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TOGETHER,
PAST THE FRONTIERS OF CONFLICT Our
discussions could not have come at a more opportune time as the views expressed
here today would certainly enrich the elements of the Cardoso Report on the
United Nations Relations with Civil Society, recently released by the
Secretary-General. I
thank Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Marjatta Rasi, President of ECOSOC, for
their valuable inputs in today’s debate.
I also thank Messrs. Denis Caillaux of Care International and Ian Martin
of the International Center for Transitional Justice, for their views on the
role of civil society in post-conflict peace-building, which clearly reflect
their vast experience in this area. Indeed,
the wounds of conflict are manifold. They
touch upon sensitive roots imbedded in peoples’ psyches. The healing process
should therefore lead to a recovery of confidence, an assurance of integrity and
a deeply “internalized” sense of peace.
This requires a delicate, but firm touch moved by an intimate
understanding of and sympathy with a people. By its nature, civil society is
gifted with such understanding and sympathy. In
efforts to re-build peace on more enduring foundations, governments, as well as
the United Nations, can be helped by a caring and sharing civil society. Civil
society must be compassionate, but resolute, helping suffering peoples let go of
negative ill-feelings, grasp the value of reconciliation, concentrate on
re-integration and reconstruction, and rehabilitate society through hard work
and dedication. With
the help of civil society, governments and the United Nations should aim to
re-strengthen the national self-confidence and social fabric of traumatized
peoples; to encourage and assist them help themselves overcome enormous
human-security challenges. The
ruin of factors of production, economic breakdown, and conflict-caused poverty;
the collapse of law and order; the
exacerbation of long-standing fractiousness must be addressed with professional
sobriety. We
are witnesses to the cooperative effort in recent years of national governments,
the United Nations, and numerous representatives of civil society in such places
as Afghanistan, the Balkans, East Timor and Western Africa.
We are poised to pursue the same cooperative endeavor in Iraq. The
partnership of civil society with the United Nations in post-conflict
peace-building can start from the very design of the project blueprint.
Civil society can assist in identifying, understanding, and addressing root
causes of conflict, in helping formulate collaborative reconstruction
strategies—and perhaps even in resolving the conflict itself. In
the actual peace-building phase, civil society can--with United Nations
coordination--assist providing relief, health, education, and other public
services; spur economic revival and social recovery; promote advocacy of human
rights, ethics, and the rule of law; in catalyzing total human development.
For it is with such development that a more lasting peace is achieved. Owing
to civil society’s grass-roots charisma, manifested in its participation in
the reconciliation, reconstruction, and rehabilitation process—and even its
mere presence--can be therapeutic, a balm to sore wounds.
It can evoke a deeper realization of life’s worth after the havoc of
war. Civil society’s
participation is, therefore, vital for public support and, consequently, for
greater legitimacy of peace-building endeavors. I
need not dwell on the elements of cogent strategies, including those for
post-conflict peace-building. We
all realize that it should be: comprehensive in scope and in implementation
detail; It must be integrated, recognizing the symbiotic relationship of legal,
political, economic, social, and cultural concerns.
It must be participative, with contributions from all stakeholders,
national and international; and it must be flexible, capable of adjustment to
changing circumstances and continuing assessment. There
is absolutely no doubt that civil society can help formulate and implement
strategies—contributing information, know-how, fervor, even financial and
material resources. What
is now imperative for the United Nations is to have a clearer view of its
relations with a civil society that has grown in size and numbers. Cognizant of
its “intervention” mandate for the maintenance of international peace and
security, and profiting from the “normative idea” of Heifetz and Linsky in
their book, Leadership on the Line, which entails “getting on the balcony and
stepping back to have a perspective of what is happening while remaining
fiercely on the ground,” the United Nations should base its engagement with
civil society on policies, mechanisms, and procedures that are coherent,
consistent, and predictable. One
of the eminent persons tasked by our Secretary General to consider such
engagement, Birgitta Dahl has reported on her Panel’s endorsement of four
normative paradigms: first, the
United Nations’ role of convening, facilitating, and leading partnerships, not
only of governments, but also of all stakeholders, including civil society;
second, country-level focus in analysis and implementation; third, encouragement
of greater parliamentary and national standing committee participation; and
fourth, a shift from an omni-governmental bias to a multilateral society
mobilizing the cooperation of coalitions of the willing, following the
“highest common principles”. These
paradigms deserve serious attention, not only for the involvement of civil
society organizations, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders in
post-conflict peace building, but also for their involvement in other issues of
global concern. Let
me interject at this point a notion that is by no means new, but deserves keener
appreciation—namely, the role of faith groups, as civil society actors, in
conflict prevention and post-conflict peace building.
Religions do preach peace, not violence, forgiveness not revenge.
Upholding human dignity, justice, accountability, and the rule of law,
they exercise a strong moral influence. Based
on in-depth appreciation of problems, their inputs to conflict-prevention and
post-conflict peace-building plans and implementation should be optimized. Clearly,
there is a consensus on the crucial role of civil society in global issues.
The Secretary-General’s report to ECOSOC and the General Assembly
should spur bold and pragmatic action, for it provides us with the mechanics of
accreditation, the procedures of consultation, the equilibrium of North-South
actors and of stakeholders with differing views, the sharing of costs, and
similar practical matters that impact on good order. Delineation of roles and a
sound respect for leadership and coordination must be present.
This leadership and coordination are expected of us in the United
Nations. The
Philippines looks forward to a meaningful outcome of the Secretary-General’s
initiative of an NGO international conference in 2005, on the role of civil
society in the prevention of armed conflict.
We believe that this dialogue will further crystallize the partnership of
the UN and civil society and other stake-holders, including the religious
sector, particularly in post-conflict peace-building. When
conflict ends, healing must begin, and civil society, government and the United
Nations, must stand together, bravely, past the frontiers of conflict. Thank
you. |