Annan issues far-reaching recommendations for preventing armed conflict

Noting that the prevention of armed conflict is "far better and more cost-effective than cure," Secretary-General Kofi Annan today issued a wide-ranging set of recommendations aimed at forestalling outbreaks of violence.

In a new report to the General Assembly and the Security Council, the Secretary-General details how both those bodies, as well as the International Court of Justice, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), development agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), regional groups, the private sector and others can contribute to building a culture of prevention.

The report urges the General Assembly to consider ways of enhancing its interaction with the Security Council particularly in developing long-term conflict prevention strategies. The report recommends that the Council consider new mechanisms for discussing prevention on a continuing basis, and that ECOSOC devote attention to the roots of conflict and the role of development in preventing it. The Secretary-General also urges Member States to make earlier and more frequent use of the International Court of Justice in settling their disputes.

For his part, the Secretary-General outlines a number of measures that he intends to take to prevent conflicts, including increasing the use of UN fact-finding and confidence-building missions to volatile areas and expanding an informal network of eminent persons for conflict prevention. He also pledges to strengthen the "capacity and resource base" in the UN Secretariat for preventive action.

Other aspects of conflict prevention addressed in the report include action in such areas as disarmament, human rights, development, humanitarian relief, health care, public information efforts, gender equality and crime prevention. NGOs and the private sector are encouraged to play their respective roles in support of the UN's conflict prevention activities.

"It is high time that we translate the promise of prevention into concrete action," writes Mr. Annan. "Let us make this endeavour a testament to future generations that ours had the political vision and will to transform our perception of a just international order from a vision of the absence of war to a vision of sustainable peace and development for all."

Introducing the report at a press briefing today, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Danilo Turk, expressed hope that the report would provide "a good basis for the Member States - for their discussion, their action, their formulation of policies for strengthening of prevention in the future."