ABSTRACT
Interdepartmental committees meet to ensure proper coordination and policy coherence, but some problems are apparent. For example, the government attempted to provide mediation assistance between the Papua New Guinea government and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. Assistance is also ready for a Restoration Programme to address priority health, education and infrastructure needs. At the same time Aus tralia’s Defence Cooperation Programme pro vides training and other help to the PNGDF. Recent developments in PNG have brought adverse publicity to Australia’s role and the conflict between military and aid arrangements
Austria Yes Yes 20.54%
Belgium 3.1%
Yes Yes Secretary of State has raised conflict prevention to one of the three major objectives for development cooperation and the 1997 budget contains two new lines for this purpose. Conflict prevention is seen as strengthening the societal base and implies field diplomacy, and restoring confidence in civil society and, in areas where peace has been restored, quick support to rehabilitation efforts including disarmament and mine clearance, education and employment, rehabilitation of the administration and judiciary and prosecution of war criminals. In stable societies, conflict prevention is interpreted as respect for human rights and democratisation
The goal of conflict prevention is frustrated by activities of other ministries including the avail ability of export credit guarantees for arms exports and the construction of an arms plant in Kenya. The transfer of authority for banning arms exports to the level of the Flemish and Francophone communities has been particularly harmful to coherence. Furthermore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers diplomacy to be its exclusive competence. Coherence and coordin ation have been easier to achieve within an EU framework
Canada 11.91%
Yes Yes Proactive in approach. Initiated and signed treaty for worldwide ban of antipersonnel mines, to be con cluded in December 1997. In October 1996 a special Canadian Peacebuilding Initiative was created with an allocation of $10m to be administered by CIDA under the International Humanitarian Assistance window. Substantial resources have been directed towards peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities in relation to Rwanda/Zaire, Haiti and Guatemala. Department of National Defence has created Disaster Assistance Response Team with 180 personnel ready to be deployed quickly to provide medical care, potable water, engineering services and effective, reliable communication. Reservations have been expressed on this unit’s likely lack of sensitivity to local culture and and minimal capacity for continuity associated with short-term missions. Basic Human Needs and Women in Development and Gender Equity Policies are intended to give policy direction to the allocation of funds by IHA
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade take the lead in developing policy with respect to areas of conflict, but it does so in close collaboration with the Department of National Defence, CIDA and other appropriate ministries. There is also both formal and informal consultation with NGOs active in the area of concern. Existing policy on the export of military equipment preventing export to parties engaged in civil or interstate conflict has been called upon to be strengthened. It has been proposed that all military commodity transfers be subject to an ‘impact assessment review’
288 Country and % bilateral
Denmark 7.93%
Yes Yes
Finland 10.45%
No No Specific changes in practical approaches to long term conflict are hard to detect. On the other hand, the government has increasingly emphasised the need to focus on preventive measures, rehabilitation and long-term solutions in the context of humanitarian assistance, as well as in its overall foreign policy outlook. An evaluation of Finland’s humanitarian assistance, published in 1996, proposed a more proactive rather than reactive approach. Countries facing post-conflict rehabilitation are included in the government’s categories of development cooperation partners. Finland is also contributing ODA to rehabilitation in several countries, including Bosnia. Again, there are as yet no precise and coordinated approaches to rehabilitation
The government stresses using humanitarian aid to respond to crises ‘with due consideration to our foreign policy objectives’. The evaluation published in 1996 recommends the drawing up of a statement of purpose to give better definition to the relationship between humanitarian relief and other areas of foreign policy. This has yet to be made
France 2.15%
Yes Yes
Germany 9.12%
Yes Yes The government - especially the BMZ and Foreign Ministry - emphasise increasingly the importance of conflict prevention and humanitarian aid. Substantial funds are made available. In 1996, NGOs welcomed the introduction of a new budget title for the BMZ which integrates emergency, food and refugee aid. It is hoped that this will lead to a
The political framework conditions introduced by the BMZ in 1991, take recipients’ military expenditure into consideration, among other things. However, they are not consistently implemented in the aid programme, let alone in other areas of foreign policy like arms exports and trade. The DAC review of German aid
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more consistent approach in linking short-term and long-term aid
supports NGO concerns in this regard: ‘However, these framework conditions do not seem to be applied with equal force in the policy dialogue with recipients when it comes to the respect for human rights and developmentoriented government actions. Nor are they directly applicable to trade and foreign policy relations’
Ireland 9.09%
Yes Yes The 1996 White Paper on Foreign Policy states that the government will place renewed emphasis on prevention of violent conflict and improved national response to humanitarian crises. There has been a substantial increase to the Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Fund. In 1994 the Human Rights and Democratisation budget line was established. In early 1996 the government introduced a unilateral ban on anti-personnel mines. A basic commitment to the resolution on linking relief, rehabilitation and development. Since 1995 the government has had a specific budget line for rehabilitation. In 1997 allocations under this line are estimated at IR£ 4m. The growing importance of this line saw the appointment of a rehabilitation adviser to the Evaluations and Audit Unit
During Ireland’s presidency of the EU, the Development Council adopted a resolution on anti-personnel landmines to improve coordination of landmine programmes such as mine clearance, victim rehabilitation and mine awareness activities. A Joint Action by the European Council put in place a common moratorium on the export of all anti personnel mines
Italy 10.92% Yes Yes
Japan 0.58%
Yes No It is hard to say what Japan’s policy on conflict is. Aid is provided for rehabilitation in Cambodia, Bosnia and the Middle East. In 1996 the government set up a new programme for support of rehabilitation and development. There are no figures as yet
