1. The Expected Role of the NGO
In today’s international society, in order to further develop the area of conflict prevention, a comprehensive approach incorporating means and actors should be adopted, with the United Nations and its member countries expecting civil society to take a role in this. NGOs specialize in conducting deep-rooted activities within society in a conflict zone, activities that complement nation states hindered by the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs, and activities to ease psychological confrontation between conflicting parties that cannot be solved politically. Where various conflicting interests are intertwined, prevention of internal conflict is difficult by unilateral or multilateral diplomatic means alone. In this way NGOs have a comparative advantage over the UN or individual governments when dealing with such issues.


2. The Four Stages of Conflict
The role of an NGO can be considered in accordance with the four stages of conflict:
Stage One: There is no imminent threat of conflict, circumstances which can lead to conflict must be avoided. At this stage NGOs should engage in activities to educate the people as to the significance and meaning of conflict prevention, train locals to engage in conflict prevention, and work to build a relationship of mutual-trust between the conflicting parties.

Stage Two: There is an imminent threat of conflict, finding a means to prevent its outbreak is critical. NGOs can use their contact with local people to gather information and look for signs, such as the movement of refugees or large scale military movements, which are indicators of an imminent outbreak of conflict, and act as an early warning system for the United Nations, other international institutions and domestic governments. It is also conceivable that NGOs engage in mediation and intervention between parties and act to discourage the outbreak by molding international opinion.

Stage Three: Occurrence of conflict, it is necessary to keep it from escalating further, and bring it to a swift end. As NGOs are not constricted by national interests they are free to engage in activities such as mediation and arbitration with the contending parties, distributing humanitarian aid to the victims, and appealing to international public opinion to prevent further escalation of the conflict.

Stage Four: The conflict has come to an end and it is necessary to prevent a reoccurrence. At this stage it is expected that NGOs engage in activities in cooperation with domestic governments in, for example: humanitarian aid and repatriation of refugees, removal of land mines, collection and destruction of small arms, reintegration into society of former combatants, implementation of free elections, support for democratization, and monitoring human rights. Although it was originally the responsibility of UN Peacekeepers, many NGOs are already engaged in the collection of small arms in Africa and Central America. Japan and the EU have also been cooperating to tackle the issues of small arms and this center has been playing its role in solving the problem in connection with local NGOs in Cambodia.

3. Issues for NGOs
Although the role of NGOs is key to conflict prevention, there are other tasks that NGOs need to consider. Many NGOs have undertaken activities unilaterally, but from the perspective of a comprehensive approach, they need to consider cooperating with other international organizations and NGOs. Coordination is important in order to avoid competition and an overlap of activities between NGOs which wastes limited resources.
Although NGOs may have certain advantages that governmental organizations cannot imitate, such as having contacts with anti-government forces, there is also a possibility that NGOs can cause the occurrence of conflicts or exacerbate the situation rather than contribute to conflict prevention. It is important that NGOs maintain a position of neutrality while dealing with disputing parties.
Private NGO personnel face dangers when they are involved in conflict prevention operations. When the tensions increase, and the occurrence of military confrontation is expected, or early warning signs of conflict escalation are being given off, it is not only the local government and governments of one’s own country, but also NGOs engaging in local operations that need to take prompt measures, including the timely withdraw of personnel.