URGENT APPEAL FOR G8 ACTION ON CONFLICT PREVENTION

REQUEST FOR ENDORSEMENT OF AGENDA FOR ACTION - FROM INTERNATIONAL ALERT,
SAFERWORLD AND THE EUROPEAN PLATFORM FOR CONFLICT PREVENTION AND
TRANSFORMATION:

Dear friends
Please find attached a draft agenda for action addressed to the G8
governments in preparation for their forthcoming summit in Japan on July
21-23, 2000 (the draft agenda for action is copied at the end of this email).  The
document makes an appeal to the G8 governments to take action on the
conflict prevention Communique agreed by G8 Foreign Ministers in Berlin last
December.  It is essential that the G8 governments agree on practical steps
to address the conflict prevention priorities they have agreed.

The document has been produced by International Alert and Saferworld, in
co-operation with the European Platform for Conflict Prevention and
Transformation, and was presented at a preparatory NGO meeting on conflict
prevention in Japan on June 9-10.  The final document, with endorsements,
will be printed and disseminated from June 20.

We ask you:
to endorse the document by filling in the enclosed form;
to distribute it to your contacts and ask them to endorse it as well;
to approach your Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make an appointment to
discuss the contents of the document with them after you have received the
final version; to try to get some media attention for it.

Please indicate whether you can endorse the document as soon as possible.
Since we are working to a very tight timeframe, it will unfortunately not be
possible to incorporate any comments and suggested amendments.  I hope that
you appreciated the necessity of this.

This summer the European Platform will also start drafting a policy document
on EU policy and conflict prevention to present at a Platform meeting during
the Swedish EU presidency in 2001.  This will be a more long-term project
and we will be able to be far more interactive in this process.  I hope that
we can ask for your comments, ideas and support for this document as well !

As mentioned before, you can endorse this document by filling in the
attached form and sending it back to the European Platform by email:
euconflict@euconflict.org or by fax: + 31 30 - 2537529.  Could you please
let us know as well whom we have to send the final printed versions to and
how many copies you would like ?

Thank you very much for your help.
Yours sincerely
Kevin Clements, Secretary General, International Alert
Paul Eavis, Director, Saferworld
Paul van Tongeren, Executive Director, European Centre for Conflict
Prevention

Endorsement form:

YES, our organisation endorses the agenda for action

Name organisation............................................

Address.............................................................
.........................................................................

Contact person:.................................................

Signature (in case of fax)..................................

Please return this form to:
The European Platform for Conflict Prevention and Transformation
Fax number: + 31 30 253 75 29
or by email: euconflict@euconflict.org


ATTACHMENT:
DRAFT AGENDA FOR ACTION FOR THE G8 (see 'Campaigns and Other Events')
Drafted by International Alert and Saferworld, in cooperation with the
European Platform for Conflict Prevention and Transformation

THE G8 AND CONFLICT PREVENTION - TURNING DECLARATIONS INTO ACTION

INTRODUCTION

(i)  The G8 and conflict prevention

Violent conflict interdicts development, economic growth and the maturation
of political institutions and generates enormous short term real costs.  The
Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict has estimated that the
costs to the international community of the seven major wars in the 1990s
(excluding Kosovo and calculated before the close of the decade) had been
$199 billion - in addition to the costs to the countries actually at war.
As the UN Secretary-General has pointed out, more effective conflict
prevention strategies would save tens of billions of dollars and hundreds of
thousands of lives.

Intergovernmental institutions have accorded conflict prevention increasing
prominence on their agendas.  However, action has lagged behind rhetoric.
This should not be surprising, since the costs of preventive measures must
be paid immediately, with the benefits in the future and, intangibly,
representing the costs of conflicts which did not take place.

Concentrating the greater part of world economic, political and military
power, the G8 has the clout to ensure that more inclusive political
institutions, such as the UN, or regional bodies in which its members are
involved, such as the EU, OSCE, ASEAN and the OAS, carry forward and
implement effective conflict prevention measures. In an increasingly
globalised world, sharing responsibility and coordinating action becomes
ever more important.

