NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 16 – The efforts put in place by the Community of Sant’Egidio for the peace process in the Central African Republic; the work of the Italian Ngo Rondine Cittadella per la Pace, and the Women Mediators Network in the Mediterranean initiative are three examples of the contribution that “second-track diplomacy” can make to conflict prevention, peace education and the promotion of human rights. The examples were offered by Italy during a Security Council’s open debate on ‘Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Peace and security through preventive diplomacy: a common objective to all the principal organs of the United Nations.’
Italy argued that the General Assembly should become more involved in preventive diplomacy by establishing regular meetings to review conflict-prone situations. “We believe in a greater role for ECOSOC in identifying social and economic problems likely to result in crisis, as well as in developing strategies to deal with economic and social causes of conflict”, said an Italian delegate: “We also suggest making more use of the International Court of Justice in the peaceful settlement of disputes. In addition, Member States should allocate more funds to preventive diplomacy that can also be directed toward the set-up of small preventive diplomacy teams in the regional centers; toward reinforcing early warning capacities”. (@OnuItalia)
