The true peacebuilders: the importance of cooperation to the prevention of armed conflict.

Conflict prevention, whether operational (through direct short-term measures aimed at diffusing a crisis) or structural (a long-term approach that strives to address underlying causes of conflict), is meant to mitigate human suffering by resolving differences before they metamorphose into open violence. Over the last few years, the field has received increasing attention as a critical tool for peace and stability in local and international politics. Part of the reason for this rise in profile has to do with the shortcomings in the international system in which there has been an over-reliance on costly and sometimes controversial politico-military measures. The fact that such attempts have not always been successful and almost always carry a heavy toll, especially on the civilian population, has led to an increase in calls for alternative ways that emphasize proactive peaceful engagements rather than reacting to the outbreak of conflict.

Another reason for the increasing attention given to conflict prevention has to do with the growing role of civil society. While Governments have been the primary agents of such prevention at the international level, civil society has emerged over the last three decades as a credible force in this arena. Through research, activism, advocacy, lobbying Governments and intergovernmental agencies, to name a few, global civil society has contributed immensely to understanding the patterns and dynamics of conflicts, and to providing the mechanisms and tools for the prevention, transformation and resolution of some of the world's most intractable conflicts. The peace processes in countries like Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique and Sierra Leone all benefited from the knowledge and expertise brought to bear by both local and international coalitions of civil society groups.

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Broadly speaking, civil society refers to the gamut of organizations, groups and voluntary associations, and in some cases individuals, often occupying the space found between the State and the business-for-profit world. Whether operating nationally, regionally or internationally, they often strive to influence policies and shape norms in almost all fields and at all levels of society. One of the most striking features of civil society is its clustering into transnational networks, often around specific issues. According to a recent report by the United Nations Development Programme, there are more than 20,000 international networks engaged in just about every conceivable issue in every part of the globe. Their activities range from the provision of humanitarian assistance to environmental campaign, from poverty alleviation measures, such as the provision of micro-credit schemes, to the promotion of human rights norms and practices. Some simplify these issues for broad public participation, while others undertake careful studies that target policymakers. While many such actors operate locally and nationally, it is by working together in coalitions that civil society has been most effective.

By operating cross-continentally and converging around issue-specific themes, civil society has proved capable of mobilizing thousands of credible and often vocal constituencies on these issues. For example, Amnesty International alone has more than a million members and has "local chapters" in more than ninety countries, while the Campaign to Ban Landmines consists of 1,400 non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Such campaigns have been successful partly because of the strong alliances that were built among and between civil society groups, Governments and international organizations. It is not surprising, therefore, that those other campaigns have employed similar strategies.

Perhaps nowhere in the wide array of civil society endeavour is the need for cooperation among the various actors more pressing than in conflict prevention. This is due not only to the multi-layered complexity of conflicts but also because cross sections of civil society have not always felt welcome, since conflict prevention has come to be perceived in some quarters as the domain of Governments. And because Governments often tend to think and act in the national interest first, the necessary political will to translate rhetoric into action has often been lacking. Coupled with this is the fact that highly visible emergencies, be they actual violence or natural disasters like the 26 December 2004 tsunami, often take precedence over pending violence. This partly explains why the international community is slow to act when faced with the prospect of emerging violence.

How does conflict prevention benefit from cooperation between and among various civil society constituencies at all levels? A key area in which such cooperation can contribute to conflict prevention is in early warning involving the process of reading specific indicators as signals or patterns of signals, and translating these patterns into an anticipation of the likelihood of the emergence of violence. Grass-roots peace activists are always ideally placed to pick up the first signals of a brewing conflict, and once the signals are identified, it is only through effective partnerships or coalitions that they can be routed to the appropriate channels for early response. As was shown in the case of Rwanda, where over 800,000 people were killed in less than a hundred days, early warning must be linked to early response to have the desired outcome.

The West African Network of Peacebuilders has set up a community-based early warning system in that turbulent region, by which trained peace monitors collect data for analysis and early-warning reporting. Because they live in the community, the monitors are in a position to distill the first signs of conflict and engage key actors to stem the tide of violence. In this way, grass-roots civil society acts as the first line of defense in local conflicts, which tend to have global dimensions and repercussions.

Also, through partnerships that straddle borders, civil society can play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between the rulers and the ruled, thus contributing to the globalization of citizen participation in peace, good governance and democracy. Members of a specific coalition who have access to decision makers may alert local partners to opportunities for formal consultations, help them get to these meetings and articulate their views in writing, and in some cases even transport them to capital cities to lobby Governments directly. Thus, by opening doors to broader public participation on various issues, civil society coalitions bring grass-roots voices directly to the attention of decision makers. Apart from giving local communities a forum for expressing their concerns, global civil society, often represented by well-financed international NGOs, also directly transfers skills, knowledge and money to empower their local partners.

International conferences create a forum for civil society actors to forge partnerships and strengthen existing cross-border communities. The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, and the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing attracted over 17,000 NGO representatives and 35,000 civil society actors, respectively. Such summits have seen a steady increase in the participation of grass-roots organizations and have come to be seen as the venue for the meeting.

Conflict prevention has not benefited from the strong coalitions that have characterized other international campaigns, such as on landmines, small arms or child soldiers. The field is clustered with small and often fragmented networks that have found it difficult to forge effective international coalitions that can solidify the growing role of civil society in this field. To address this problem, some civil society actors have formed an international partnership that encompasses all the major stakeholders in conflict prevention.

In July 2005, this coalition of Governments, international governmental bodies and civil society will bring together to UN Headquarters in New York an estimated 1,000 representatives from all over the world to explore the role of civil society in the prevention of armed conflict. The meeting aims to forge partnerships between and among the various stakeholders by creating a functional and effective global network capable of mobilizing action on conflict prevention. It will engage Governments and the United Nations towards building a new international consensus, with civil society organizations playing a pivotal role in preventing violent conflicts. The process was initiated by various civil society actors under the umbrella of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict.

Conflict prevention is constantly evolving, with civil society acting as a catalyst for some of the changes. As it is too big a task for one actor to undertake alone, there is every need for a multi-stakeholder approach that utilizes effective coordination, timely exchange of information on ongoing or potential crises, field coordination, appropriate training and the pooling of resources. Civil society can and will continue to play a lead role in conflict prevention--a hitherto exclusive sphere of Governments. In coalitions, civil society has the capacity to achieve synergies that lead to more significant outcomes in the prevention of violent conflicts.

Vandy Kanyako, Jr. is Coordinator of the Global Conference on the Role of Civil Society in the Prevention of Armed Conflict, scheduled for July 2005 in New York. He is a graduate of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and of Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame, United States.

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