Conflict Prevention

Conflict Prevention

​Katie Hetherington: Hello, and welcome to this module on conflict prevention. My name is Katie Hetherington and I'm a program manager at the Public International Law and Policy Group. Today, I'm very pleased to welcome Ambassador Berhanemeskel Nega, who is a Senior Peace Fellow at PILPG, and will help guide us today in understanding conflict prevention. Welcome, Ambassador Nega. 

Ambassador Nega: Thank you very much, Katie. Thank you. 

What are the aims of conflict prevention?

Katie Hetherington: So, to begin, could you please provide an overview of the aims of conflict prevention? 

Ambassador Nega: Yes, thank you, Katie, again. The history of mankind is replete with destructive wars that caused untold suffering and distractions. During the second World War, tens of millions were killed and an immeasurable human suffering and destruction caused.

It was against that background that the founding members of the United Nations declared in the preamble of the charter, the objective of the organization was to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind. That was the preamble of the United Nations Charter.

So, it was in that spirit that Article One of the United Nations Charter further articulates one of the organization's principles as code to take collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to peace, so you see the words for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace.

So, this important work of the United Nations, of course, has evolved over the past 80 years of the organization's life and its engagement in the maintenance of international peace and security around the world. Essentially, conflict prevention is a diplomatic approach. It involves a range of actions and strategies.

And that's identifying and addressing the causes of disputes before they escalate into violent hostilities, unlike reactive measures, for example, like peacekeeping and so on and so forth, conflict prevention seeks to mitigate the factors that contribute to tensions, thereby creating a conducive environment for peaceful settlement of potentially violent conflicts. In doing so, this approach emphasizes early detection and early warning systems, you can set up a dialogue, and the promotion of understanding, to avert the destructive consequences of violent conflicts. 

Conflict prevention is not such a standalone strategy, it involves a mix of different interventions, which could involve peace building activities and also interventions,  in the economic, political, security and cultural and societal dimensions of violent conflict. So, conflicts by their natures are kind of intricate. They have different dimensions. So, it's important to understand the very dynamic and nature of those conflicts, really, when you design a conflict prevention strategy ahead of any occurrence of violence or conflict. 

Why shift to this strategy of conflict prevention?

Katie Hetherington: Why have peace builders shifted to this more proactive strategy of conflict prevention in recent years?

Ambassador Nega: As we said earlier, the United Nations charter itself, both in the preamble and in article one, identifies the prevention of conflict as really a primary means of maintaining peace and security. So, that down, if you see the UN charter, even in chapter six, it requires any parties to any dispute to seek a solution to their problems through peaceful means,  article six, chapter six of the United Nations charter,  stipulates a number of activities, which can be undertaken in that sense.  in the peaceful settlement of disputes, and also the charter provides the Secretary General in Article 99, authority to bring certain matters to the attention of the security council, if he considers those matters, pose a threat to international peace and security.

So, this concept of conflict prevention has evolved, again as we said earlier,  former UN secretary general, first articulated the concept. But it was further developed as our secretary generals in particular,  but very famous, an agenda for peace, which was adopted in 1992, which really provides a more elaborate definition of preventive diplomacy and defining it as an action to prevent disputes from arising between parties, to prevent existing disputes from escalating into conflicts, and to limit the spread of conflicts once they occur.

So, that is,  an ongoing UN priority intervention in the area of peace and security since we have seen quite considerable development of this concept. And, prioritization in the UN interventions around the world we see that, and that could be also different players in this and not just the UN.

You can have regional organizations that can engage. And in conflict prevention activities, in accordance with chapter eight of the United Nations charter, different means in terms of carrying forward to these activities. Again, I think what we are with nothing at the moment, I personally don't really believe that we have at the international level, fully utilized the potential of conflict prevention, but still, I think there is quite considerable interest and engagement in that field.

So that is the reason I think you can give a number of reasons why conflict prevention is really a preferred approach. First and foremost,  by preventing conflicts before they occur, you save lives.  as it was, clearly stated in the preamble of the United Nations, seven succeeding generations from the scourge of war, so I think, saving the lives of, people before before these conflicts arise and also the humanitarian and economic destruction, which conflicts cause can be averted if the conflicts are prevented before they occur. 

Once the parties engage in conflict once, you have destruction and days caused, then the positions of the parties will be even further polarized, entrenched, and difficult even to get them back to the negotiating table, even to find a solution. So, intervention can make it easier even to move to the next phase of addressing the causes of the conflict.

And,  to ensure that sustainable peace is achieved, in a way. So early intervention, detection, all that would help to address the critical aspects of conflicts as a stage. 

What are the main approaches for conflict prevention?

Katie Hetherington: So it's clear the benefits and positive implications of a robust conflict prevention strategy. What then are the main practical approaches for conflict prevention that peacebuilders may consider taking? 