Japan bans all arms exports to all countries (its violation is subject to criminal punishment). Also the ODA Charter adopted in 1992 states that Japan will give full attention to trends in recipients’ military expenditures and production of weapons of mass destruction
Luxembourg 16.28%
Yes Yes
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Netherlands 15.59%
Yes Yes A new department has been established to promote efficiency and democratisation and to end human rights violations. Much effort has been made to prevent conflicts by integrating foreign and develop ment policies. There are two budget categories: one is human rights, conflict management, democratisation and good governance, the other is humanitarian aid. The policy for peace and stability has three major pillars: (1) conflict prevention (2) crisis management (3) rehabilitation. There is, however, no special funding window for rehabilitation. The major part of humanitarian aid is channelled through agencies like the Red Cross and UNHCR
Peace and stability are major issues in Dutch aid policy. Coherence between foreign policies, economic, defence and aid policies are considered as a prerequisite to intervene in conflict situations. In the Council of Ministers a special meeting between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development Cooperation is held to streamline the Dutch policy with regard to peace and stability. This meeting is called the REIA (Council for European and International Affairs)
New Zealand 2.06%
Yes Yes Bilateral programmes do not operate in countries, other than Bougainville in which conflict is an issue. NZODA has a fund for responding to emergencies and it is principally kept for cyclones in the Pacific, though grants are made in response to other emergencies throughout the year. When the cyclone season is over funds are made available for rehabilitation programmes through NGOs and UN agencies. No new processes have been established and relief and rehabilitation is only really considered in the context of activities funded through other agencies as New Zealand has little direct involvement
Not really an issue
Norway 20.29%
Yes Yes It is a high priority field but there are no new policies. Strong emphasis is put on efforts to give emergency aid a lasting rehabilitation and development impact
Humanitarian relief is closely integrated in foreign policy. Norway has practically no arms exports to areas prone to conflict (Turkey has until recently been an exception)
Portugal Yes 2.23%
Yes
Spain 2.45% No Yes No change in government policy. Spain does not take the lead in response to conflicts but will join a position adopted by other countries, mainly in the EU. No new rehabilitation funds exist
In relation to the influence of foreign policy and export policy, in general terms there has been no progress. As regards arms exports, progress has been made in early 1997 concerning anti personnel mines. Parliament passed a total ban on production, export, use or warehousing of such. Shortly after, Parliament passed another ruling in favour of greater transparency in the trading of arms
Sweden Yes 22.71%
Yes In the budget reduction for 1997 allocations for humanitarian relief were cut. In its documents the government underlines the need for both conflict prevention and rehabilitation rather than merely concentrating on disaster relief
The government is promoting coherence in EU policies and recognises incoherence in Swedish policies, but does not like to mention the role of Swedish arms exports. Sweden in the twelfth largest arms exporter in the world and although strict rules have been adopted by Parliament, exceptions apparently occur. Sweden has been accused of helping Indonesian occupation of East Timor through arms sales
Switzerland Yes 12.45%
Yes In parallel with the debate at the OECD task force on conflict resolution, a discussion group has been set up within the Department of Foreign Affairs whose task it is to oversee the prevention of conflicts and coordinate aid instruments (coordin ation between emergency aid and long-term cooperation). When Switzerland wishes to intervene in a conflict, this group is in charge of establishing a consistent approach at the outset between all parties involved. The government has not taken any concrete measure or established any new funding windows to respond to the needs for rehabilitation
The problem of coherence continues, despite the discussion group. The debates on the revision of law on arms export in particular have focused attention onto coherence in Swiss policy. NGOs report that Pilatus aircraft were exported to Burma where they are used against refugee camps partly funded by Swiss Develop ment Cooperation. The export risk guarantee to the Three Gorges Project in China highlights the unresolved issue of coherence
United Yes Kingdom 10.9%
Yes There are changes in government approach to focus increasingly on defusing conflict, tackling the underlying causes and reconciliation. A new Conflict Policy Unit has been established with a seed corn budget and guidance for agencies seeking to support conflict reduction activities. While there have been attempts to create new windows for rehabilitation funding via the EU, the situation in the UK is ambiguous. The new DFID guidelines provide a useful framework to encourage better humanitarian projects and better coordin ation in emergency situations. A key area for change is enhancing DFID’s responsiveness to requests for support in the area of rehabilitation
DFID does not take the lead on overall response to conflict - this is the responsibility of the Foreign Office. DFID does, however, lead on the humanitarian response to conflict. The UK signed the Brussels Statement (see left hand column) on landmines - an improvement on its previous position. The incoming Foreign Secretary announced in May 1997 that British foreign policy would include greater emphasis on human rights and, as one of the four largest arms exporters in the World, Britain had par ticular responsibility to ensure that the arms trade was properly regulated and arms sales criteria tightened
USA 14.05% Yes No There has been heightened attention to the issue of civil conflict in developing countries in the policy statement of US officials. USAID has also established an ‘Office of Transition Initiatives’; to develop and offer programmes of rapid recovery from civil conflicts (involving demining, demobilis ation, the establishment of political institutions). This programme has expanded in recent years. There are no specific programmes to engage women in rehabilitation although their role is not ignored
President designated USAID administrator to take lead in disaster relief. Where civil conflict involves broader political issues (as it usually does), the National Security Council often decides the US response and involves Department of Defense, Department of State and USAID. USAID rarely comments on or is knowledgeable about arms exports. It lies outside its formal responsibilities. It has, however, taken a position against the export of landmines generally within the administration and has had some influence on thinking there
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