1. The Role of Education and the promotion of a ‘Culture of Peace’

In the framework of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010), the UNESCO, as the lead agency for the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, has initiated programmes and activities to promote a culture of peace. UNESCO launched a public awareness campaign to raise awareness for the universal principles of a culture of peace and non-violence, and to pledge that these principles are put into practise.
In response to the culture of peace programme, several proposals on the actual implementation of the programme have come forward. For example, the Centre for Peacebuilding and Conflict Management (CCM, Norway) has developed ideas on working on a national ‘Culture of Peace’ programme, leading to a World Peace Index.

In mid-September, ECCP organised an international conference on ‘Conflict Resolution in Schools: Learning to live together’. This conference concluded with some interesting recommendations on ‘how the content and processes of current formal education relate to processes of social exclusion and violence, as well as how to create alternative practices which can stop these processes and contribute to a more cohesive society and a culture of peace’.

&Mac183; Potential speakers: Dr. Tricia Jones (Professor, Temple University, USA) on the ‘Proven benefits of Conflict Resolution Education Research’; Mrs. Antonella Verdiani (UNESCO, Section for Education for Universal Values) on the UNESCO ‘Culture of Peace’ programme; Graham Dyson (CCM); and a video on ‘The Peaceable School’, introduced by Leo Pauw (School Advisory Centre, the Netherlands).
&Mac183; Involved organisations: UNESCO (Paris), ECCP (the Netherlands); and CCM (Norway).

2. Lobby and Advocacy

Advocacy can be seen as one of the most important roles northern based NGOs should play; they have access to governments, financial institutions and donors and can lobby for their southern partners in the political arena.
International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) is a striking example of how NGOs can play a crucial role in advocating a specific issue/problem at UN level, resulting in a ‘Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects’, to be signed and ratified by UN Member States. Another important and powerful example of an advocacy initiative is the successful campaign for the Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Further, the International Criminal Court is now established in the Netherlands after years of debate and lobby between NGOs and governments.
International Alert and Saferworld’s Joint EU Initiative aims to enhance the European Unions’ impact on preventing violent conflict. One of their activities is writing annual papers in which they define options and possible focus areas for EU Presidencies. These documents serve as important lobby and advocacy documents to bring and keep issue of peace and security on the agenda of governments.

Strategies should be adapted to the intended target groups. For example, a strategy could be to create a ‘group of friends’ of sympathetic governments that are supportive to conflict prevention, in order to convince other governments that are still indecisive or inattentive to the issue of conflict prevention. Another strategy, aimed to increase the capacity of NGOs, is to connect to existing campaigns in the field of peace and conflict.&Mac183; Involved organisations: World Vision International (USA), and Saferworld (UK).

3. Development and Peacebuilding

There has been a growing recognition of the relationship between under-development and conflict. For example, the OECD increasingly acknowledges the important role that development co-operation can play in conflict prevention and management, reflected in the DAC guidelines on Helping Prevent Violent Conflict. Moreover, several humanitarian and development NGOs are addressing the linkage between aid and conflict. The US-based network of development NGOs, InterAction, has established a Transition, Conflict, & Peace (TCP) Working Group to ‘explore and promote more effective policies and strategies for integrating relief, development and peacebuilding in transition and conflict affected environments’.

Putting the linkage between aid and conflict into practice, however, is not easy; it demands policy adjustment, different staff-training and rephrasing goals and aims in humanitarian situations. The engagement of Norwegian Church Aid (Norway) and the Norwegian MFA in the peace initiative in Sudan is an example of co-operation between track 1 and track 2, where development and peacebuilding are seen in accordance to the peace initiatives.

Development, humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding practitioners can contribute to conditions favourable to sustainable peace, but they can also exacerbate or create conflict. Their interventions need to be designed, planned and implemented in a conflict sensitive manner to more effectively contribute to conflict prevention. International Alert, Saferworld, and the Forum on Early Warning and Early Response (FEWER), together with partners in the South, have started a two-year programme on conflict-sensitive approaches to development, humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding, which will be presented at the Dublin conference.
In addition, organisations working in the field of development and organisations in the field of conflict prevention could benefit from each other by co-operation and mutual learning. At the Platform meeting, lists of ‘what do we expect from each other’ were made, which could be a starting point for further discussion on the promotion of partnerships, sharing good practices, and revisiting ‘Lessons Learned on Aid and Conflict’.

