Security Council Discusses Poverty And Under-Development As Root Causes Of Conflict
New York, Feb 11 2011 1:10PM
The Security Council, which normally deals with country-specific issues of war and peace such as the Middle East or
Sudan, today held a day-long, high-level debate on the root causes that fuel conflict in the world, like poverty and
under-development.
“Peace, security and development are interdependent,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=5086 said at the start of the session, presided over by Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota of Brazil, this month’s president
of the 15-member body, warning that recent events are a “sharp reminder” of the need for political stability to be
anchored in opportunity and decent standards of living.
“Evidence abounds. Nine of the 10 countries with the lowest Human Development Indicators have experienced conflict in
the last 20 years. Countries facing stark inequality and weak institutions are at increased risk of conflict. Poorly
distributed wealth and a lack of sufficient jobs, opportunities and freedoms, particularly for a large youth population,
can also increase the risk of instability.”
In proposing the debate on “Interlinkages between Peace, Security and Development,” Brazil made clear that it was not
seeking to have the Council take on the specific responsibilities of other principal organs of the United Nations, such
as the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on development issues.
“It does, however, imply that the Security Council must take into account social and development issues in its
deliberations in order to ensure an effective transition to peace,” it added in a background note, stressing that in
some cases socio-economic issues may constitute a threat to international peace and security in their own right.
“Not all peoples suffering from poverty resort to violence, but social, political and economic exclusion can contribute
to the eruption or protraction of or relapse into violence and conflict. This seems to be the case in situations as
different as those of Haiti or of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),” the note said.
Outlining areas where more can be done to ensure “truly integrated, mutually reinforcing approaches to security and
development,” Mr. Ban cited the need to better manage the process of drawdown and withdrawal of Council-mandated
peacekeeping operations and provide more seamless transitions of specific tasks to UN country teams and other
development actors.
He also called for finding innovative ways to build and strengthen national institutions in fragile countries and
stressed the need to focus more on the climate change-security-development nexus. “Lack of energy and the effects of
climate change are having increasingly serious impacts on development and security,” he warned. “We cannot achieve
security without securing energy and managing climate risks.”
He noted that drug trafficking and international organized crime have found fertile ground in places that lack basic
services and economic opportunities, “leading to fear in the streets and insecurity across entire regions,” and called
for urgent consideration of steps to fight organized crime which in some regions “is threatening both development gains
and the very fabric of international peace and security.”
In too many places around the world, the proliferation of small arms and ammunition is a standing threat to the security
of ordinary people, he added, calling for better strategies to halt their illicit proliferation.
“Just as the lack of development can feed the flames of conflict, economic and social progress can help prevent it and
secure peace,” Mr. Ban declared. “Sustained broadly-based development can help to address the roots of conflict, by such
steps as ensuring the equitable sharing of wealth, better access to agricultural lands, strengthening governance and
justice for all.”
At a summit in September at the start of the General Assembly annual debate, presidents, prime ministers and foreign
ministers from the 15 Member States held the Council’s first meeting in nearly two decades devoted to updating the tools
at its disposal for its ever-expanding role of keeping peace, recognizing the linkages between security and development.
In a presidential statement then, it reaffirmed “that international peace and security now requires a more comprehensive
and concerted approach;” underlined the need to address root causes of conflicts, noting that development, peace and
security and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing; stressed the importance of preventive diplomacy; and
reiterated its commitment to strengthening its partnership with regional organizations.
ends