Conflict Prevention

The EastWest Institute's International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy launched the Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention and Human Security, a new initiative to link parliamentarians from around the world using diplomacy to prevent conflict.

Ortwin Hennig, Chair of the Task Force, opened a meeting of more than 40 parliamentarians that officially launched the network. President Hans-Gert Pöttering of the European Parliament also addressed the meeting, pledging his – and the European Parliament’s – full support to the network.

Gareth Evans, a member of the Task Force High-Level Advisory Board, delivered the keynote speech and spoke of the important role that parliamentarians can and should play in advancing the cause of conflict prevention. In particular, he encouraged parliamentarians to continue their norm-setting role, influencing legislation and holding governments accountable. He drew attention to the need for them to advocate for greater resources to preventive diplomatic initiatives and to support the development of the Responsibility to Protect principle in their parliaments.

Members agreed to focus the network's initial efforts on supporting prevention activities in Africa and Eastern Europe, and on greater capacity building.

Ms. Angelika Beer, Member of the European Parliament from Germany, and Mr. Kabwe Zitto, a Member of Parliament from Tanzania, were elected as the first co-chairs of the network on an interim basis. Both parliamentarians are long-term advocates for conflict prevention efforts.

In a statement to the press, the co-chairs said that network members are committed to reframing traditional thought on security. They went on to say that the network will “use the members’ combined experience and capacity to influence governmental policy and resources towards early and effective actions to prevent violent conflict. As individuals and as a network, we will support our colleagues in countries across the world in their efforts to bring peace and stability to their region, whether they are directly involved in peace processes or in need of the networks support to bring attention to a particular conflict.”

The network, which was initially proposed and since developed by the EastWest Institute’s International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy in December 2007, links more than 45 parliamentarians from 20 countries around the world. Network members work at national and international levels to gear legislative mechanisms and procedures to direct political will and resources towards preventive action and human security.

For more information on the Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention and Human Security and its Members, please visit the task force web site or contact the network’s Secretariat.

EWI endorsed the formation of a global media leaders group to promote media responsibility in tackling issues of international peace and security.

Staff members and associates from the EWI recently attended a conference entitled "Responsibility to the Future: Business, Peace, and Sustainability." The conference, organized by the Strategic Foresight Group (SFG) in Mumbai, India, and co-hosted by the UN Global Compact, included a panel that EWI helped to organize on the role of the media in crisis prevention, peace, and intercultural understanding. EWI was able to introduce its concept of a global media leaders group to a diverse audience (over 100 foreign participants were in attendance) and engage in a fruitful discussion on the importance of media responsibility in tackling pressing issues of international peace and security, particulary violent extremism.

The Madariaga–College of Europe Foundation and the EastWest Institute’s International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy (Task Force) will hold an informational meeting in Brussels on June 10, 2008, to present the Task Force’s proposals for the establishment of an International Panel on Conflict Prevention and Human Security and a Parliamentarians Network on Conflict Prevention and Human Security. These two bodies would function as key advocacy and advisory mechanisms to raise attention to key policy issues pertaining to stability and peace and new threats and challenges and what action can be taken to prevent them turning violent.

• The International Panel on Conflict Prevention and Human Security will work to reframe traditional security policy toward the development of effective early diplomatic and operational alternatives to violence, which strengthen national and international capacities for sustainable and peaceful resolutions of conflict.
• The Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention and Human Security will be an international, non-partisan network of parliamentarians from countries across the globe working at the national and international level to gear legislative mechanisms and procedures to direct political will and resources towards preventive action and human security.

The two initiatives are built on the Task Force declaration “Making Conflict Prevention Real,” which was adopted in December 2007 by the Task Force’s High-Level Advisory Board. The Task Force has received input from key stakeholders from the United Nations, national governments and parliaments, and international civil society groups to shape both the International Panel and the Parliamentarians Network. In cooperation with—and kindly hosted by—the Madriaga-College of Europe Foundation, the EastWest Institute is holding this public informational session on the Task Force proposals. The meeting will take place on:

June 10, 2008
10:00am-12:00pm
Madariaga – College of Europe Foundation
Rue Royale 87, 1000 Brussels

If you are interested in attending the event, please contact Ms. Maja Hild at the EastWest Institute Brussels office. She can be reached by email, mhild@ewi.info, by telephone, +32 2 743 4626 or by fax, +32 2 743 4639.