The linkage between development and conflict should not only be addressed by NGOs but should also be linked in the overall UN system itself: Peace, Security & Disarmament is the first priority mentioned in the UN Millennium Declaration. However, the UN Millennium Development Goals, despite their value and importance, do not mention the issue of peace and security at all.
&Mac183; Involved organisations: Cordaid (the Netherlands), Norwegian Church Aid (Norway), Trocaire (Ireland), KEPA-Service Centre for Development Cooperation (Finland), Norwegian Ecumenical Peace Platform (Norway), International Alert (UK), and the InterAction TCP Working Group (USA)

This issue is an over-arching theme of the conference. How can governmental institutions and non-governmental organisations work together? Over the past years, a lot of new official and non-official ways of interaction have been developed. NGOs gain more influence and credibility amongst governments, due to commitment on both sides. However, the differences between governments and civil society are still apparent. The challenge therefore is how to use this diversity in order to develop better mechanisms for addressing issues of peace and conflict.


4/5. Interaction between the European Union and civil society

There will be two working groups on the European Union: (1) Civilian Crisis management and conflict prevention, and (2) the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).

Crisis management tasks, the so-called Petersberg tasks, were placed at the core of the process of strengthening the European common security and defence policy. Military as well as civil capabilities in crisis management were to be strengthened. The EU has identified four priority areas for civilian crisis management: civil police, civil protection, rule of law and civilian administration. However, crisis management is not an activity on its own, but is interlinked with policy and practice at other levels and stages of conflict. Although much improvement has been achieved over the past few years, crisis management tools and institutions should be integrated more into the overall European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.

Crisis management should be seen as a part of an overall policy of conflict prevention, and not as a separate (military) set of activities. In this regard, civilian involvement in creating peace and security deserves specific attention. Civilian involvement is especially important in long-term involvement in areas of (post) conflict: civilians and NGO-staff can and should play an important role in bringing communities together, establish new relationships and work alongside military personnel and police to create zones of peace.

Many civilian initiatives are set up to train civilians to become peacebuilders and work alongside or with the military and police in areas affected by conflict, such as Civilian Peace Services. Parallel to the Dublin Conference there will be a Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CIVCOM) meeting at April 1st. The presence of many officials working on CIVCOM might provide a good opportunity to discuss the link between CIVCOM and conflict prevention.
The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently drafting an Action Plan on ‘Civil Crisis Prevention’. Mr. Fleischer, the Head of Division, Crisis Pevention/Peacekeeping of the MFA, is a potential speaker on this Action Plan for the Dublin conference.

The implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty, the renewed debate on European defence co-operation, and the recent report ‘A secure Europe in a better world’ presented by the EU High-representative for the CFSP, Javier Solana, to the European Council at June 20, 2003, provide an opportunity for the European Union to strengthening the CFSP and contribute to conflict prevention. Therefore, the working group on the CFSP will cover the following sub-issues: early warning and early response, arms exports and small arms, and multilateralism.

The EU has established a Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit (Policy Unit) under the direct authority of the High Representative. Early warning, the gathering, analysing, and monitoring of information that might indicate the escalation of a conflict into hostilities and/or violence, is an integral part of conflict prevention. Herein, civil-society-based early warning has an important role to play. The EU should be more informed by civil society-based early warning. Further, the implementation of early warning within the CFSP should include mechanisms for civil society involvement.
The purpose of early warning is to come to early response and the prevention of violent conflicts. For example, FAST, the early warning project of Swisspeace, tries to bridge the gap between early warning and early response.
&Mac183; Actively involved organisations: Saferworld (UK), European Peace Liaison Office (EPLO, Belgium), Peaceworkers (UK), Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI, Sweden), FEWER (UK), the Citizens’ Security Council (Kansalaisten turvallisuusneuvosto, KATU, Finland )


6. Interaction between United Nations and civil society

At 13 February 2003, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced the establishment of a Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations – Civil Society Relations. He stated that more reflection is needed on how best to secure the participation and views of NGOs in shaping and implementing the global agenda. The Panel has the task to consult as many as possible NGOs and discuss with them how to improve a participatory interaction between the UN system and NGOs. The Panel will produce a set of recommendations to be presented to the Secretary General in April 2004.
Ms. Birgitta Dahl, one of the panel members, served as a speaker of the Swedish parliament, after she fulfilled several ministerial posts in the Swedish government. Further, she also has a background in non-governmental organisations, such as Amnesty International. Ms. Dahl and Mr. John Clark, the Project Director of the Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations - Civil Society Relations, will participate in the Dublin conference.

