Parallel Sessions V

A) Challenges for Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: How to Proceed after the Millennium+5 Summit?

Conveners:

Thomas Fues, German Development Institute (DIE), Bonn, Germany
Tobias Debiel, Institute for Development Research and Peace (INEF), Duisburg, Germany

Chair:

Tobias Debiel, Institute for Development Research and Peace (INEF), Duisburg, Germany

Speakers:

Ortwin Hennig, Ambassador, Commissioner for Crisis Prevention in the German Federal Foreign Office, Berlin and responsible for building up the police forces in Afghanistan and Iraq
Gerd Junne, Professor, Department of Politicology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Joy Ogwu, Professor, Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), and member of the Presidencial Advisory Council on International Relations, University of Lagos, Nigeria
Neclâ Tschirgi, Vice President, International Peace Academy (IPA), New York, USA

Abstract:

Armed conflicts are major obstacles to economic development and put extreme pressure on social cohesion. Even in countries where violence has ended or a formal peace settlement been concluded, the population is faced with the massive task of rebuilding their nations. In this post-conflict phase, the state's authority has often collapsed completely, while warlords, gang leaders and other thugs continue to hold the population at ransom. What remains of the government has often lost its legitimacy because it has failed to provide its citizens with security or prosperity. In an overwhelming number of cases, post-conflict phases are thus periods of precarious and chaotic transition rather than the more ordered progress previously envisioned at the conference tables. Moreover, post-conflict societies run a very high risk of being caught in the "conflict trap" (Collier et al. 2003) and of sliding back into armed conflict within the first decade after war's end.

International efforts to support "countries under stress" in their post-conflict phase have recently gained increasing attention. The analysis of sector policies and case studies has produced important lessons learned (Junne/Verkoren 2005). At the same time, the "liberal philosophy" underlying most post-conflict interventions and aiming at the quick introduction of market democracies has been put into question (Paris 2004). Moreover, the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Changes in it's report " A More Secure World: Our Shard Responsibility" (2004) has stated unambiguously that the international community so far was not able to support post-conflict societies in a coherent and effective way. To overcome this deficit, the report recommends that Security Council and ECOSOC establish a Peacebuilding Commission. Its core functions would include prevention of state collapse and assistance for the transition from war to peace. A new Peacebuilding Support Office, located in the Secretariat, would link the Commission to the overall UN System. In his recent report "In Larger Freedom: Towards Security, Development and Human Rights for All" UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to a large extent, adopts the recommendations of the High-level Panel.

Coming one week after the important Millennium+5 Summit in New York the session will look at the decisions taken there. It will also deal with the following questions:

Has the international community so far applied an appropriate approach to support post-conflict peacebuilding and the stabilization of fragile states?
Which lessons can be learned from recent experiences?
Does the UN system need new institutions to react coherently to the threats posed by "countries under stress" and what should be the next steps in this reform effort?

Paper proposals across this spectrum of issues are warmly welcome. Please send your papers to the conveners before May 30, 2005

Contact via: http://inef.uni-duisburg.de/page/englisch/Mitarbeiter_Main.php?name=tdebiel
E-Mail: Thomas.Fues@die-gdi.de

Literature:

Paris, Roland, 2004: At War's End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict Cambridge, UK et al.: Cambridge University Press.
Junne, Gerd/Willemijn Verkoren (Eds.), 2005: Postconflict Development: Meeting New Challenges. Boulder, Col.: Lynne Rienner.
Collier, Paul et al., 2003: Breaking the Conflict Trap. Civil War and Development Policy. Washington D.C.; World Bank.
High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Changes, 2004: A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility. New York, N.Y.: United Nations (December 2004).
Kofi Annan, 2005: In Larger Freedom: Towards Security, Development and Human Rights for All. New York, N.Y.: United Nations (March 2005).

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