Address by State Secretary Réginald Moreels
Belgian Secretary of State for Development Co-operation,
at the Fourth United Nations Volunteers Intergovernmental Meeting,
Bonn, Germany
2/12/97

Introduction: globalisation

"Globalisation" is the central underlying theme of this Intergovernmental Meeting of the UNV. This concept carries with it both hope and desillusionment. On the one hand mankind is still far removed from the ideal of a global neighbourhood that is more democratic, more secure and more sustainable. While it is true that the Cold War lost its heat at the end of the eighties, we also witnessed since then a proliferation of intra-state conflicts whose principal victims were civilians. And while it is true that globalisation creates opportunities for some, globalisation also excludes or reinforces marginalisation for others, as the background note to this conference rightly stresses.

A report of the World Bank of 1996 explains the connection between War and Poverty. Fifteen of the twenty poorest countries in the world have experienced major conflict during the past decade. Virtually every low-income country in the world has either undergone major conflict, or borders on one or more countries in conflict. The world has seen more conflict in the last twenty years than at any time this century. As a result, about 35 million people are currently displaced, either outside or within their country.

The absence of social provisions worsens the conditions of poor people, and contributes to frustration and sudden explosion of violence. It is clear that many conflicts in the post-cold-war period find their origin in social exclusion.

The impact of war is particularly severe on women and children, who constitute approximately eighty percent of the displaced. A recent study in Angola reported that one out of four children surveyed had been orphaned; in Rwanda, the genocide left 114,000 children separated form their parents; and in Liberia, a quarter of the combatants of the various factions were children.

But the notion of globalisation also carries hope. In 1994 the Report of the COMMISSION ON GLOBAL GOVERNANCE expressed this hope as follows:
"The collective power of people to shape the future is greater now than ever before, and the need to exercise it is more compelling."

One could be cynical and point out to the many occasions when the international community has failed in exercising collective power. Indeed, we have witnessed many an occasion in which the preparedness to respond to a crisis, the political willingness to act and the institutional capacity for conflict prevention and conflict mediation were not compatible with the increased demand.

I seek more comfort in two obvious fenomena. Lately, we have seen a growth in international fora on topics related to conflict prevention and peace building. These seminars and conferences have not produced defenit answers to difficult questions. Rather have some of these fora challenged old notions of development aid in situations of conflict or fundamental transformation. I would suggest for instance that we utilise in our discussions the conceptual framework of the Task Force on Conflict, Peace and Development Co-operation of the Development Agency Committee. This OECD Task Force produced an overview of useful guidelines. Let us build on the relevant work that has been produced already.

Peacebuilding and conflict prevention

The end of global bipolarity signalled the end of a world order in which there was clarity on who would, should and could intervene and under what circumstances. One could even predict on the envisaged outcomes in a number of cases. The international donor community is confronted with confusion and paradoxes on issues of conflict prevention and peace buildling.  

• There is confusion on who should intervene. We have witnessed lengthy debates on where to intervene and on behalf of whom. This has resulted in a political vacuum in a number of violent conflicts as well as a deliberate shift of responsability away from the level of political leadership towards humanitarian agencies.

• "Thuggery" seems to have taken over from "ideology", and this follows a logic of its own. The internationally recognized instruments for conflict prevention speak and live by other standards than combatants in violent conflicts. The language of oil, diamonds, territorial gains and personal power is expressed in a different idiom.

• Although the old bi-polarity has gone, other geo-political interests continue to inform and mould the interventions or non-interventions in situations of violent conflict. Often these interventions are defined within the confines of national interests.

Another obvious trend is the phenomenal growth in civil society actors. There's a need for a silent and flexible field diplomacy with the philosophy not to legitimise automatically these irregular armed forces but to avoid putting them in an isolation that would only reinforce their position.

The donor community should support these delicate actions for dialogue, bringing together people from conflict areas and people having fled in the Diaspora for discussing an agenda they have approved together. Therefore, early warning systems should be set up in order to detect growing tension at an early stage. These systems should also keep up with elements such as demographic and socio-economic evolution, food and agricultural condition and possible escalating forces.

We should also try to keep going the dialogue between the conflicting factions and persist in underlining common values and objectives and developing confidence-building measures. By means of so-called 'stabilising points' which are composed multiethnically, various activities can be worked out aimed at restoring confidence and solidarity.

The Kathmandu Statement of the UNV already put "people-centred and sustainable development" at the core of its volunteer work. In a growing number of countries partners from civil society are being sollicited for their potential in "preventive diplomacy". As yet there is no accepted definition of "preventive action" or "conflict prevention". Preventive diplomacy is one aspect of conflict prevention. It relates to measures designed to prevent the escalation of a dispute into a conflict and to contain a violent conflict where and when it breaks out. But there is more to conflict prevention than preventive diplomacy. The concept should include longer-term measures and initiatives including the promotion of good governance, capacitybuilding, support for regional and subregional security arrangements.

It is interesting to note that already 12% of the work of UNV is situated in peace building programmes. Some areas of intervention have already been tested. UN volunteers have been active as monitors in elections in societies in transition. Since human rights violations are often at the root of violent conflicts, volunteers have been deployed as human rights monitors, educators and promotors in a number of countries. UNV Specialists have supported UN operations and missions for peace-building and the promotion of democracy. It will be vital to this conference to take stock of what has been achieved, to share lessons learned and to seek new opportunities and challanges.

