CONFLICT PREVENTION
In recent years, the G8 has paid special attention to conflict prevention, which encompasses
conflict resolution and management as well. Conflicts between nations and within countries
result in losses of hundreds of thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars. A study by the
Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict estimated that the seven major wars in the
1990s, excluding Kosovo (which was ongoing at the time), cost the international community
about US$199 billion, apart from the monetary costs to the actual parties in conflict.
Because of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the continuing threat of terrorism, G8
Foreign Ministers at Whistler will likely concentrate their conflict prevention work on
Afghanistan. They will discuss coalition efforts to ensure security in that country, through both
the ongoing military operation against terrorism and the technical and financial assistance
programs for reconstruction.
What the G8 has done
In December 1999, then-G8 president Germany convened a special Foreign Ministers’
conference on conflict prevention. The impetus behind the Berlin meeting was the G8 Foreign
Ministers’ involvement in negotiations over the conflict in Kosovo—the first time that the G8
played a role in resolving such a crisis. At the conference, the foreign ministers agreed to make
conflict prevention a priority on the G8 agenda.
In 2000, the Foreign Ministers meeting in Miyazaki resolved “to nurture a ‘Culture of Prevention’
throughout the global community.” They identified five priority areas: small arms and light
weapons proliferation, economic and development assistance, the illicit trade in commodities
such as diamonds, children in armed conflict, and the deployment of international civilian police.
At their meeting in Rome last year, the foreign ministers assessed the work done on the five
priority issues identified at Miyazaki and pushed for further progress. They also launched
initiatives to strengthen the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution, and to promote
corporate social responsibility, underscoring the private sector’s role in helping to avoid conflicts
and in providing assistance in post-conflict reconstruction.
G8 Foreign Ministers will soon release papers (available on the G8 Foreign Ministers’ Web site)
on two conflict prevention initiatives they support:
Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of Combatants (DDR): The G8
endorsed DDR “as a key step in the process of moving from conflict to sustainable
development.” Promoting Cooperative and Sustainable Management of Shared Water Resources: The
G8 stressed the need to prevent water shortages as a way of averting potential conflict
that could arise from an inadequate supply and distribution from shared water systems.
Since the September 11 attacks on the U.S., G8 Foreign Ministers have focused their conflict-prevention efforts on Afghanistan. Several members are engaged in the military campaign
against terrorist forces and/or in humanitarian and reconstruction efforts.
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