In addition, the G8, with the establishment of the G20, have recognised the
importance of broadening dialogue on important financial and economic policy
issues.  The G20 brings together the G8 finance ministers with
representatives from the EU, IMF and World Bank and key countries from
regions around the world, such as Argentina, Australia, China, India, Mexico
And South Africa.  G8 member states constitute a majority on the governing
body of the World Bank and have the ability to ensure that the world's major
financial institutions to adopt and implement complementary strategies for
conflict prevention. The G8 is also an interlocutor with the developing
countries which make up the G77.

The G8 has risen to the challenge, adopting a ground-breaking statement on
conflict prevention at the meeting of its Foreign Ministers in Berlin in
December 1999.  In the Communiqu=E9, the ministers commit themselves 'to
strengthen the ability of the international community in conflict prevention
' by acting as a catalyst to ensure appropriate steps are taken by the UN,
regional organisations, NGOs, international financial institutions, the
private sector and directly affected states themselves.  The Communique
focused in particular on light weapons proliferation, organised crime, child
soldiers, mercenaries, illicit trading in commodities such as diamonds,
environmental triggers to conflict and on practical steps individual G8
states could take.

The G8 has therefore the potential - and the moral responsibility - to
exercise leadership and mobilise for action. This does not mean that it
should consider substituting itself for the UN, which remains the central
institution of global governance.  A reformed Security Council and a UN
conflict prevention unit are among the reforms that should be urged by G8
countries to equip the UN to fulfil this role.

If preventive action is to be seen as the first and natural resort, then a
supportive moral climate must be created: a culture of prevention.  For
this, strong political leadership from the most senior level of countries
like the G8's members is an essential pre-requisite, providing cues to a
wider global society.  Strategies such as preventive diplomacy, preventive
deployment and preventive controls on arms proliferation will be most
effective if they are supported by a broad constituency of opinion formers
and popular organisations.

(ii) Civil society in conflict prevention

This broad constituency, making up civil society, has a fundamental role to
play in the prevention of violent conflict.  The G8 will need to recognise
the legitimate contribution which can be made by civil society if it is to
effective engage in conflict prevention.  The formation of a public climate
in which more than lip service is paid to conflict prevention demands
engagement by the full range of those active in civil society, such as the
media, NGOs, academics, trade unions and women's organisations.  Even in
preventive diplomacy NGOs can have a useful role - it is worth recalling the
decisive contribution made to the Middle East Peace Process in achieving the
Oslo Agreement, by a small Norwegian NGO.

Engagement and consultation with civil society is also a way of ensuring
that the issues and concerns of those communities most affected by conflict
are reflected in donor programmes.  To ensure that the potential role of
civil society is fully utilised though the donor community should transfer
resources towards enhancing the capacity of civil society to play the roles
highlighted here.

(iii) Implementing the Communique

To make progress with this ambitious agenda set out in the 1999 Communique,
it is essential that the G8 Summit in July 2000, agrees practical steps to
muster the concerted efforts of the coalition of  forces needed to create a
'culture of prevention.'  This briefing sets out recommendations to the G8,
developed by NGOs working on conflict prevention.  Four broad areas are
developed, linking the role of the G8 in conflict prevention with economics,
development, security and the strengthening of civil society.  Each section
contains an overview and a set of recommendations for further action.


1. ECONOMICS AND CONFLICT PREVENTION

International Financial Institutions

Inequitable economic growth, worsening economic performance and consequent
reductions in human development can contribute to conflict risks.  Much of
sub-Saharan Africa has seen a decline in macro-economic performance and
worsening social indicators over the last 15 years.  It is no accident that
many of those same countries are experiencing ongoing conflict or suffering
the aftermath of civil war.
Conflict is most likely to manifest itself when social and political
structures are unable to cope with macro-economic shocks. The violence and
regional conflicts that accompanied and led from the market collapse in
Indonesia is a recent example.  Evidence also suggests that the risks of
violent conflict increase when the impact of programmes is unevenly felt or
when specific populations feel excluded from economic gains.

