Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 May 2004
74 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on the outcome of the Conference on Conflict Prevention held in Dublin in April 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13469/04]
View answerI have prioritised conflict prevention as a key aspect of our EU work programme and I welcome the interest expressed by the Deputy in the Conference on Conflict Prevention recently held in Dublin.
The conference, hosted by the EU Presidency, took place from 31 March until 2 April. It focused on the overall theme of The Role of NGOs and Civil Society in the Prevention of Armed Conflict. A broad range of non-governmental organisations, NGOs, and civil society representatives participated in the conference, as well as officials from the EU member states and, at that time, accession states, and EU institutions.
I have arranged for a copy of my address to the conference to be placed in the Oireachtas Library. It is also available on the EU Presidency website. In addition to contributions from the Presidency, EU representatives and NGO-civil society participants, keynote contributions were also delivered by the Foreign Minister of Mozambique and chair-in-office of the African Union, Dr. Leonardo Simao, the Foreign Minister of South Africa, Dr. Zuma, Assistant Secretary General, Danilo Turk, of the UN Department for Political Affairs and Ms Birgitta Dahl, member of the UN Secretary General's High-Level Panel on Civil Society and UN Relationships.
The conference usefully highlighted the role to be played in conflict prevention by NGOs and by civil society in general, as well as underlining the European Union's own activities in the area of conflict prevention. Factors such as the need to address root causes of conflict, particularly through poverty reduction, and the importance of upholding relevant international law were also emphasised, as were EU-UN and EU-Africa dimensions in this area. Also, following deliberations among the NGO and civil society representatives, the Presidency was presented with a series of policy recommendations entitled Dublin Action Agenda on the Prevention of Violent Conflict.
Exchanges at the conference indicated that much common ground exists between governments and EU-UN institutions and their NGO-civil society counterparts in their respective approaches to conflict prevention. Openness was apparent on both sides to exploring scope for further interaction over the period ahead. A further international seminar on the role of NGOs-civil society in conflict prevention due to be held at UN headquarters in New York in 2005 is likely to be a particular focus in this regard.
On 1 April, en marge of the conference, the Presidency invited members of the EU Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management to meet informally with their counterparts holding expertise on conflict prevention in the development assistance area. The purpose of this informal meeting of officials was to explore themes linking security and development at EU level and to examine areas where the two sides might co-operate more closely to enhance the EU’s capacity to prevent conflict. Further themes which arose included how EU security and development can work together to enhance effective multilateralism, particularly in support of the role of the United Nations, capacity building, coherence between EU action and bilateral action, security sector reform, “lessons learned” mechanisms and the concept of human security.
As Presidency, we will be submitting a report on conflict prevention issues to the June European Council. My intention is that it should be a forward-looking document and that it should also acknowledge the valuable role which can be played by our NGO and civil society partners.