As the UN-panel, the OECD and the World bank are stating, disarmament is essential for an adequate conflictmanagement strategy. The prevalence of light weapons in post conflict situations undermines efforts to build peace. The widespread availability of these arms can, and does, lead to a culture of violence with increased levels of banditry and criminality. In several cases arms are recycled; for example guns used in the war in Angola are now flowing into South Africa. Ironically, many of these weapons originated from South Africa, where there are now record levels of violence. In Somalia, Afghanistan and Angola I witnessed as a war surgeon the transformation of a culture of weapons into a culture of violence. Mostly the disrupted societies lose control of the situation and lack capacity to stop the vicious circle of violence. The industrialised countries must realise that they have a certain responsibility because of their virtually unlimited transfer of light weapons.

Early warning systems should be set up in order to detect the proliferation of small and light weapons at an early stage. UN-monitoring must be reinforced to strengthen the check-points where arms transfers take place. Important check-points are for example the harbours and the supply roads in conflict areas. In this context the existing informal networks of ngo-fieldworkers should be encouraged to raise the alarm if they witness arms accumulations and illicit arms transfers. A 'monitoring culture' should thus be established, be it by way of the UN, by our fieldworkers or by our Embassies in the countries concerned, so that we can be alerted in advance of calamities in the making. Supporting regional bodies, research institutions and local ngo's, development co-operation can assist low-income countries in their monitoring capacity. The contribution of specific UN-monitoring to the issue of the proliferation of small arms is an important challenge for the international donor community.

Belgian experiences with conflict prevention

In the context of the Belgian Development co-operation I have introduced new mechanisms for strengthening the capacity for conflict prevention, conflict mediation and peace building. The Belgian International Development Board stresses the fact that new efforts to reduce poverty and inequalities in development are closely linked to the quest for peace and stability.

The three key principles of the Belgian International Development policy are: human rights, good governance and democratisation. The development of a stable society must be reinforced with reference to each country's specific situation.

Regions in conflict, their local and regional stability undermined by population displacement, will be granted emergency aid. Priority is given to initiatives that promote reconciliation and confidence-building.

In countries where the peace process has recently been set in train, the Belgian co-operation effort will do everything possible to avert the outbreak of further hostilities. Post-settlement reconstruction entails:

• Disarmament in return for measures to promote employment, education and promotion of vocational training, including psycho-social support to victims. Micro-disarmament initiatives include programmes such as destruction of arms, food and money for weapons, gun buy-back schemes, reconversion of arms industry

• Demining operations in order to make land cultivable an re-establish a peace-climate

• Rebuilding of the administrative and judicial system with a view to political reorganisation and the prosecution and punishment of war crimes.
  

In more stable societies, development assistance will focus on:

• Defending human rights, based on respect for the individual, and ensuring effective participation in decision-making mechanisms

• Reinforcing the capacity of social bodies and providing institutional support for democratic public authorities

  We cannot pretend any longer that peace policy and conflict prevention is not an issue for development co-operation. Experiences during the first year of operation allow me to draw some first conclusions:

• The area of conflict prevention and peace building is not entirely new to the practice of development cooperation. Our humanitarian aid eases suffering. The Belgian Special Fund for Conflict Prevention and peace Building offers a flexible instrument for quick responses and funding for actions that may help tilt the balance in unstable situations. But an important area of conflict prevention and peace building remains within the longer term development programmes. Indeed there are no quick-fixes to most violent conflicts;

• The local actors in the first place have to build peace or who have to prevent conflicts, outsiders should play a supportive or facilitating role;

• Sustainable peace cannot be imposed from outside, although violent conflicts can be temporarily contained by outside intervention.

Reflecting on conflict prevention and peace consolidation we must not lose sight of the impact of arms trade, light weapons in particular. Special attention must be devoted to the issue of securing surplus weapons -particularly small arms-after the end of conflict.

Conclusions

I would like to supplement these brief conclusions with some general guidelines that seem relevant within the UNV-framework and strategy planning:

• First of all, the capacity to analyse and understand conflicts within the international developmentcommunity has to be strengthened, and the potential for preventing conflicts, mediate in conflict situations and peace building has to be increased;

• Moreover, appropriate mechanisms for conflict prevention and peace building will have to be flexible and adapted to the socio-cultural and political environment;

• Development assistance has a role to play both in the prevention of conflicts, in promoting security by developing capacity on the ground, and by promoting efforts to disarm and reintegrate former combatants. International donor organisations have long maintained a clear separation between development and security assistance. The case of the proliferation of small and light weapons convince us that the donor community should persue a "security first" approach to aid. The contribution of specific UN-monitoring to the issue of the proliferation of small arms is an important challenge for the international donor community;

• Creative partnerships - amongst others but not exclusively with civil society - will have to be developped in order to strengthen the local capacity for conflict prevention, conflict mediation and peace building;

• Special attention and energy should be invested in coordination of the various development actors that are active in a particular conflict situation. Co-ordination should be based on a broad consensus among the main actors as to how their respective actions will contribute to the attainment of a more structurally stable environment.

This does not exclude the diversity of approaches, including the experimentation with new methods, provided that there is room for the sharing of experiences and lessons learned.