Ambassador Nega:  Essentially, there are two main approaches to conflict prevention. One is a structural approach. And the second is operational, or sometimes you can call it direct prevention. These approaches may overlap,  or separately be undertaken. Or, in sequences as well. It depends on the nature of the conflict and so on and so forth. 

There is no one size fits all approach, but when you see structural prevention, this one is very fundamental. Really, it goes into the heart of any potential conflict. What are really the root causes of that conflict? And, what is needed in terms of addressing those root causes?

Different approaches may be employed at different stages of conflict. So, what structural prevention does is focusing on the long term outlook, mainly understanding the root causes of the conflict and,  seeking the right approaches, the right interventions.

Sometimes, it could be institutional building reforms and even systemic change in a way, constitutional reforms and so on and so forth. So, there are different causes in different conflicts, but understanding the root causes and dealing with them will be critical for the long term sustainable solution, so that is what structural prevention would do. 

So, in doing that, it has to be inclusive. It has to be comprehensive and in an integrated approach, which means you have all the dimensions of the conflict. You have the political security dimensions, the governance, and of course, the justice and human rights aspects all those.

So it's more of going beyond a band aid solution, just to stop the bleeding when you have a conflict, but really to get to the main problem, which causes that conflict and human suffering. 

Operational preventions, again, direct prevention is what involves short immediate, reactive interventions in order to prevent the outbreak of a conflict, or if there is an outbreak, also to prevent its spread or escalation.

So, it's more of a typical type of prevention without getting deeper into the causes. I think that would create the environment conducive for engaging in the long term interventions, through the structural approach, and so on and so forth. So in operational prevention, it may involve different types of interventions.

Again, diplomatic security, humanitarian interventions, and this can be taken also by national actors, regional or international, and different actors can be involved in this immediate engagement or intervention to prevent conflicts and de-escalate the potential violence.

What might structural and operational prevention look like in practice?

Katie Hetherington: Ambassador Nega, could you provide some examples of what structural prevention and operational prevention might look like in practice.

Ambassador Nega:  We mentioned some of them in our earlier discussion. In terms of structural prevention, I think the aim of structural prevention is to promote sustainable peace by addressing the root causes of conflict through long-term comprehensive and integrated approaches and strategies. Especially,  in fragmented and polarized societies with long standing and unresolved grievances, structural prevention may require making hard choices and difficult compromises to bring about changes acceptable to all parties in a sense. 

The focus may be on addressing grievances which go deeper into the conflict. The root causes of the conflict are going to be governance, wealth sharing, power sharing, even the political system, systemic change in a certain country, so that may be taking actions towards those ends. 

In addition, when you deal with such structural problems, it requires serious investment in peace building. Peace building has many dimensions. Peace building efforts can be undertaken at the earlier stage, even during the conflict, during peacekeeping operations, you can also have peace building. 

But in terms of structural prevention, peace building programs can really target more of the long term reforms. institution buildings, and activities, which would address helping building social cohesion, strengthening institutions, promoting human rights, addressing justice and accountability issues, transparency, all those activities, engagements, which are very much the parts of the structural intervention.

Another important factor is when we talk about conflicts, internal conflicts or conflicts between states, we always have to take into account the external dimensions; external factors.

We can really mention even specific conflicts going around now around the world where sometimes even the external factors are more difficult to resolve, and unless you resolve those external factors or deal with those external factors, you will not be successfully resolving the conflict itself.

So, I think it's very important to take into account the external interventions, somehow by way of partnerships and international cooperation working with regional countries and undertaking cross border initiatives, especially in the control of armaments, proliferation of weapons and all that.

So, it has both the internal dimension and external dimensions in that sense. I think, in terms of operational prevention, as you mentioned earlier, its main objective is diffusing tensions, immediate tensions and preventing this from escalating and spreading. 

So, in that sense, you will have diplomats engaged and multilateral organizations and others also involved in dealing with the various parties. The UN regional arrangements may also have an important role to play in this, of course. In operational prevention, the main goal in addition to diffusing tension is to lay the ground for a long term sustainable solution to the conflicts. So that is what is basically needed.

How does the UN employ conflict prevention strategies?

Katie Hetherington: So, we have touched briefly in our conversation today on the role of the United Nations in the development of conflict prevention strategies. Could you elaborate on this role and explain how the United Nations employs these conflict prevention strategies? 

Ambassador Nega: Yes, we haven't touched upon this issue. Starting from the UN charter, the Preamble, Article One, and then Chapter Six, and the role of the Secretary General, all that, and even different departments within the UN, like the department of political affairs and political and peace building affairs, more focusing on that.

So this is, I think, the United Nations key area of focus in the maintenance of preventive diplomacy or conflict prevention. So you see, different strategies use different organs being involved, for example, the Security Council is the main, the principal UN organ for the maintenance of international peace. But at the same time, the General Assembly has also a role in this, in dealing with the Human Rights Council. Also, you have that contribution in a way, for this conflict prevention activity of the UN. 

