Lobby your government before European Council of June 17/18
Utrecht, 11 May 2004
Dear friends,
Your organisation is one of the 120 organisations endorsing the Dublin Action Agenda. Besides the adoption of the Action Agenda by the 230 participants of the Dublin conference, this large number of endorsements should give a clear signal to our policy makers!
On 17 and 18 June the European Council will meet in Brussels. At this meeting, the EU programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts will be on the agenda. We asked the Irish government, who supported the Dublin Conference, to include the key recommendations of the Action Agenda in their preparatory report for the Council Meeting. We hope that in the end, these recommendations will find their way into the progress report of the EU programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts.
Your organisation can help this process, by sending your government a letter stressing the most important recommendations of the Action Agenda. To make a stronger case, we suggest that you contact the participants of the Dublin conference, the endorsing organisations or other contacts in your country, and send a joint letter to your government. In the attachment you will find a copy of (some elements of) the letter we sent to the Dutch and Irish government with some suggestions. You can use this letter, or write one yourself, of course. Please send us a copy of your letter!
The Dublin Action Agenda is currently being printed. If you plan to write a letter to your government, please let us know as soon as possible. If you indicate that you are writing your own letter, we will send you a few (5 to 10) copies of the printed Action Agenda to support your lobbying activities.
I think that this Council meeting is a good opportunity to show Brussels that there is a strong and still growing community of conflict preventers and peacebuilders in Europe. So, I hope that you can find some time to lobby your government to make this work!
Good luck and best regards,
Paul van Tongeren
Executive Director ECCP
To…
Reference: Dublin Action Agenda on the Prevention of Violent Conflict
Date:
Dear….
[intro]
The Irish government, in the framework of the Irish Presidency of the EU, hosted together with the European Centre for Conflict Prevention (ECCP) the European Conference on the Role of Civil Society in the Prevention of Armed Conflict at Dublin Castle, from 31 March till 2 April 2004. Participants from all over the world gathered to discuss what roles civil society plays in conflict prevention, and how relationships between governments, the EU and the UN and civil society can be strengthened.
The conference produced a set of recommendations on conflict prevention, the so-called Dublin Action Agenda on the Prevention of Violent Conflict. This Action Agenda reflects the outcomes of a consensus-building process amongst the around 230 participants, representing Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), governments and multilateral organisations.
The Dublin Action Agenda identifies common goals and strategies to encourage national governments, European multilateral organisations (especially the EU) and the UN, as well as CSOs themselves, to better implement conflict prevention and peacebuilding policies. These institutions are already committed to furthering this agenda and to the active engagement of CSOs in that process.
On 17 and 18 June the European Council will meet in Brussels. At this meeting, the EU programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts will be on the agenda. We asked the Irish government, who supported the Dublin Conference, to include the key recommendations of the Action Agenda in their preparatory report for the Council Meeting. We hope that in the end, these recommendations will find their way into the progress report of the EU programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts.
I hope that the … government supports these recommendations as well. The full Dublin Action Agenda is enclosed in the appendix, but I would like to draw your attention to the following key points that we, as a minimum, would like to see mentioned in the report on the implementation of the EU Programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts:
1. We ask for official recognition of the legitimate role of civil society in peace and security matters, as expressed in paragraph B (Our Goals) of the Dublin Action Agenda.
2. In paragraph C, we have listed Guiding Principles – What we believe in. We hope that the European Union can agree on all, or most, of these points. Minister Brian Cowen T.D., in his speech during the conference on 2 April, stated: “I do not ask that you make your principles and objectives subordinate to those of the EU, even though I believe upon close inspection, there is much common ground between us.” We believe it is important as international community/EU to have some common Guiding Principles, and therefore we would like to suggest having this common ground reflected in the report; exploring the possibility of having (some of) these principles included in the Presidency’s report, to be approved by the European Council.
3. In paragraph D on Key Recommendations, we have formulated several recommendations for the EU focussed on the role of civil society, and the links with the EU. Many of these recommendations are in line with the Presidency’s aim to enhance the EU’s approach to conflict prevention through an increased focus on early warning leading to early preventive action and longer-term conflict prevention strategies drawing on all tools that are at the EU’s disposal (as stated in the January Council conclusions). We therefore would like you to consider giving attention to these recommendations.
4. At the 57th session of the General Assembly, held on 4 September 2003, there was an open meeting on the topic ‘The Role of Civil Society in the Prevention of Armed Conflict’. In this GA session, the EU (including the acceding countries, and the associated country) expressed its support for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. We hope this statement of support as read by Minister Aldo Mantovani, Deputy Permanent Representative of Italy to the UN, on behalf of the European Union can be included in the report. With the forthcoming Presidencies of the Netherlands, Luxemburg and the UK, we would like to build up support from the EU and its member states for broader political and financial support for the Global Partnership.
Finally, we would like to bring to your attention that the Dublin Action Agenda, which only lists the key recommendations, is backed by a substantial Policy Background document that will be finalised in mid-May. Many of the outcomes of the working group level discussions of the conference will feed into this comprehensive document.
[extro]
Yours sincerely,