What's In Blue

Posted Tue 20 Sep 2011

Preventive Diplomacy

The Council is currently negotiating a presidential statement which is likely to be adopted at a high level meeting scheduled for Thursday, 22 September. The meeting will focus on how to strengthen and consolidate preventive diplomacy. President Michel Suleiman of Lebanon will chair the meeting and it seems that at least eight heads of state as well as other high level officials are likely to participate. The Secretary-General is also expected to brief the Council on his recently published report on preventive diplomacy.

Negotiations on the presidential statement began last week and at time of writing had not been finalised. While it appears that there were no significant disagreements over most of the text, it seems that some members were concerned about language encouraging support for national conflict prevention systems. It appears that for these members, such language would be more acceptable in the context of preventive diplomacy rather than conflict prevention.

The Secretary-General’s report, entitled “Preventive Diplomacy: Delivering Results,” was circulated on 9 September. The report, requested by the 16 July 2010 presidential statement of the Council, is the first report a Secretary-General has released specifically focusing on preventive diplomacy. It highlights several factors that enhance success in preventive diplomacy including effective early warning, adequate resources, and strong partnerships among the UN, regional and sub-regional organisations, and other actors.

For more information on the background and recent developments on this issue please see our 20 September Update Forecast.

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