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Non-State Armed GroupsNon-State Armed Groups (NSAGs) – here refer mainly to rebel or insurgent groups, i.e. groups that are armed, use force to achieve their political/quasi-political objectives, and are autonomous from the state. As used here, NSAGs do not refer to state-controlled militias or paramilitaries, civil defense units, mercenaries, private military and security companies, proxy armed forces and the like.
Current rationale and difficulties for engaging NSAGs - The latter affect the lives of people for better or for worse, especially in situations of armed conflict and insurgent transitions (e.g. from war to peace, from authoritarianism to democracy). NSAGs have become the dominant face of modern warfare and now have a central role in contemporary armed conflict. Some of them have already emerged as global actors and they are increasingly becoming subjects of international law. The greater the threat of NSAGs to human security of innocent civilians, the greater also the need for humanitarian among other forms of engagement of these NSAGs.
The current post-9/11 environment is such that it is particularly difficult to engage with NSAGs at a time when there is a desperate need to do so. Whatever the illegitimacy of NSAGs should not detract from the legitimacy of efforts to engage them constructively in the interest of human security. Yet, in the overall scheme of things there is understandably not as much understanding, analytical tools, frameworks, approaches and mechanisms for dealing with and influencing NSAGs as there is/are for states in the state-oriented global order, even as there is a new world disorder.
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