Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour and a pleasure for me to welcome you to this experts meeting, co-organized by the Institute for Security Studies of South Africa and UNESCO on the theme of Peace, Human Security and Conflict Prevention in Africa.

Before addressing the specific issues with which we will be dealing during our work, allow me to briefly describe the framework in which this meeting is being held.

Last November, at the initiative of UNESCO, the First International Meeting of Directors of Peace Research and Training Institutions was held in Paris at the Organization’s Headquarters.

The one hundred participating institutions unanimously chose as the theme for the meeting the question: ‘What Agenda for Human Security in the Twenty-first Century?’

During their work the participants focused on the main challenges facing the promotion of human security in the different regions, among them Africa. The two main background lectures on Africa, and the debate that followed, covered major issues such as the process of state formation, the role of civil society in development, the need for strengthening subregional organizations and the impact of globalization on Africa. On that basis, a series of specific recommendations concerning Africa were made:

• the need to give support to African initiatives;

• the need to strongly link conflict prevention to the promotion of human security, on the basis of dialogue within societies;

• the need to strengthen education, training and scientific capacities to deal with the major challenges of conflict prevention and the building of human security.

On the basis of the debates, the participants made twelve Final Recommendations and adopted an Agenda for Action to serve as a basis for the UNESCO SecuriPax international network, also launched at that meeting. You will find the relevant documents in your information packs.

The Agenda for Action calls, inter alia, for the convening of experts meetings in the different regions in order to draw up more specific agendas for the promotion of human security at the regional and subregional levels.

Our meeting in Pretoria is the first of a series of four on the same theme. Thus, three other meetings will be held in 2001, one in Karachi (Pakistan) for the South Asia region, in collaboration with the Pakistan Institute for International Affairs; one in Almaty (Kazakhstan) for the Central Asia region, in cooperation with the National Commission for UNESCO; and the last in Santiago (Chile) for the Latin America and Caribbean region, in cooperation with the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO).

Meanwhile, at UNESCO we are preparing regional international conferences for 2002 on peace, human security and conflict prevention in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

II

I will now address the main issues at stake and the challenges we face in Africa. The first fundamental fact we have to take into account is that Africa is speedily moving towards a common agenda on the basis of African initiatives, in particular on the basis of the merging of the Millennium Africa Recovery Plan and the Omega Plan into the Plan for African Revival and Development, adopted at the 37th Summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Lusaka (Zambia) two weeks ago, and which will be submitted to the United Nations in September of this year. We have to put this issue at the forefront of our discussions and clearly articulate our concerns relating to conflict prevention and human security with the main thrusts of that common agenda.

Indeed, today, on the basis of the preparatory work for the Lusaka Summit and of its results, it is quite clear that we are at a turning point, which has major implications for conflict prevention and for the construction of human security.

There are four major aspects to this turning point:

First, the consolidation of democratic processes in Africa is growing stronger in many countries, even though much remains to be done to strengthen the participation of civil society in the spirit of an authentic pluralism. Concerning this issue, the importance of the results of the OAU – Civil Society Conference held in June in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) should be underlined.

Second, the progress made in ensuring the confluence of the major African initiatives launched in the past two years – and which aim to ensure African revival and development in a sustainable manner. The progress made to date is a key factor for the African countries, but also for the international community, in the common endeavour to ensure that Africa, as a whole, can regain in the coming decade the ground lost through conflict, undemocratic practices and the heavy toll of extreme poverty and contagious disease.

Third, common priorities have been set at the regional and subregional levels in many fields, in particular those of education, the fight against HIV / AIDS and the proliferation of small arms. This is largely due to the dynamism of the subregional organizations, which are opening up new avenues for cooperation and strong networking in various areas.

Fourth, the concern expressed for meeting the needs of the more vulnerable segments of the population, whether in the framework of the struggle against poverty, the struggle against HIV /  AIDS, or the field of education and training.

III

These four aspects, closely interrelated, also highlight the importance of enhancing efforts to end the various conflicts within the continent, to reinforce conflict prevention at the regional, subregional and national levels and, finally, to strongly link conflict prevention to the promotion of human security.

As you know, one of the main thrusts of the report of the OAU Secretary-General to the 74th meeting of its Executive Council was devoted to the efforts currently being made to end conflicts and to reinforce the conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms in Africa.

The number of conflicts is still overwhelming, as are the consequences for civilian populations. In his address to the Lusaka Summit, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan, warned that ‘we are confronted with persistent conflicts and crises of governance and security that threaten to derail our hopes for an African Union of peace and prosperity’.

But it is also clear that the number of African actors involved in conflict resolution and prevention has increased considerably, as has their effectiveness, in particular in the framework of subregional initiatives. One of the major issues to be discussed here is the possibility of enhancing that effectiveness, both at the regional and subregional levels. Indeed, lessons can already be drawn from the past and ongoing processes of negotiation and mediation with a view to reinforcing conflict prevention mechanisms, including the ongoing discussions on the nature and purposes of an African peace-keeping force.

But the main challenge for us will be to link conflict prevention to the promotion of human security, and this on the basis of the common priorities already identified and on the widely shared concern for meeting the needs of the most vulnerable populations, to which I have referred.

These concerns can be expressed through four questions:

Question 1

How can we ensure that major dimensions of human security will be taken into account in regional, subregional, and national policies as we move from the resolution of conflicts to the building of democratic and stable societies, respectful of all human rights?

Question 2

Have we adequately identified all the priorities that require long-term action, or are we limiting ourselves to dealing only with urgent matters?

Question 3

Which capacities have to be built in order to move forward in the promotion of human security, in particular through education and training?

Question 4

Which strategies can contribute to the mobilization of the most vulnerable populations, which must emerge as stakeholders in the democratic process, through participation and dialogue?

IV

UNESCO, in order to contribute to its strategic objective of ensuring human security – in particular through the establishment of regional human security frameworks – is emphasizing three levels of action.

The first level concerns capacity building in the promotion of human security. This involves capacity for analysis, including prospective analysis, involving the various dimensions of human security – from the most basic, such as food security, to more complex and transnational issues, such as environmental protection. In this framework, emphasis must also be placed on the elaboration of long-term country-owned strategies in the struggle against poverty, in which education and training must become key factors.

The second level concerns the exchange of experiences within a region, but also between regions. Much has already been done to better coordinate the different conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms within Africa, but we must strive at this stage to understand how to better equip ourselves to deal with emerging risks and threats. Here, also, we can learn from the experience of other regions. In this framework, UNESCO will contribute to the sharing of best experiences on the basis of the results of the four meetings on human security scheduled to take place this year.

The third level concerns placing UNESCO’s own capacities in its fields of competence – education, sciences both natural and social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information – at the service of the promotion of human security. In particular UNESCO will strive to contribute to the establishment of regional frameworks of action for human security through its major scientific programmes, including the social and human sciences, and its activities in higher education.

V

Needless to say, UNESCO is very keen on obtaining from this meeting a set of recommendations for future action that can both inspire its action in Africa and that it can share in other regions. I think we can be very specific in the recommendations, in particular concerning the issues of capacity building for the promotion of human security and of improving coordination between the initiatives of the different subregional organizations here present.

Last but not least, I wish to thank our partner in this endeavour, the Institute for Security Studies of South Africa, with which we have had the privilege of cooperating very fruitfully in the past, and which has so well organized this meeting. I wish to warmly thank Mr Jakkie Cilliers, the Executive Director of the ISS, and all the staff of the Institute for their painstaking efforts to facilitate our meeting together here in Pretoria.