From leading the fight to ban land mines to preventing the World Trade Organization from launching a new round of free-trade talks, nongovernmental organizations have flexed their muscles to secure their role in the making of government policies around the world today.

With about a month to go before the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, delegates representing 68 NGOs from 23 countries gathered last Friday and Saturday at a Tokyo symposium to discuss how to deal with another topic of international concern -conflict prevention.

Sponsored by the Japan Institute of International Affairs, in cooperation with the Japan Center for Preventive Diplomacy, the symposium "The Role of NGOs in Conflict Prevention" served as a rare opportunity for NGOs to build momentum in the runup to the Okinawa summit in July.

The Foreign Ministry, The Japan Times and the Mainichi Shimbun supported the event, which was also attended by officials from the Unit-ed Nations, the World Bank and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

To maximize their potential in conflict prevention, which is expected to be high on the summit agenda, 103 participants exchanged views about building global NGO networks, coordinating their efforts with governments and international governmental organizations, enhancing their credibility and participating in early warning mechanisms.

The matters discussed during the two-day symposium are to he reported to Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and other government officials in preparation for the Okinawa summit, according to Katsuhiko Oku, director of the U.N. Policy Division at the Foreign Ministry.

At Friday's opening plenary session, Hisashi Owada, JIIA president and a former Japanese ambassador to the United Nations, attributed ongoing regional conflicts to chaos brought on by the end of the Cold War and urged NGOs to address conflict prevention in a comprehensive manner in cooperation with governments and other groups.

"When we think about conflict prevention in today's society, NGOs are playing an increasingly significant role in various stages of the process," Owada said.

"At the same time, various problems and weak points have emerged regarding NGOs, for instance, financial and security concerns," Owada said, adding that further complications are foreseen in how NGOs develop networks with each other, with governments and with governmental organizations in addressing conflict prevention, "We have come to a point where we need to comprehensively review the role of NGOs and earnestly consider how to effectively use their strengths in conflict prevention," Owada also said.

Kensaku Hogen, undersecretary general for communications and public information at the U.N. Department of Public Information, said, "citizen diplomacy" can pave the way for official agreements, as seen in the Middle East peace process, in which a Norwegian research institute played a key role in helping bring about the 1993 Oslo Agreement.

"To deal with complex causes, we need complex and interdisciplinary solutions," Hogen said in his keynote speech during Friday's plenary session.

"The fundamental point is that implementing prevention strategies requires cooperation across a broad range of agencies and creative new partnerships between governments, intergovernmental organizations and civil organizations," he stressed. Kevin Clements a university professor, and secretary general of London-based NGO International Alert, urged politicians, government officials and NGOs to acknowledge the limits of their expertise and competence.

"There should be openness in beginning to explore ways in which civil groups and governments can jointly develop responses to conflict that aim at medium- to long-term solutions," Clements said, citing Scandinavian governments' acknowledgment of the key role of NGOs in dealing with conflicts.

Thun Saray, president of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, said NGOs can help solve and prevent not only political conflicts, but also domestic violence through their activities to enhance human rights and women's roles in local communities.

However, "after almost 30 years of war and internal armed conflict, the overwhelming presence of small arms and their widespread use is one of the many crucial issues that Cambodia must deal with as a postconflict society," he said. Paul Tongeren, executive director of the European Centre for Conflict Prevention in the Netherlands, said it is important to stimulate international information-sharing and cooperation, noting that the "European platform for conflict prevention and transformation" involves NGOs worldwide in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. "As far as communication is concerned, the Internet can be a great asset," he said.

"The challenge is to collect and store information in such a way that it is easily accessible for field workers, academies and policy makers," Tongeren said, calling for the establishment of regional networks for peace-building organizations in Asia.

Japanese NGO representatives also reported their efforts to deal with conflicts at the symposium. As they lag behind their Western counterparts, they acknowledged the need to step up grassroots movements at home to gain broader public support.

Nobuhiko Suto, president of lnterBand, stressed the need for Japan to set up facilities for NGOs to train people in fields ranging from sociology and economics to administrative and international affairs in order to build their skills in working out complex issues involved in conflict prevention and social development. Despite not having the experience of military conflicts firsthand. Japanese NGOs can contribute to the peace building process by drawing on lessons learned from disarmament and the spirit of Japan's pacific Constitution. Suto added.

For Japanese NGOs to overcome such problems as the lack of human resources, financial footing, experience and information-sharing, Kensuke Onishi, chief coordinator of Peace Winds Japan, said his organization is working to establish a cooperative platform among NGOs and various other groups.

Later Friday, the participants broke up into five closed group sessions to discuss the potentials and limitations of NGOs, exchanging ideas on Working, with other organizations, creating NGO networks in･Asia, drawing up a code of conduct and participating, in early warning mechanisms against conflicts.

In Saturday's closed group sessions, participants in each group concentrated on one of five topics: small arms, emergency humanitarian relief, social development, civil society-building and Southeast Asia.

While participants generally sympathized with calls for collaboration and the sharing of experiences at the symposium, there were some dissenters.

During one of the closed group sessions, while some delegates strongly supported the idea of networking via the Internet, others voiced skepticism about the effectiveness of using information technology due to the wide gap in the available technology that exists between developed and developing countries.

Some participants also brought up the possibility of NGOs vying for prominence, as well as pointing to difficulties in maintaining independent donor bases.

For NGOs to be credible with parties in conflicts, the United Nations and other international organizations, it would be helpful for them to develop their own code of conduct, JCPD Chairman and former U.N. Undersecretary General Yasushi Akashi said at the closing plenary session.

Regarding involvement in early warning, mechanisms, Akashi underscored the importance of NGOs maintaining close and frequent dialogue among themselves, as well as, with: governments, through U.N. organs citing his experience of working with, NGOs on problems concerning central Africa under the U.N. Security Council.

The outcome of the symposium will be reviewed by JIIA's in-house research group on conflict prevention, which consists of scholars, representatives of NGOs and members of the media. It will then be developed into JIIA's future project goals for NGOs and conflicts, Owada said during Saturday's closing remarks.

JIIA will make public the content of the symposium via the Internet and in written documents and by the end of the year, will release a comprehensive directory of NGOs in Asia.

© Copyright 2000 by the Japan Institute of International Affairs