11 December 2011

CAIRO, EGYPT - While the Arab world has experienced tremendous social and political change over the past year, the reform/transformation of the Security Sector has emerged as one of the most critical and urgent issues that need to be tackled.

Building upon its previous project on "Securitocracies and Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Arab World”, the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) has been scaling up its engagement on this crucial topic, in view of producing quality and innovative research that could be used by stakeholders in countries within the region. In this context, ARI has started working on police reform - a subject that has been the subject of much debate in Egypt and Tunisia - but it is also taking a broader perspective by addressing other security institutions and examining ways in which they can play their rightful role in a democratic setting.

One meeting of the Egyptian working group took place in Cairo on 11 December 2011, with the participation of Professor Gavin Cawthra, an SSR expert from the African Security Sector Network (ASSN). This meeting was conceived as a first opportunity for experience sharing between African and Arab experts in the field of SSR. The next step in this direction is expected to be the organisation of an Arab regional workshop in Tunis in the Spring of 2012.