{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{infobox organization |name = International Council on Security and Development |image = |caption = ICOS logo |image_size = 250px |abbreviation = ICOS |formation = {{Start date|2002}} |location = Brussels (administration);<br /> London, United Kingdom;<br /> Medellín, Colombia;<br /> Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;<br /> Tunis, Tunisia;<br /> Amman, Jordan;<br /> Sharjah, United Arab Emirates;<br /> Kabul, Kandahar, Lashkargah, Afghanistan<ref>{{cite web|title=About Us - ICOS|url=http://www.icosgroup.net/about/index.html|accessdate=21 January 2018}}</ref> |type = International relations think tank |leader_title = President and founder |leader_name = Norine MacDonald |website = {{URL|http://www.icosgroup.net}} }}
The '''International Council on Security and Development''' ('''ICOS''') is an international think tank that focuses on Afghanistan and other conflict zones all over the world such as Iraq,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icosgroup.net/static/reports/iraq_angry_hearts.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2011-03-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723152708/http://www.icosgroup.net/static/reports/iraq_angry_hearts.pdf |archivedate=23 July 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2008-06-01 |title=Angry Hearts and Angry Minds |url=https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/1083038.html |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=www.ecoi.net/en |language=en}}</ref> Syria and Somalia.<ref>[http://www.icosgroup.net/static/reports/chronic_failures_war_terror.pdf ICOS Report: Chronic Failures of the War on Terror] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723152554/http://www.icosgroup.net/static/reports/chronic_failures_war_terror.pdf |date=23 July 2011 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.icosgroup.net ICOS website]</ref> ICOS is a project of the Network of European Foundations' The Mercator Fund.<ref>http://www.nefic.org {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209085108/http://www.nefic.org/ |date=9 February 2014 }}</ref> The organization was originally named the '''Senlis Council'''<ref>{{Cite web|title=ICOS – International Council on Security and Development (formerly: Senlis Council) – Source description – ecoi.net|url=https://www.ecoi.net/en/source/11248.html|access-date=2022-02-16|website=www.ecoi.net}}</ref> in 2002 but later in 2013 renamed as the International Council on Security and Development to reflect the interest and activities of the organization.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ICOS – International Council on Security and Development (formerly: Senlis Council) – Source description – ecoi.net |url=https://www.ecoi.net/en/source/11248.html |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=ecoi.net}}</ref>
The organization works on security and development issues and states that its objective is "to promote open debate to alleviate current governance, development and economic crises and ensure policymaking in these areas is informed, humanitarian and delivers impact."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ameinfo.com/219366.html |title=Unemployment among Emirati youth - findings of Emirates Foundation sponsored research | Emirates Foundation | AMEinfo.com |accessdate=2011-06-29 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011042653/http://www.ameinfo.com/219366.html |archivedate=11 October 2012 }}</ref>
The organization currently runs five programs: ''Human Security and Youth Inclusion'', ''Education and Employment,'' ''Public Safety and Citizenship,'' ''Global Food Security and'' ''The Rome Consensus for a Humanitarian Drug Policy''.<ref>[http://www.globalfoodsec.net/ Global Food Security Initiative] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319012021/http://www.globalfoodsec.net/ |date=19 March 2011 }}</ref>
==ICOS programs== The program on Human Security and Youth Inclusion focuses on contemporary conflict zones, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Somalia. Reports have noted the problem of unemployment leading to "Angry Young Men" becoming involved in insurgency actions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/26/iraq.usa1|title = Iraq report: Job prospects would combat insurgency|website = TheGuardian.com|date = 26 June 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.2288453796| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080701013851/http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.2288453796| archive-date = 2008-07-01| title = AKI - Adnkronos international Iraq: Angry youth are new recruits for extremists, says report}}</ref> The 2010 field research in Afghanistan showed how Afghans were unaware of 11 September attacks,<ref>{{cite web |title=Few Afghans know reason for war, new study shows |website=Reuters |date=19 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106223248/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-report-idUSTRE6AI2U720101119 |archive-date=2022-11-06 |url-status=live |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-report-idUSTRE6AI2U720101119}}</ref> and the negative views held by Afghan citizens against the foreign forces.<ref>{{cite web |title=NATO not winning Afghan hearts and minds: poll |website=Reuters |date=17 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230516121548/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-poll-idUSTRE66G0D820100717 |archive-date=2023-05-16 |url-status=live |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-poll-idUSTRE66G0D820100717}}</ref> Reports have drawn controversy, with NATO spokesmen disputing an ICOS report's findings on the extent of the Taliban presence in Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://articles.cnn.com/2008-12-08/world/afghan.taliban_1_taliban-activity-taliban-advance-taliban-movement?