By invitation of Yale University and its World Fellows program, the EastWest Institute held the fourth Core Group meeting of its International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy at the Yale campus in New Haven, Connecticut, April 13-15, 2008.

Two intense and productive days of discussions with Task Force members and stakeholders--including leading Yale faculty, as well as representatives from the US State Department, United Nations, and leading international civil society organizations--resulted in substantive advancement of the proposal for an “International Panel on Conflict Prevention and Human Security” and a “Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention and Human Security.” All participants were in favor of both initiatives, with the UN and State Department representatives respectively calling them “extremely valuable and necessary” and “timely initiatives indeed”. Both the Panel and Network, if implemented, have the potential to reframe the traditional security policy debate towards a much-needed holistic approach

This discussion is the third installment of our Building a Platform for Moderates series is part of the EastWest Institute’s Countering Violent Extremism Initiative, which is being supported by Donald Kendall, Chairman Emeritus of the EastWest Institute and a former Chairman of Pepsi Co. This event will be held in Partnership with the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta.

The Countering Violent Extremism Initiative is examining how religious identity plays a role in public life, and we are working towards developing a truly global perspective. Violent extremism takes many forms, but some well-known examples use religion as a key marker to enhance and further their agendas. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the global phenomenon of violent extremism and how it relates to religious leadership.

A few discussion topics have been chosen to explore how this particular community views these issues and have been used in prior sessions. This process, if successful will be duplicated at a variety of locals in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia in order to draw upon the lessons, guidance, and experience of different communities. Feedback from these communities is being logged and synthesized for reporting at years end. The discussion is by invitation only.

The results of the meeting in Chicago were compelling and thought provoking. The session was hosted by and held in partnership with the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) and was attended by Muslim, Christian, and Jewish participants. An encouraging trend running through the meeting was the keen lack of desire to speak on issues of policy dilemmas in a negative light (in fact nearly any dilemma was discussed with positive and constructive examples of how to counter or prevent it). The entire tone of the meeting was geared toward policy responses and recommendations for best practices. Far from blind optimism, the group as a whole, with a heavy youth component, put an impetus on social change and positive action by engaging in and striving to meet achievable goals.

EWI conveened a meeting in Alabama that went extraordinary largely due to the excellent work of the participants. The participants consisted of 8 Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopalian faith and community leaders in the city of Birmingham.

Egemen Bagis, Turkish Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, opened the second meeting of the Core Group of EWI's International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy, which took place in Istanbul on September 5, 2007. The meeting brought together highly regarded experts from China, Europe, India, Iran, Israel, Latin America, Palestine, Russia, South Africa, Turkey and the US. Participants set priorities for discussion when the entire Task Force meets in December 2007.

For more information on EWI's work in Preventive Diplomacy

The Task Force will develop practical mechanisms to build domestic and international political will to shorten the time between "early warnings" and "early responses" to violent conflicts.

Click here for more information about the International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy website

 The Task Force will build on previous work; address the cracks in the current conflict prevention architecture; advocate for increased capacity building; help mainstream and institutionalize conflict prevention; foster the coherence of ideas and instruments; and advocate for determined and consistent action.

An international group of 15 highly recognized experts in conflict prevention launched the Task Force Core Group. The Group receives support from a High-Level Advisory Group of eminent persons and draws on a pool of conflict prevention practitioners and scholars. The Task Force plans to mobilize a broad constituency of representatives of governments, international organizations, media, business and civil society, and serve as an advisor, initiator, innovator and advocate for preventive diplomacy. EWI is the Secretariat of the Task Force.

For more information, please visit the International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy website, http://www.preventivediplomacy.org/