PRESS BRIEFING ON CIVIL SOCIETY ROLE IN PEACE-BUILDING

PRESS BRIEFING ON CIVIL SOCIETY ROLE IN PEACE-BUILDING

Hailing today’s Security Council debate on the role of civil society in post-conflict peace-building, a diverse group of civic actors also urged the 15-nation body to deepen its dialogue by emphasizing the involvement of local groups working in conflict-affected countries and including such dialogue in its field missions.

Stepping away from the Security Council’s day-long debate to speak to the press this afternoon, Ian Martin, Vice-President of the International Centre for Transitional Justice said that just a few years ago, civil society participation in the Council’s work would have been “unthinkable”.

And although there had perhaps only been one other time non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had addressed the body during a formal meeting -- on a “rather safe issue”, apartheid, in 1994 -- he said that today’s debate had emphasized the importance of ensuring that the alliance between the United Nations and civil society developed on the ground, where it mattered most and where it could contribute to peace-building.  He added that best practices from strengthened ties with NGOs should be promoted among local civic groups, which, frankly, often did not consider the Council as entirely open to their advice.

Mr. Martin went on to say that the participants in the debate had agreed that the voices of civil society must be heard when peace settlements were being negotiated and when missions to implement them were being planned.  The overall effectiveness of United Nations peace-building efforts hinged on the extent to which the Council would strengthen the alliance between the wider Organization and civil society by conveying its expectations in this regard to the leaders of the missions it mandated, and by remaining alert to their response.

Also speaking at the briefing was Isha Dyfan, of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security.  She welcomed the Council’s debate, which had come on the heels of the release yesterday of the first report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations/Civil Society Relations.  That survey had stressed that in order to become fully effective and become fully relevant, the Organization must reach out to multiple constituencies to formulate global goals based on local realities and strengthening democratic participation in global governance.

She said it was important that the United Nations system, particularly the Council, was becoming aware of the important role women and women’s NGOs played in peace processes at both local and international levels.  The Council’s adoption of resolution 1325 (2000) had been an historic step in calling for women’s participation and the integration of a gender perspective in conflict prevention, conflict management, peacekeeping and post-conflict peace-building.

Four years on, it was clear that the measure could not be fully implemented without collaboration among civil society, United Nations agencies and member States, particularly Council Members.  As an example of such cooperation, she said that next week, Canada, Chile and the United Kingdom were joining with her Committee to host the second in a series of relevant working round tables to focus on developing tools to advance the implementation of resolution 1325.

The panel also included Dennis Caillaux, Secretary-General of CARE International, who said the central message was that civil society actors, particularly at local and community levels, were the best resource available to intergovernmental organizations to help identify and address the root causes of conflicts.  Since half of “all these wonderful peace efforts” faltered from the outbreak of local conflicts, it was essential that national peace agreements and peacekeeping mandates must reach to the heart of the local communities.

Citing the situation in war–torn Sudan, among other current hotspots, he said it was clear that international actors must address the fighting as well as the revival, at the local level, of the conflict resolution mechanisms already in place in order to have a sustainable peace.  Only with and through civil society organizations could anything be accomplished, he said, adding that peace must take root at the community level.

The idea was to protect, accelerate and expand the peace-building process.  He said that the groups addressing the Council today had suggested that upcoming Council missions be part of a “community observer programme”, which would send some of the members into a situation on the ground to study first-hand local organizations working in conflict situations.  That would go a long way towards deepening the Council’s understanding of the root causes of conflict.  The groups had also suggested that it would be helpful for the Secretary-General’s Office to work with civil society actors to draw up information guidelines on the origins, dynamics, and actors involved in specific conflict situations.

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