While there is an imperative for developing countries to reform their
economies and integrate into the global economy, the polices that they have
been encouraged to pursue by the international financial institutions (World
Bank and IMF) have often contributed to the risk of violence. Fortunately,
they have acknowledged their mistakes of the past and have reoriented their
policies towards poverty reduction objectives, such as the World Bank-IMF
Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility for future concessional operations in
low-income countries.  Under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
initiative donors too have shifted debt relief efforts towards poverty
reduction strategies.  In countries that have recently undergone or are just
emerging from intra-state conflict, donors have also begun to accept
conflict prevention as an integral part of their economic mandates. The
World Bank's Post Conflict Unit and its development of a draft conflict
prevention policy is recognition of this. In addition, international
financial institutions recognised for the first time, at the annual
conference of the IMF and the World Bank in 1999, that civil society in the
poorest countries should engage in their own poverty reduction strategies.
The efforts of civil society, donors and government in Uganda on this score
provide a positive model.

A lot still needs to be done though.  The G8 should play a lead role in
ensuring that these new initiatives are coherent and begin to address the
root causes of conflict and not just the symptoms. G8 countries should:

ensure policies geared towards poverty reduction do not just aim to meet
urgent social needs, but also address the underlying causes of structural
inequality that exacerbate the potential for violent conflict.

shift their lending policies away from short-term financial targets towards
long-term commitments to improving governance and other mechanism that help
protect the most vulnerable groups of society and help prevent violent
conflict.

make sure that the new rhetoric of civil society participation and poverty
reduction is matched by political commitment and resources.  This implies
that resources are directed towards enhancing the capacity of civil society
to provide an independent planning and monitoring function.

improve coherence and co-ordination between donors and other external actors
present in conflict regions in order to integrate conflict prevention
objectives into long term goals. Research on the impact of EU and World Bank
development aid in Ethiopia for example has underlined the importance of
such an approach.


The Private Sector and Conflict Prevention

The changing nature of conflict and the rapid globalisation of the world's
economy over the last decade have combined to make the private sector an
important actor in many conflict threatened or afflicted societies. As the
perceived power and influence of the private sector has grown, so has its
potential to contribute to sustainable development and the prevention and
resolution of violent conflict.  While there has always been a strong moral
argument for appropriate action, particularly where company operations have
created or exacerbated conflict, there is now a compelling argument that
contributing to conflict prevention is a business interest which goes beyond
presentational concerns to acknowledging the impact of conflict on the core
operations and financial considerations of the private sector. From
Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, the potential and reality of violent conflict is
becoming an unavoidable business issue.

Today, only about 4% of the world's GNP is military related; 96% of the
international business community provides civilian products and services.
Most of these business sectors have a vested interest in world stability and
peace.  Since most of the world's leading multinationals have their
headquarters in G8 countries, there is scope for co-operation and
co-ordination between the state and private sectors in contributing to
conflict prevention and resolution. G8 governments should:

use their influence to encourage greater corporate social responsibility and
commitment amongst companies to contribute to conflict prevention, including
common standards or codes of conduct.

create networks across state, non-governmental and private sectors on a
country and regional level to share analysis and plan strategic objectives.

work with the private sector, which has a legitimate interest and much to
contribute to anti-corruption measures and reform of the security sector.



2.  CONFLICT PREVENTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Most violent conflicts take place today in developing countries.  The costs
of these wars are immense and can throw back a country's development efforts
by years or even decades.  The GDP of Bosnia for example plunged from an
estimated =A310 to $2 billion between 1990 and 1996; the cost of
reconstructing the country has been estimated at several billion dollars
more. The rising number of conflict-related humanitarian emergencies is also
diverting scarce resources from long-term development assistance to
humanitarian relief.  In the 1980s emergency relief accounted for only 3% of
the total development co-operation budget of OECD countries; during the
1990s this proportion rose to 10%.  At the same time, the total amount of
international assistance has fallen sharply and bilateral donors have
increasingly focused their aid on a small number of countries that meet
strict criteria of economic performance and good governance.  This excludes
countries with oppressive regimes and high poverty levels that are most
prone to violent conflict. In addition, little funding is made available to
support the implementation of peace agreements as they imply high-risk
investments. In essence, humanitarian assistance should not be the only
response to violent conflict in developing countries, which is often the
case.

Properly targeted development assistance can make an important contribution
to conflict prevention and peacebuilding in conflict-affected countries if
it addresses the root causes of conflict and helps to provide an environment
in which long-term peace can be built.  The G8 includes the major bilateral
donors of development assistance and can therefore play a lead role in this
area. There are a number of things that the G8 can do to target its
development assistance towards conflict prevention objectives:

the G8 should actively develop and implement strategies to achieve of the UN
objective of halving poverty by 2015.  Progress in this direction would be
helped by G8 countries achieving the target of 0.7% of national GDP
dedicated to development assistance.

review their long-term policies towards countries at risk of violent
conflict and commit themselves to investing in tackling the root causes of
conflict.

commit themselves to providing the necessary political and diplomatic
back-up to aid operations in conflict-affected countries and help defuse the
current confusion of humanitarian and political agendas.

support the development of methodologies for incorporating conflict
assessment into country strategies.

make investment in health and education a priority, with a particular focus
on sections of the community excluded from decision making, such as women
and youth, the participation of whom can make a significant contribution to
reducing resort to violence.


3. CONFLICT PREVENTION AND THREATS TO SECURITY

Controlling Small Arms and Light Weapons

Small arms and light weapons are closely associated with recent wars,
insecurity, crime and terrorism in many regions of the world.  The
widespread use and circulation of small arms is often symptomatic of
fundamental economic and political problems within affected societies. The
G8 are centrally involved in the supply of arms as major producers and
transit countries. The factors motivating the supply of and demand for light
weapons by state and non-state actors are extremely complex. This
necessitates a sophisticated, multifaceted response, including strategies
for controlling transfers of light weapons as well as for reducing the
number of weapons in circulation. The G8 is well placed to endorse and
promote global solutions to this urgent problem - and send an important
signal to push the agenda on small arms in the build up to the 2001 UN
Conference. The G8 should:

Promote efforts to regulate the government-sanctioned transfer of small arms
and light weapons between states, including promoting an International Code
of Conduct on Arms Transfers, agreeing to common controls on licensed
production agreements and end-use certification.

Support existing programmes and measures through financial and technical
assistance for regional and national programmes such as: the ECOWAS
Moratorium and the Southern & East African Action Programmes on light arms
and illicit trafficking; local and national weapons collection and
destruction initiatives; stockpile management and security measures; efforts
to strengthen and harmonise national legal controls and regulatory
procedures such as the Southern African Development Community firearms
protocol; and initiatives to enhance the capacity of institutions such as
the police, border guards and the judiciary.

 Agree, and promote international support for, measures to tackle the
illicit trafficking of firearms from and through their territory, including
strict controls on the activities of arms brokering agents through the
registration of arms brokering agents, licensing requirements for individual
transactions, and international mechanisms for information exchange between
licensing and enforcement agencies.

Prioritise, and promote international support for, the disposal and
destruction of weapons which are defined as surplus to national security
needs rather than stockpiling or selling these weapons to other countries.

End export credits for arms exports by agreeing to reduce and eventually
eliminate support for arms exports from export credits.

Illicit trafficking and organised crime

Preventing and combating trafficking of illicit goods and people is a
declared priority for the G8. The G8 has a critical role to play in
furthering action on preventing and combating all aspects of illicit
trafficking at the national, regional and international level. In
particular, the G8 should:

Establish technical assistance and training exchange programmes to enable
states which have experience in combating the illegal traffic in drugs,
small arms and other commodities to share their expertise with other states.

Assist the further development of international law enforcement agencies,
such as the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) and World
Customs Organisation (WCO), and existing data bases such as the Interpol
Weapons and Explosives Tracing System (IWETS).

Develop provisions for technical and financial assistance to countries
implementing the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime and its
related protocols.

Institute appropriate and effective measures for international co-operation
to curb corruption associated with illicit trafficking, including the
adoption of effective procedures for the detection, investigation and
prosecution of suspected corrupt persons and their accomplices, and the
freezing, confiscation and forfeiture of property and money acquired through
and/or derived from corruption.


Illicit Diamond Trade

The illegal trade in diamonds and other precious stones is a key factor
fuelling a number of conflicts, posing a special challenge to combating
illegal trafficking and the activities of organised crime.  Rebel and
insurgency groups in control of diamond mining areas use diamonds to finance
their war effort by exchanging the stones for arms and military support.  In
this way, bartered diamonds have been used to violate UN sanctions on
procuring weapons in a number of contexts.

International efforts to curb the illegal trade in diamonds, aimed at
improving needed transparency and regulation of the international diamond
trade, have gathered momentum recently.  Some diamond companies have
promised that that they will not purchase diamonds from conflict zones.  A
conference sponsored by the South African government in May of diamond
producers, officials from the region and principal diamond consumer
countries, reached agreement on a specific set of proposals.  These
included: a global certification scheme for diamonds, a code of conduct to
govern practices in the industry and an independent monitoring scheme.

G8 countries have a responsibility and a moral imperative to help curb the
illegal sale of conflict diamonds.  As influential and powerful states they
can help apply leverage to the many points at which the illegal trade
diamonds is allowed to occur.  G8 governments can in particular support:

a mandatory global diamond labelling system in which all sales must be
accompanied by verifiable documents declaring the origins and destination of
diamonds.

the introduction of national legislation to ensure that diamonds sold
specify the country of origin.

capacity building measures so that source countries and their neighbours can
better control the mining and export of diamonds.

Security sector reform

Improving the governance of the security sector and respect for human rights
in conflict and post-conflict situations is a key priority for establishing
a safe environment in which economic development can occur. Although the
link between development and security is now recognised by many specialists
within the development community, programmes to facilitate internal
security, proper functioning and independent justice systems and arms
control in regions of conflict remain poorly funded. Some governments and
international agencies are reluctant to give assistance the security sector
(or constrained by legal guidelines).

G8 governments can play a key role in supporting and encouraging security
sector reform in conflict prone regions.  Not only will this help prevent
conflicts and enable economic development, but will also make investment by
G8 countries in these countries more attractive.  The political commitment
of the G8 to encourage and provide leverage to reforming the security sector
in a number of countries is vital. Some G8 states are already doing
important work in this area, and continuing priorities should include:

assistance in managing military expenditure and encouraging increased
openness in security budgets.

human rights and democracy training for police and military forces.

support and training for relevant representatives of civil society to
develop their capacity to undertake civilian oversight in security matters,
including monitoring the conduct, performance and cost-effectiveness of
security forces.

The G8 should promote this 'assistance agenda' in appropriate international
fora, such as the World Bank and OECD-DAC, and negotiate the revision of
their guidelines to include the security sector in their remit.


Mercenaries and Private Military Activity

In many weak states experiencing or emerging from internal conflict,
governments are unable to provide security for their citizens and
businesses.  The resulting security void is increasingly being filled by
security entrepreneurs in the form of mercenary forces and private security
and military companies which have become far more active in conflict
situations in recent years.  They are being used by a range of actors,
including governments, corporations and humanitarian agencies, for a variety
of reasons.  Used responsibly these actors can be stability and development
enhancing.  However, the unregulated nature of their activities means that
they often undermined prospects for achieving sustainable peace and economic
development.  G8 government can play an important role in the efforts to
ensure the responsible and controlled use of these private security actors.
In particular they can:

support the development of regional and international controls on these new
private security actors, such as the International Convention against
Mercenaries.

ensure the responsible use of private security and military companies
operating out of their territory through appropriate national regulations.

help promote guidelines and codes of conduct for the responsible use of
private security companies by corporations and other actors.



Demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants

Successful demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants is a vital
component of peace processes. In post-war situations, it is particularly
important that demobilisation and reintegration initiatives are implemented
swiftly, are backed by adequate resources and include the destruction of
surplus weapons, including ammunition. Some G8 states are already doing
important work in this area but many programmes are under-funded and need
further support. In particular, G8 states should:

ensure that emphasis is given to reintegration and to the linkages with
wider reform of  security forces and especially the democratic oversight of
such forces.

prioritise the rooting of demobilisation and reintegration programmes within
broader long term social and economic development programmes.

make available resources adequate to the tasks undertaken.


4.  Follow Up

Once a clear action programme has been agreed by the G8, mechanisms for
regular review should be put in place, such as a Working Group with
representatives of the G8 states and from appropriate NGOs, to monitor
progress and recommend action.

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