And in 2006, the PeaceBuilding Commission was set up. The Peace Building Commission has more of an advisory role and very interestingly, if you see in terms of the recurrence of conflicts, even after supposedly they are resolved, that's quite a really high percentage. And one of the key reasons why the Peacebuilding Commission was established is to prevent the recurrence of conflicts once they are resolved.

So, you will see different activities on the ground, especially in conflict and post conflict countries. I was, in particular, involved in Sierra Leone. I think that's a very, very good example of post conflict peace building engagement of the United Nations, where you have all dimensions of interventions. You can see from peacekeeping to special political missions, from special political missions to peacebuilding missions, all in sequences, all aimed at, of course, resolving the ongoing conflict that has been going on for eleven years in Sierra Leone, but also to make sure that conflicts are not relapsing.

Sierra Leone was the first country along with Burundi to be on the agenda of the peacebuilding commission. As I said, the Peace Building Commission was set up in 2006 in the same year Sierra Leone was put on the agenda of the peacebuilding commission. So, the kind of interventions the UN programs implemented in Sierra Leone, I think if you study that, it will give you the whole idea of what needs to be done. Of course, in terms of immediate interventions, in terms of what we say for structural and operational and all that aspect. 

What has happened in Sierra Leone, first, there was a peace agreement, and that peace agreement required a number of actions to be undertaken, including conditional review, really, even the condition of 1991 had to have to go through a review and transitional justice mechanisms. I'm sure you have heard of the special court for Sierra Leone, a very unique kind of innovation in the transitional justice field and the truth and reconciliation mechanism of different forms of reforms as well in the governance, decentralization area, security sector reform, electoral reform. I think the entire menu of interventions, in practice, what we have seen, around the world now, have been implemented in Sierra Leone. So, those are the things I think which show what can be done, at all phases of a conflict.

Sierra Leone's conflict, I think, ended in 2002. Now we have 20 plus years. The institutions are still relatively strong, we haven't seen a recurrence of conflict so far, so we haven't gone through all the stages in a way. So, I think that is one good example which we can cite. 

Another very important dimension of the UN intervention in Sierra Leone. A very creative one is what it's called, because we talked about an integrated approach, Integrating the political security, human rights, and development in the dimensions of conflict intervention with the UNRC, the Integrated UN Peace Building Office, which we had, I think probably the first, along with Bronte we had at that time.

How is local engagement important to effective conflict prevention?

Katie Hetherington: Thank you so much for that comprehensive answer. Shifting our focus slightly, how is local engagement important to effective conflict prevention?

Ambassador Nega: Yes, I think that is also very, very central, again, to sense, to the principle of sustainability and addressing the root causes, and also ownership, frankly, for conflict prevention strategies to be effective and sustainable. It has to identify the root causes of the conflict, especially in terms of strategy,  structure, and prevention.

So, when you deal with ownership of that process, it should be a nationally driven process, which means, the stakeholders, which are both victims, or subjects of that conflict, must be at the center of the efforts. I think that is very critical. So it has to be targeted in, in a sense, to those grievances, and make sure that it is inclusive.

So, when we talk about local actors, local engagement of stakeholders, it means the local stakeholders, civil society, different groups, they use groups, women in particular who are in most of these conflicts, the primary targets, and this was very much articulated in the UN Security Council resolution 1725, women and international peace and security. So, those are the very critical aspects, which I think require investment in building local capacities, civil society, empowerment in a sense. As I mentioned earlier in Sierra Leone, one of the causes of conflicts in most countries, especially in developing countries, is post-elections or pre-elections activities.

In Sierra Leone, we have what we call the election watch NGO. Whenever there is something that's any NGO, it's monitoring and advising both the national authorities as well as really the international community. So, there was a lot of focus on and building those kinds of NGOs, local civil society groups, which are now helping to sustain the peace in that country.

So, civil society organizations, such professional organizations, of course, the traditional groups, something which is overlooked in many senses, especially in Africa and developing countries. In Sierra Leone, the traditional authorities are called paramount chiefs, who have a critical role in terms of conflict prevention as well. Those are the local stakeholders who need to be engaged in all activities and conflict prevention and dispelling. So, I think that's what we can say. 

Final remarks

Katie Hetherington: Now, as we reach the end of our session on conflict prevention, is there anything else you would like to add, Ambassador Nega?

Ambassador Nega: Yes, I think conflict prevention is, as we said, at the beginning. The very foundation of the UN objective or purpose in the area of peace and security, because preventing conflicts before they arise saves lives, I mean, averts human suffering and distraction.

So, that's where all the focus and the investment should be. I think, again, there is more to talk about, but I don't think enough investment is being made, especially at the local level, creating those capacities to empower local stakeholders to have that capacity to prevent conflict within their societies through institutional building and as a support, because that's the only way peace can be sustained internally once people own it and they have the capacity to do it as well. 

Katie Hetherington: Thank you for your time and expertise. That concludes our overview of conflict prevention. Thank you so much, Ambassador Nega, and thank you to our audience for watching.