We speak of the root causes of conflict. The Secretary-General says
the UN-- all of us-- must stop wars before they start, prevention. We
need to know where wars are simmering and cool them. This is to be pro-active,
not re-active, a quantum leap. Re-action, timely reaction would already
be something for the Security Council. But talk can lead to action,
witness Mein Kampf. So the Security Council is talking prevention and
the Secretariat is girding its many loins. In the UN reformatory, under
Secretary-General Sir Kieran Prendergast (he heads the Department of
Political Affairs - DPA) chairs the in-house Executive Committee for
Peace and Security. This Committee is supposed to give Kofi Annan early
warning of impending eruptions, and to come up with prevention strategies.
Since we are talking about root causes, everything that touches on such
basics as poverty and social justice is involved: not only peacekeeping
but also human rights, humanitarian (emergency) affairs, nation building,
development. To put life into this cumbersome process, the UN staff
college in Turin, with DPA and the London School of Economics, has begun
staff orientation (so far 174 from across the UN) on conflict: causes,
prevention, early warning, what to do, working together. All this will
be tested again and again wherever the UN is engaged in troubled nations.
Challenge at that level is what will get the machinery moving.
Out there on the world screen is UNESCO's Culture of Peace, endorsed
by the 53rd General Assembly as its last act in September 1999. The
declaration and programme are theoretically-- morally, ideally-- above
reproach; but they are so general as to leave me at the gate, wondering
where to get in. I guess there are many good people at work who can
show me how.
Back in the UN house, conflict prevention is nothing new. Besides big
operations launched by the Security Council, there have all along been
individual emissaries dispatched by the Council and the Secretary-General
to mediate and cool the hot spots, at present about 35 in all regions.
Among these is the Secretary-General's representative for Somalia who
will be working with the Djihonti initiative to see if those warlords
can behave. In addition, there are two who have global tasks-- Olara
Otunnu for children in war, and Francis Deng for the millions displaced
in their own countries.