Compared to other organisations working on environment, human rights, and development, conflict prevention organisations have not been very successful in establishing formalised or informal interaction with the United Nations. The issue of peace and security is primarily dealt with by the Security Council (SC), which is hardly involved in any interaction with conflict prevention organisations.
John Foster of the North-South Institute (NSI, Ottawa) will draft an issue paper on how the interaction between CSOs and the United Nations, regional organisations and governments has evolved the last two decades, especially in the field of development, environment and human rights. From these experiences, recommendations will be made on the mechanisms for interaction that could be applicable to the civil society organisations working in the field of peace and security.

We could have some short presentations on specific examples of interaction between the UN and civil society, such as from the Global action to Prevent War, SC Resolution 1325, and the International Action Network on Small Arms. The main purpose of this working group is to formulate guiding principles and recommendations for interaction between the UN and civil society. We could give interesting proposals for interaction between the UN and civil society a chance to present themselves, such as the Initiative Pro UNCOPAC, which proposes to establish a United Nations Commission in Peace and Crisis Prevention.
&Mac183; Potential speakers: Ms. Birgitta Dahl, Mr. John Clark, John Foster


7. Interaction between governments and civil society

More or less institutionalised relationships between NGOs and their Ministries of Foreign Affairs have emerged in the past years, including policy dialogue and co-operation in some projects. Both national governmental and non-governmental actors operate in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding. More coherent and effective peacebuilding policies, therefore, require dialogue between these actors as a crucial first step. To this purpose, co-operation mechanisms have emerged, such as national platforms and forums bringing together the different actors.

The Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee (CPCC) is a network of Canadian non-governmental organisations and institutions, academics and other individuals from a wide range of sectors, such as humanitarian assistance, development, conflict resolution, peace, faith communities, and human rights. As one of its main activities, the CPCC facilitates consultation, co-ordination, and collaboration between the non-governmental community and the Canadian government in areas of common interest related to peacebuilding, such as conflict prevention.
Paul H. Chapin (Performance Systems Canada) and John Foster (North-South Institute) have issued a study on ‘Peacebuilding Policy Consultations and Dialogues: A Study of the Canadian experience’ (2001). In this study, drawing on the experience of the Canadian peacebuilding consultations and dialogues, they identify issues that can improve the effectiveness of these consultations.
In Germany, some interesting developments in co-operation between the government and NGOs are taken place in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding and on development and peace. This co-operation takes place through, for example, the Network on Crisis Prevention and Peace Building, FriEnt (Working group on Development and Peace), and country round tables.

Another example is the Swiss Center for Peacebuilding (KOFF), which members include the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Swiss NGOs. One of KOFF’s objectives is to ‘encourage the formation of networks and partnerships between governmental and non-governmental practitioners of civilian peacebuilding in Switserland’. To this purpose, they regularly organise roundtable discussions on priority regions and selected topics.

At the Platform meeting, some more specific issues were proposed as topics for working groups at the Dublin Conference as well. These will need further thinking and consultation, and will probably have one (or two) sessions.

8. The Irish Peace Process
Since the Dublin conference is organised in co-operation with the Irish Government and the Irish Steering Committee, the Irish Peace Process is an ‘case study’ that requires particular attention, and from which we can draw lessons.
&Mac183; Actively involved organisations: Irish Steering Committee

9. Diaspora
The role of Diaspora on conflict resolution can be a negative as well as a positive one. Diaspora can play a negative role through financial, political or material support to violent groups, based upon a romanticised perspective on the conflict situation in the home country. In this way, they can exaggerate and prolong the violent conflict. At the other hand, Diaspora can play an important role in mediation through their outside perspective on the conflict situation. Further, they can be mobilised for positive action easily (often characterised by cohesive communities) to lobby for international attention and positive engagement in the conflict situation. The main challenge is to transform negative roles of the Diaspora into positive ones. Education of Diaspora on the home-country conflict and local media can play an important role in this transformation.

10. ‘War on Terrorism’
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 violent means to ‘solve’ issues of international peace and security have prevailed. We could try to show how non-violent ways could provide an alternative to the current activities that are undertaken as part of the ‘War on Terrorism’.

11. Networking
Networks are not only an organisational structure, but also have an important process-wise value. Networking is not only used to bring together the various stakeholders involved, but is crucial to deal with the complexity of conflict transformation processes as well. A research project on ‘Networking in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding’ will be initiated as part of the programme on ‘The Role of NGOs and Civil Society in the Prevention of Armed Conflict’ in co-operation with Cordaid and ICCO.

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