Committee: Issue: Student Officer: Special Conference International cooperation for post-conflict reconstruction Ece Sakaoglu (President Chair of Special Conference) I- Introduction Instability, violence, conflict, disaster, and poverty are permanent features of the international landscape. Civilian and military leaders in the developed world are called on to respond to complex crises, but the record of success is unfortunately vague, only often can be encouraging. Outsiders rarely have the knowledge, skills, patience, or resources to succeed at state building and peace building in fragile, violent, and conflict affected countries. The most important, urgent and practical requirements remain poorly understood, and local processes remain undervalued. In a time of economic crisis in various countries all around the world, the primary focus of international aid to a single post conflict zone should aim to be constructive at its most to the recipient society, effective at sustaining positive outcomes. Building lasting peace in post conflict societies is among the most daunting of challenges for global peace, development and security. Reconstruction requires sustained international support for national efforts across the broadest range of activities of course depending and differentiating from situations. Some of these include monitoring ceasefires, demobilizing and reintegrating combatants, assisting the helping organize and monitor elections of a new government, supporting justice and security sector reform, enhancing human rights protections and fostering reconciliation after past atrocities. II- Involved Countries and Organizations United States of America Source: http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/72.html?&no_cache=1&tx_drwiki_pi1[keyword]=post-conflict USA is the top country in the world that helps the reconstruction in post conflict zones. While doing this, USA at the same time encourages all other nations to act in the same way and call for international cooperation. From Kenya to Karachi, Middle East to Colombia, Haiti to Afghanistan, USA tries to help the suffered nations. Training programs are given to post conflict nations regarding the upcoming process, training for the military personal and peacekeepers in the area are provided by the institute under the government. China China s post conflict engagement to Africa is well known as China is one of the top three countries that help reconstruction in different zones. From Darfur to Democratic Republic of Congo, to Zimbabwe to Guinea China plays an essential and developing role in Africa. This trend of China s shows signs of becoming an important area of policy engagement, practical action and political action between China and African States, as well as the African Union that is a broader multilateral alliance of post conflict response and security. Source: http://www.globality-gmu.net/archives/2712 1
Iraq After American involvement in the area, Iraq was not a promising environment for achieving the goal of building a peaceful, democratic, free-market nation. Iraq had failed to develop into a cohesive nation-state; its state structures had the form but not the substance of a modern state, its economy was in poor shape and its society had endured almost half a century of debilitating violence. The failure to build a nation and the destruction of Iraq as a civil polity were accompanied by the collapse of the economy. International sanctions and economic mismanagement had a devastating effect on the economy and on society during the 1990s. Somaliland Despite little outside intervention, the 1991-1993 peace process in the peaceful northern enclave of Somaliland successfully enabled a sustainable governance framework under a civilian administration. Persistent efforts identified pre-existing social norms that facilitate dialogue and successfully leveraged them to build consensus through conference and negotiation toward a legitimate political framework. MINUSTAH (The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) Established in October 2004, the mission was first established for the political instability and conflict in area. After the exile of the era s president, the devastating earthquake in January 2010 delivered a severe blow to the country s already shaky economy. With the Secretary General s recommendation the overall force level of MINUSTAH has been increased in order to support the immediate recovery, stability and reconstruction efforts. Following the completion of Presidential elections in 2011, MINUSTAH has been working to fulfill its original mandate to restore a secure and stable environment, to promote the political process, to strengthen Haiti s Government institutions and rule-of-law-structures, as well as to promote and to protect human rights. The Mission has continued to mobilize its logistical resources to assist in the effort to contain and treat the cholera outbreak of October 2010. III- Focused Overview of the Issue The post-conflict reconstruction of fragile and failing states has emerged in recent years as a leading concern for the international community. International policy-makers concerned with security issues and with development concur that reconstructing state structures, peace building and facilitating transition are high-priority tasks. The number of peacekeeping and peace building missions has increased since the end of the Cold War, and a U.S. administration that came to power opposed to nation-building is now transforming its military and civil structures to support just such a mission. As lessons have been learned from past missions, other governments and multilateral institutions have sought to improve their institutional capacities and to refine their intellectual frameworks for such missions. The demand to rebuild divided societies emerging from serious long-term conflict is overwhelming, and recent efforts reflect the complex nature of the process of peace building. Peace building involves a process composed of various functions and roles. It often entails a wide range of sequential activities, proceeding from cease-fire, refugee resettlement in some cases, to economic reconstruction and the advancement of human rights. The end of violent conflict has to be accompanied by rebuilding physical infrastructure and the restoration of essential government functions that provide basic social services. In the long run, stability cannot be achieved without the participation of former adversaries in a democratic political process and socio-economic reform. Dialectic human interactions and perceptions as well as the social environment affect the dynamics of peace building. It takes time to overcome both psychological and structural obstacles resulting from protracted conflict locked in vicious cycles of confrontation. Social reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation are essential elements that make a peace process durable and sustainable. In spite of the relatively short history of international efforts on both rehabilitating and reconstructing the post conflict zones, there has been a growing interest in research on the conduct of existing peace building operations especially since 1990s, among policy makers and scholars. UN agencies and the World Bank have created special units that deal with post conflict reconstruction while Western governments have contributed to peacekeeping operations and development aid for societies recovering from violent conflict. There are various 2