_s=PM:WORLD |title=Report: Taliban 'noose' around Kabul - CNN |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-date=20 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120020646/http://articles.cnn.com/2008-12-08/world/afghan.taliban_1_taliban-activity-taliban-advance-taliban-movement?_s=PM:WORLD |url-status=dead }}</ref> The findings on the ineffectiveness of Canadian development aid in Kandahar were also disputed by CIDA officials, regarding food aid and hospitals.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.vanguardcanada.com/AfghanAlgebraWallace |title=Welcome to Vanguard Canada |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-date=1 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001204441/http://www.vanguardcanada.com/AfghanAlgebraWallace |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The Public Safety and Citizenship initiative "identifies global challenges for public safety in the 21st century".<ref>The ICOS Centre of Excellence on Public Security and Citizenship Official Site [http://www.icosgroup.net/programs/citizenship/]</ref> ICOS supports social and economic development, using a "Policy Labs" tool of participatory decision-making. It has conducted a pilot project in Asunción, Paraguay, addressing the problem of crack consumption and trafficking, and it has also worked in Farmiga, a community in the Tijuca neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, on improving public safety in cooperation with the local Pacifying Police Unit.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.citizenship.icosgroup.net/modules/labs |title=ICOS Citizenship - Urban Labs |website=citizenship.icosgroup.net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326092641/http://www.citizenship.icosgroup.net/modules/labs |archive-date=2012-03-26}}</ref>
The program on Global Food Security, in collaboration with the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and CINI, examines the intersection between food security, development, and state security. It currently focuses on India and Brazil, while maintaining a central aggregation website for information on food security.<ref>[http://www.globalfoodsec.net/ Global Food Security Official Website]</ref>
==Directors and spokesmen== Norine MacDonald QC is Founder and President of ICOS.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://passerelle.icosgroup.net/modules/team/norine_bio |title=Archived copy |access-date=4 March 2011 |archive-date=23 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723152544/http://passerelle.icosgroup.net/modules/team/norine_bio |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Emmanuel Reinert is executive director and works out of the Rio de Janeiro office.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://passerelle.icosgroup.net/modules/team/Bio_Emmanuel_Reinert |title=Archived copy |access-date=4 March 2011 |archive-date=23 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723152554/http://passerelle.icosgroup.net/modules/team/Bio_Emmanuel_Reinert |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Poppy licensing== One of the major policy recommendations is the licensing of opium in Afghanistan for pharmaceutical purposes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.poppyformedicine.net/ |title=Home |website=poppyformedicine.net}}</ref> They argue that it is based on the premise that there are two problems that need to be solved: #Afghanistan's reliance on opium. #A lack of opiate-based medicines available for pharmaceutical purposes
They contend that this would be a short-to-medium-term solution to address the opium crisis that is occurring in Afghanistan since alternative livelihood programs in the country will take many years to come to fruition and no crop matches the agronomic properties of opium.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bepress.com/jdpa/vol3/iss1/art3/ |title="Poppy for Medicine in Afghanistan" by Romesh Bhattacharji and Jorrit E.M. Kamminga |accessdate=2011-03-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226235206/http://www.bepress.com/jdpa/vol3/iss1/art3/ |archivedate=26 December 2010 }}</ref> Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organization there are unmet needs for morphine in developed countries<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs336/en/index.html| title = WHO {{!}} Medicines: access to controlled medicines (narcotic and psychotropic substances)| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100718033230/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs336/en/index.html| archive-date = 18 July 2010}}</ref> and this is an even greater problem in developing countries, compounded by the growing rates of HIV/AIDS and cancer around the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/4/680.short?rss=1|title = Annals of Oncology - Journal - Elsevier}}</ref>
Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureate John Charles Polanyi and Stéphane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, have expressed their support for the poppy for medicines project.<ref>The Globe and Mail, [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=https://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20060923.COMORPHINE23%2FTPStory%2F%3Fquery%3Dpolanyi%2Bopium&ord=12077143&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true "There's a way to end Afghanistan's and the world's pain"] (23 September 2006) Registration required</ref>
==Food aid in Afghanistan== The organization has carried out some food aid activities in informal internal refugee camps in the provinces of Kandahar and Helmand in southern Afghanistan.<ref>Esprit de Corps,[http://www.espritdecorps.ca/senlis.htm "From the ground up"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927104148/http://www.espritdecorps.ca/senlis.htm |date=27 September 2007 }} (11 February 2007)</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Official website|http://www.icosgroup.net/}}
Category:Foreign policy and strategy think tanks Category:Think tanks established in 2002