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Concisely the problem is too many wars too many guns too much money for warlords and not enough prevention.
Chronic forgotten emergencies
Lives claimed in wars today are overwhelmingly those of civilians. These wars are fought mostly within poor countries. Most last for more than ten years but many of today's wars never appear on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. The world is not equipped to deal with 40 simultaneous civil conflicts. A major overhaul of the international conflict management system is needed. UN peacekeeping troops are often under-equipped and have unworkable mandates. The UN concluded a review of all of its peace operations in late 2000
but few of the recommendations in the Brahimi Report
or in a subsequent conflict prevention report from the Secretary-General have been implemented.
Proliferation of weapons
The global trade in small arms is vast largely unregulated and contributes significantly to the proliferation of civilian casualties in today's wars. World military spending in 2000 reached US$812 billion. Between 500 million and 1 billion military-grade light weapons or small arms are estimated to be in circulation in the world today. One weapon - the AK-47 - is particularly widespread (up to 70 million in circulation) and inexpensive (often available for less than $20 or the price of a goat). Because of its simple and robust design it can be disassembled by a 12-year old and has an operational life of more than 20 years. One result of the proliferation of deadly weapons is an increase in the proportion of civilian casualties. Estimated to be 10% in 1900 90% of the victims of today's wars are non-combatants.
Commerce and conflict
From precious metals and minerals in the Great Lakes and West Africa to oil in the Horn of Africa to coca in Colombia war is often about cold hard cash. Few rebel groups now claim to be fighting for political ideology religious reasons or an emancipatory cause
but the international community has not adapted to this reality. International commercial interests particularly diamonds and petroleum companies play an unconstructive role in many of these conflicts. So-called smart sanctions imposed by the Security Council or other multilateral bodies tend to impact the poor more than the elites the latter often benefit from sanctions. The international community has no tools to sanction or even blunt the impact of corporate and business policies on the poor and war-affected.
Not enough prevention
Several major international initiatives including the Hague Appeal for Peace and the Secretary-General's report on conflict prevention and the UN Panel on Peace Operations have resulted in no practical increase in the capacity of the UN or the international systems to respond pre-emptively to prevent conflict. While the Department of Peacekeeping Operations system invested US$2.6 billion to deploy 38
000 peacekeepers in 2002 conflict prevention measures totalling US$200 million were turned down by UN member states last year on the basis of their cost. Conflict prevention and conflict management mechanisms must operate co-operatively not competitively.
World Vision advocacy for peace
Three basic convictions undergird World Vision's advocacy on contemporary conflict: development brings peace forgiveness heals societies and justice and peace belong together. WV's research has consistently demonstrated that sustainable
holistic socio-economic development works. Such development enables indigenous conflict management resources to re-emerge or new ones to evolve. Thus WV has focused on researching demand-side approaches to the small arms problem. In New York Brussels and Geneva WV is engaged in advocating for peace through global institutions like the UN and the European Union. WV seeks to bring specific community-based conflict resolution initiatives to the attention of policy-makers as an example to the international community of the power of grassroots peace making. The implicit advocacy message is: if the citizens of war-torn Mitrovica can overcome enormous obstacles to create a peace council so then should the international community be able to resolve differences peacefully. As a Christian organisation WV draws attention to the public-policy implications of forgiveness in resolving long-standing conflict. WV also takes a view however
that without some form of justice in relation to violations of people’s basic rights and crimes against humanity
forgiveness can be hollow and destructive. For example
WV has argued that if economic opportunity is denied to poor communities recovering from conflict violence is very likely to continue.
World Vision peacebuilding programmes
WV has developed expertise in building community-level conflict management capacity. Whether through intentional conflict mediation programmes in the Balkans and Southeast Asia
through training of staff in conflict management techniques
or through more implicit means such as the mainstreaming of the Local Capacities for Peace (LCP) methodology in relief and development programmes WV seeks to promote peace and reconciliation. WV advocacy staff cultivates relationships between community-level staff or partners and decision-makers within various multilateral organisations. Coalitions and campaigns In relation to the proliferation of light weapons
World Vision has been an active member of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) the Humanitarian Coalition on Small Arms and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and has actively liased with the inter-governmental Human Security Network. After working in coalition with other US-based NGOs to reform the global trade in conflict diamonds
WV was invited to take a seat on the World Diamond Council. On wider conflict issues in New York WV participates in the Global Policy Forum's NGO Working Group on Security Council
meeting weekly with Security Council Ambassadors. Through our European Union Liaison Office WV has carried out seminars for European Union missions on the Local Capacities for Peace approach. The UN convenes the Inter-Agency Steering Committee (IASC) on Humanitarian Issues on a weekly basis in New York and Geneva with regular WV participation. As a member of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
WV carries out humanitarian advocacy with other large operational NGOs. WV is also a regular participant in NGO academic think-tank dialogues such as the Humanitarianism and War Project hosted by Tufts University in the United States.
Recommendations
Invest in conflict prevention
- Of countries in the poorest half of the Human Development Index 45% experienced war in the past decade. Increase overseas development assistance as a preventive measure.
- Support initiatives specifically designed to promote non-violent conflict resolution and to reduce demand for weapons.
- Increase Security Council capacity to take pre-emptive preventive steps with incipient conflicts in Indonesia
Zimbabwe and other precarious pre-conflict situations.
- Support Recommendation 27 of the Secretary-General's 2001 Conflict Prevention report which invites NGOs to organise a major international conference on conflict prevention.
Fix the international conflict management system
- Implement the Brahimi Report. Despite a 90-page implementation report
only one UN mission (UNAMA) has fully instituted the Panel on Peace Operations recommendations.
- Give troop-contributing countries more say in how their troops are deployed by the Security Council to enforce peace resolutions.
- Involve NGOs in providing specific training for troops carrying out peace operations.
Upgrade the toolbox of non-coercive conflict resolution tools
- The Security Council Sanctions Committee spent two years refining smart sanctions proposals but its report has never been published due to dissent among member states. The report must enter the public record.
- Engage a variety of existing NGO private sector dialogues to arrive at accepted business best practice in conflict zones and consider enforcement mechanisms for destructive private sector players.
- Examine numerous NGO proposals on developing a rapid reaction non-violent peace force.
Improve international post-conflict responses- Post-genocidal societies must have tools both to bring violent perpetrators to justice and to empower the healing of society by publishing the whole truth.
- Codify international standards for disarmament
demobilisation and re-integration (DDR) programmes to avoid repeating known errors in post-conflict reconstruction.
World Vision Resources
Among the significant resources on peace and conflict issues available in World Vision Partnership are:
- Silent Revolution: The Role of Community Development in Reducing Demand for Small Arms
Working Paper No. 3
WV UK/Ethiopia
2000
- Angola: The Forgotten Emergency
Working paper
WVI
1999
- Angola: A Tangled Web
Many Players in a Complex War
WV UK
2000
- Sudan: The Continuing Costs of War
WV US
May 1999
A Deadly Pandemic: Small Arms and Light Weapons
Working Paper No. 4
WVI
2001
- The Right to Peace: Children and Armed Conflict
Working Paper No. 2
WVI
2000
- Breaking the Curse: World Vision and the Fight Against Landmines
WV Australia
2000
- Dean Hirsch letters to UN Security Council on Palestine
December 2001 March 2002
October 2003
- Promises
Promises
WV UK/WV Jerusalem
2000
One Word
One
World: STOP Child Soldiers
WV Australia (with Coalition)
1999
- Children and Peacemaking: Experiences and Perspectives
WV Australia
February 2002
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