The webinar was conducted in close cooperation with NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) and NATO’s Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) for Iraq. The webinar was part of an academic cooperation, which had its
first webinar in April 2021. The cooperation seeks to promote SSRC international academic collaboration as well as identifying sustainable avenues for security sector reforms (SSR) in Iraq.

The objective for the webinar was to promote capacity building by enhancing international cooperation on military education within Iraqi security institutions based on academic research. The webinar was participated by personnel from the Defence University for Higher Military Studies, Denmark, the Czech Republic as well as NMI. The programme consisted of two sessions, respectively titled “Sectarian Violence, and its lead to Terrorism, Origins, Evolution and Violence” and “Iraq’s Security Sector Reform and National Security Strategy”.

The President of the Iraqi Defence University for Higher Military Studies, staff Lieutenant General Saad Al-Allaq, held the opening speech, which was followed by introductory remarks by the Director of SSRC, staff Brigadier General Ahmed Ali Hussain Tememi, and Director at CFS, David Vestenskov. The first session focused on sectarianism motives and preventions efforts, where presentations were delivered by Dr. Haider Asskar, Ph.D. at SSRC, and Dr. Dominika Kosarova, Ph.D. at the Czech Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies. The second session focused on how SSR initiatives can be used to improve the national security strategy, where presentations were delivered by Dr. Qais Nafil, Ph.D. at SSRC, and Mr. Christian Høj Hansen, Head of Section at CFS.

The webinar presented several interesting perspectives on strategical approaches on countering extremism and SSR efforts that can be applied to enhance academic cooperation between the SSRC and defence colleges from NATO member countries. The next step for the SSRC-RDDC cooperation will be to conduct a third webinar in September 2021 and a physical seminar in Baghdad at the end of the year. The webinars and seminars will be conducted as part of NMI’s efforts to strengthen Iraqi security institutions and will be financially supported by the Danish Peace and Stabilisation Fund.