Conflict prevention: the work behind the name

Looking at the name of our Centre, I often find myself in a paradox. As the name suggests, we indeed help prevent conflicts. But importantly, we also help mitigate the consequences of conflict, and work on post-conflict rehabilitation.

What does this mean in practice? We use a host of methods and tools to promote peace and stability, from facilitating dialogue in Vienna, to supporting conflict resolution and the work done on the ground by OSCE field missions. Certainly no easy task in today’s tense political climate.

Conflict prevention, writ large, is very closely tied to the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security. Below, I give you some examples of what we do across the “conflict cycle”, from conflict prevention, to mitigation and rehabilitation.

Prevention

It all starts with preventing conflicts, which is at the core of the OSCE’s approach. Every dollar invested in prevention can help avoid 10 or even 100-fold costs of active conflict so this just makes plain sense. The CPC works on prevention by supporting efforts both at the negotiating tables and on the ground.

In Vienna, we support the Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC), which focuses on dialogue on conventional arms control and risk reduction in the OSCE area. These discussions and the invocation of risk reduction mechanisms provides our participating States with opportunities to de-escalate tensions and prevent conflicts.

The key instrument of the OSCE for confidence and security building in the politico-military sphere, the Vienna Document, was invoked twice before 24 February this year to address the security concerns of participating States. Regrettably, these conflict prevention measures didn’t result in de-escalation, but they did provide an indication of escalating tensions – what we call “early warning”.

A crucial element of prevention is in fact the provision of early warning. The CPC monitors and coordinates the collection of information from a host of sources such as our field operations, analyses this information and puts forward recommendations to the OSCE Secretary General and the Chair-in-Office. When needed, early warning of actual or potential escalations is then provided to the participating States.

We also work with Special Representatives of the Chair-in-Office who work to resolve conflicts in the OSCE area. A good example is the Geneva International Discussions, addressing the consequences of the 2008 war in Georgia, which the Special Representative for the South Caucasus co-chairs with EU and UN colleagues, and where a CPC colleague co-moderates Working Group 2 on humanitarian issues. 

The OSCE also co-facilitates with the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia regular meetings of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in Ergneti, bringing together security actors and other local stakeholders to discuss issues that affect the daily lives of local communities, including security developments, detention cases, or restrictions on freedom of movement. OSCE has also provided expertise to technical meetings of the IPRM that constructively addressed wildfire management or irrigation issues. This is an excellent example of how dialogue and pragmatism can ease burdens of the conflict-affected populations, defusing tensions and building confidence.

Mitigating the impacts of war

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, conflict and war do break out. In these cases, we focus our efforts toward mitigating the effects of conflict, including by helping to find ways to protect civilians and to facilitate mediation.

This year has been dominated by the war against Ukraine. During the early hours and days following 24 February, the CPC – in close co-operation with the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), the Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU), and other Secretariat departments – supported the evacuation of international mission members from Ukraine and the relocation of national mission members to safer locations within the country, as called for by the Secretary General and Chair-in-Office.

Although the SMM and PCU have since closed, work on the ground in Ukraine continues. As announced by Chairman-in-Office Rau and Secretary General Schmid in August, a number of OSCE participating States recently launched the OSCE Secretariat Extra-Budgetary Support Programme for Ukraine, which will include a host of extra-budgetary projects and ensure a continued presence on the ground.

The developments in Afghanistan affect the OSCE area. Last December at the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Stockholm the foreign ministers tasked the Secretary General to develop activities to respond to the security implications of Afghanistan across the OSCE region, with a focus on Central Asia. The CPC co-ordinates these efforts and we have built up, together with other Secretariat departments, the OSCE Institutions and our field operations in Central Asia, a sizeable package of support measures covering both regional and bilateral activities.

Post-conflict rehabilitation

You could call post-conflict rehabilitation the last stage of the “conflict cycle”. The CPC has a wealth of expertise on peacebuilding, strengthening of fragile agreements and building trust and confidence between parties. We provide this to our field operations as well as to the Special Representatives or other envoys appointed by the Chair, or engage in activities ourselves to support sustainable peace and stability.

One case in point is in South-Eastern Europe, where we have worked for 30 years now. For example, last year we assisted three OSCE field operations engaged in the implementation of the Regional Housing Programme (RHP), which has already helped 34,000 conflict-affected beneficiaries to receive adequate housing solutions. This common effort has enabled the delivery of approximately 9,700 housing units to date, aiding approximately 28,000 vulnerable people.

The proliferation of small arms and light weapons is a serious concern across the OSCE area, as are the risks created by stockpiles of conventional ammunition. We work in co-ordination and co-operation with other international organizations to reduce illicit arms flows. This work is now particularly important, considering the number of conflicts and crises in and around our region.

Conflict prevention and crisis management is integral to the OSCE. The war against Ukraine and the current tense political climate across the OSCE region make this work more relevant and needed than ever. The OSCE was created as a platform for dialogue, done in good faith, and it remains in place for our participating States to make use of.

While dialogue is challenging in the current circumstances, given the immense stress on international security mechanisms and, you might say, multilateral diplomacy in general, we will continue to support the OSCE’s 57 participating States, facilitate dialogue where possible, and to explore new ways to resolve our common security challenges.