred conflict resolution mechanisms. While some regard the crisis as an unfortunate succession of events, others refer to long-term conditions of the state institutions, elite behaviour and structural inequalities as the primary foundation of the recent instability.