Advancing role of non-governmental organizations in peacekeeping

Furthering non-government peace-building activity
Enhancing NGO peace-making roles

Description

Advancing the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in peacekeeping involves empowering NGOs to mediate conflicts, deliver humanitarian aid, monitor human rights, and facilitate dialogue among stakeholders. This strategy addresses gaps in official peacekeeping by leveraging NGOs’ local knowledge, flexibility, and community trust. Practical actions include capacity-building, coordination with international bodies, and resource mobilization, enabling NGOs to respond rapidly and effectively to emerging crises and support sustainable peace initiatives where governmental efforts are limited or absent.

Implementation

The UN Department of Public Information's 47th Annual Conference for NGOs (New York, September 1994) was on the theme "We the Peoples: Building Peace". Over 1,400 participants from sixty countries gathered to discuss the potential roles of NGOs in areas of peacemaking, peace-keeping and peace-building. Senior UN officials addressed the vital role NGOs must play in electoral assistance; human rights monitoring; delivery of humanitarian assistance; and post-conflict national reconstruction.

Claim

NGOs can foster awareness within local communities of their central role in maintaining and guarding peace.

Counter-claim

International institutions have increasingly been called upon to mediate and, in some cases, to intervene in national and regional disputes as peacekeepers/peacemakers. The scale and expense of these operations has tended to overshadow the vital role that NGOs play in promoting and maintaining peace and in providing humanitarian assistance to all parties concerned.