Working For A Better World
Peace Initiatives &
Conflict Resolution


On 10th December 2003, following seven months of hard work, South East of England MEP, Nirj Deva hosted a conference on Conflict Prevention and Conflict Resolution in Developing Countries at the heart of the European Parliament in Brussels.

Attending the conference were representatives of the European Commission, international trade bodies, charities and Members of the European Parliament from a variety of different political backgrounds.

The following conclusions were made by the speakers:
 

  • Dan Silvey, Senior Policy Officer at the UK-based development NGO Christian Aid, called for an overall EU framework and more coherent approach with regard to humanitarian aid and development policy in order to achieve faster and more efficient reactions to crises around the world in the future.
     

  • Dr Christopher Daase, Head of the Department of Conflict Studies at the Brussels School for International Studies, elaborated on the very controversial topic of "Humanitarian Intervention", i.e. the use of military force in external crisis areas without the agreement/consent of the country in question. Dr Daase, tackled four key questions:

             1. Who has the authority to act (the UN, individual states etc?)
             2. Why should humanitarian intervention take place?
             3. When should humanitarian intervention take place?
             4. How should this action be carried out?
     

  • Miss Lindsay Alexander EU Policy Officer at the UK-based conflict transformation NGO International Alert, identified two areas in particular where the EU could do better with regard to conflict prevention: a) integrating its crisis management measures better with its conflict prevention policy, and b) tackle the root causes of conflict, in particular poverty, earlier and more efficiently.
     

  • Catriona Gourlay, Executive Director of ISIS Europe, a Brussels-based think tank working on the analysis of international defence and security issues, raised the point that the EU should not only look at military measures when talking about conflict resolution and crisis management, but rather strengthen its civilian crisis management capacities and develop an efficient civilian mission-planning capacity.
     

  • Laura Davis, Deputy Director of the European Centre for Common Ground, a Brussels-based NGO working across the world on conflict prevention and conflict resolution measures called for the creation of a European Peacebuilding Agency, whose mission would be to organise the recruitment of and training for civilian personnel going into crisis areas.
     

  • Javier Niño Perez of the European Commission's Conflict Prevention Unit, and Eleanor O'Gorman of UNDP Brussels, both called for a better co-operation between the European Union and the United Nations in the field of conflict prevention, conflict resolution and crisis management.

Following the conference, Deva, who has served as the Conservative Spokesman for International Development and Co-operation since his election to the Parliament in 1999 said:

”I am thrilled to have been able to bring together so many different voluntary organizations, academics and charities to discuss the best way forward for EU policy towards conflict resolution and prevention, for the first time ever.

”It is particularly encouraging to see members of all political parties – left and right – uniting behind the efforts of the British Conservative delegation to find solutions to problems of key international significance”


Notes:

The titles of the presentations made by the speakers at the conference were as follows:

  • The link between the crisis of government and conflicts  (Dan Silvey, Christian Aid)

  • The legitimacy of humanitarian intervention (Dr Christopher Daase, Head of the Department of
    Conflict Studies, Brussels School for International Studies)

  • The EU’s commitment to conflict prevention and how it could do better (Miss Lindsay Alexander,
    International Alert/Saferworld) 

  • The EU's instruments for crisis management/short term tools to de-escalate conflict (Catriona Gourlay, ISIS Europe) 

  • The development of EU civilian capabilities - Proposal for a European Peace Building Agency (Laura
    Davis, European Centre for Common Ground)

  • Commission's response to the above presentations (Javier Niño Pérez, European Commission)

  • Conflict prevention in the context of EU-UN relations (Eleanor O'Gorman, UNDP)