In the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, Chief Justice John Roberts argued that terrorist groups could “use humanitarian and international law…as part of a broader strategy to promote terrorism,” by pursuing “peaceful negotiation as a means of buying time to recover from short-term setbacks, lulling opponents into complacency, and ultimately preparing for renewed attacks.”

A March 2012 publication Managing Fighting Forces: DDR in Peace Processes from the United Institute of Peace (USIP) gives peacebuilding groups and nongovernmental mediators advice on how to ensure that armed groups do not misuse disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) programs. It addresses how DDR programs are understood by armed groups and the strategies that they might adopt to delay, avoid, or manipulate the DDR program.  Intended for non-state actors such as the UN and conflict mediators from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the reportlays out eight detailed steps that mediators can take to establish appropriate linkages between DDR and other aspects of a peace process.
This report is the ninth handbook from the USIP Peacemaker’s Toolkit series. Working with NGOs, governments, international organizations, and the private sector, USIP has created this series to help develop common framework and methodologies in support of peacebuilding.   Other reports in the series include: