Since the end of the Cold War in 1989 the world has been faced with new kinds of conflicts, including conflicts previously over-shadowed by opposing ideologies. The majority of these have been regional conflicts rooted in differences of ethnicity, religion or culture. United Nations peacekeeping missions achieved much during the 1990s, but the limits of their success in these regional conflicts have also been recorded. The Secretary-General of the UN, Kofi Annan, has recently cast doubt on the widely held idea that poverty is to blame for these conflicts. Rather, he suggests that it is inequality between groups, in particular, inequality of access to political power, which can lead groups to resort to violence. He calls for measures to deal with political extremists, media that incite hatred, and religious, ethnic and nationalistic myth-makers. Recently, conflict prevention has been emphasized as a means of controlling the emergence of the regional conflicts and terrorism that are shaking the foundations of our world. The international community must adopt an approach that is commensurate with the Charter of the United Nations, the rule of law, democracy, social justice, respect for human rights, freedom of the press and good governance. Conflict Prevention should be an integrated approach encompassing the fields of politics, economics, security, society and development.

We can identify four stages in the progression of conflict situations: 1) the first signs of conflict 2) imminent conflict 3) occurrence of conflict and 4) resolution of conflict. The role of NGOs during stages 1 and 4 will become increasingly important. Governments often find it difficult to tackle such conflict-related factors as economic inequality, social discrimination, political injustice, half-hearted democracy and the infringement of human rights. However, NGOs are often well placed to address these issues. Furthermore, NGOs can take on a significant role in the post-conflict phase, for example, in the holding of free elections, an essential step towards the establishment of democratic government and recovery.

The eradication of war and terrorism requires a sustained and focused commitment from a range of actors: governments, international organizations and NGOs. The Japan Center for Conflict Prevention dedicates itself to this purpose.

AKASHI Yasushi
Chairman