scholars who have done incredible effort on the issue and had led to a proliferation of literature on different aspects of peace building. Some have been on Angola, the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Congo, El Salvador, Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan and South Africa. The most important element on this topic while producing solution ideas is that every peace process is not the same, especially in considering divergence in inherent conflict situations. However, overall conceptual and analytical approaches can be suggested to identify steps and actions for bringing about harmonious relations between former adversaries and reconstructing post conflict societies. The whole understanding of post conflict reconstruction should and has to go beyond an institutional framework. It is often assumed that a peace building process ends with the establishment of a new government along with the introduction of economic recovery packages however international cooperation to undermine the lack of social and economic foundations would definitely be more influencing and helpful for the suffered nation. As this report summons up the ideas of various sources on the issue, it will not be wrong to say that the basis of the post conflict reconstruction can come down to 4 main essential elements: 1. Security establishing a secure and safe environment 2. Essential services restoring basic services to an acceptable standard 3. Economy- creating the conditions for the economic growth 4. Government enabling the transition to an inclusive and transparent government Other elements necessary to be taken care of along with these four are: 1) Economy Achieving stabilization in a post-conflict context requires policymakers to manage a host of competing economic challenges. Among other priorities is recognizing that economic policies cannot pursue a business-as-usual development approach but must integrate considerations of social inclusion and political reconciliation that may be less economically efficient but more durable and stabilizing. Lack of experience and capacity in designing and managing national budgets is a common feature in post conflict contexts. Through innovative inter-ministerial budget sector working groups, coding systems to enhance monitoring, and adopting technical systems at a slow but deliberative pace; setting budget priorities, spending ceilings, and administrative schema can be offered. 2) Gender Equality and Empowering Women While the relationship between state and citizens is weak in most post-conflict contexts, this is much more pronounced for female citizens. Even in contexts where women played important roles as peace activists, they are marginalized within the ultimate political settlement. Efforts to develop new political party systems in post-conflict contexts should emphasize the inclusion of female leaders and women s policy priorities in order to eliminate institutional barriers to women s participation in reconstruction and governance. 3) Disarming and educating youth Africa s large youth populations have been a frequently tapped recruitment pool by insurgent groups and state forces in many recent conflicts around the continent. Some post-conflict reconstruction initiatives have managed to successfully disarm and reintegrate armed youths, but most still need to broaden their focus beyond creating employment opportunities and simultaneously address other social and political grievances that motivate many youths to take up arms in the first place. 4) State institutions Progress toward peace and development is unlikely and unsustainable in post-conflict areas unless basic governance and public administration institutions are established and functioning. In addition to a focus on 3
designing and managing state institutions, equal attention should be paid to rebuilding public trust in the government and a shared vision of governance. 5) Private Sector Development During the early stages of post-conflict reconstruction, private sector development is rarely a priority. However, increasing private sector activity can have strong reinforcing effects on all aspects of peace building, including political transition and governance, infrastructure development, social rehabilitation, and reconciliation. The success and viability of private sector promotion efforts, however, depend on an understanding of local conflict dynamics and fostering positive and transparent business competition. IV- Key Vocabulary Post Conflict Nation: Post conflict nation refers to any country in which a conflict arose previously. Peacekeeping: Peacekeeping refers to attempts made to restore stability in the conflict region. VI- Past Resolutions and Treaties The United Nations has been at the center of expanding international peacebuilding efforts, from the verification of peace agreements in southern Africa, Central America and Cambodia in the 1990s, to subsequent efforts to consolidate peace and strengthen states in the Balkans, Timor-Leste, and West Africa, to contemporary operations in Afghanistan, Haiti and Sudan. Recognizing that the United Nations needs to better anticipate and respond to the challenges of peace building, the 2005 World Summit approved the creation of a new Peacebuilding Commission. In the resolutions establishing the Peacebuilding Commission, resolution 60/180 and resolution 1645 (2005), the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council mandated it to bring together all relevant actors to advise on the proposed integrated strategies for post conflict peacebuilding and recovery; to marshal resources and help ensure predictable financing for these activities; and to develop best practices in collaboration with political, security, humanitarian and development actors. The resolutions also identify the need for the Commission to extend the period of international attention on post-conflict countries and where necessary, highlight any gaps that threaten to undermine peacebuilding. The General Assembly and Security Council resolutions establishing the Peacebuilding Commission also provided for the establishment of a Peacebuilding Fund and Peacebuilding Support Office. VIII- Possible Solutions In examining post-conflict reconstruction operations, there are a number of analytical perspectives that can be taken. One approach is to focus on the specifics of state building in a particular national context; another is to examine the generic substantive policy requirements of reconstruction and state-building. As mentioned in the Focused Overview section, the priority should be focused on 4 main bases. The government should be formed transparent immediately, the economy should be focused on, and the necessary institutions should be established primarily to take care of education, health care, women and youth. IX- Useful Links http://statebuildingmonitor.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/post-conflict-reconstruction.pdf http://www.ndc.nato.int/download/publications/op_15.pdf http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/current.shtml 4
X- Works Cited "Post-Conflict Reconstruction." Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Africa Center, n.d. Web. 22 Aug. 2013. <http://africacenter.org/about/contact/>. Post-Conflict Reconstruction of Education and Peace Building: Lessons from Okinawa's Experience. Rep. Okinawa International Center (OIC), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Mar. 2005. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. "Post-Conflict Reconstruction." Foreign Affairs. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http://www.foreignaffairs.com/topics/security/strategy %26 Conflict/Post-Conflict Reconstruction>. "Post Conflict Reconstruction." Global Witness. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. <http://www.globalwitness.org/campaigns/conflict/post-conflict>. Post Conflict Reconstruction. Rep. Task Framework, n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2013. <http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/framework.pdf>. Public Aid Policies and Private Sector Participation in Post-war Reconstruction Processes and Promoting Development. Rep. no. 19. FRIDE, n.d. Web. 23 Aug. 2013. "UN Economic and Social Council; Resolutions; Decisions." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 26 Aug. 2013. 5