REPUBLIC OF REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA AND THE SLOVENIA AND THE

PEACEBUILDINGPEACEBUILDING

Assist. Prof. Dr. Vladimir Prebilič Faculty of Social SciencesUniversity of Ljubljana

WHAT IS PEACEBUILDING?

“Peacebuilding embodies a range of actions to identify, establish and support structures for strengthening and consolidating peace. Those actions need to be used and integrated so as to help address underlying drivers of conflict. It is relevant to societies vulnerable to violent conflict and instability as those already suffering from violence. Whether started before, after or during the eruption of conflict, peacebuilding must be seen as a long term exercise to change structures, attitudes and behaviors” by International Alert.

WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND OF THE PEACEBUILDING?

introduced by the UN as a integral part of the last step of the establishing peace in the region (1992) role of the Brahimi report – no long lasting peace without peacebuilding

NATO understand the peace building process as follow up involvement – after the forceful part of the conflict has been ended

WHAT DO WE HAVE OR SHOULD HAVE IN MIND?

strengthening and consolidating peace = we need to have peace!? when does the peacebuilding process start? comprehensive approach = targeting causes of the conflict = do we have the knowledge? are there vulnerable societies to conflict? = europocentric viewpoint long term exercise? = do we have time? does long term exercise mean long term funding? = does international community have means? are we honest? = do we really want to solve the conflict? is thehre hidden agenda? = does the peace-business really exist?

which institution is able to carry out the peace building efforts? = are the armed forces the right address? necessity of bringing all parties together = importance of the two way dialogdo we understand the importance of the reconciliation procedure?

CAN WE HAVE LONG TERM PEACE AFTER THE CONFLICT?

Hatred as latent conflict

War

Consequences of war

Living heappely ever after…

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Slovenia’s Objectives inSlovenia’s Objectives in InternationalInternational

Development Policy Development Policy The Slovenian government and governmental

institutions regard peace building as a broad concept – Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Is development assistance achieving right goals?

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Slovenia’s Objectives inSlovenia’s Objectives in InternationalInternational

Development Policy Development Policy Based on its economic development level

and its membership in the EU, Slovenia has become a donor country for development assistance

Direct development assistance reach 0.33 percent of GNI by 2015 – current financial and economic crisis?

Slovenia has defined the territorial priorities for its medium-term period of international development assistance (until 2015) - Western Balkans

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Who coordinates the efforts?Who coordinates the efforts?

Interministerial body to plan, coordinate, monitor and evaluate implementation of international development cooperation- leading role of MFA

To directly implement this policy Government of Slovenia and the MFA have established or co-founded special institutions

ODA efforts are still depending upon the commitment of the individual minister

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NGO’sNGO’s in inSlovenia and PeaceSlovenia and Peace buildingbuilding

Around 900,000 citizens is participating in NGOs on a voluntary basis.

Peace building capabilities have only the largest, most visible and influential NGOs in Slovenia that are an integral part of international organizations

They have possibilities for beyond national borders activities

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NGO’s inNGO’s inSlovenia and PeaceSlovenia and Peace building-building-

positive experiencepositive experienceNGOs cooperate with state institutions in the event of

natural and other disasters, when MFA representatives consult NGOs

There is also cooperation in the area of education and training – NGOs namely contribute their field experience and thus prepare members of SAF, the police, civil functional specialists (CFS) and others

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Some Recommendations forSome Recommendations forImprovementsImprovements

1. Increase the involvement of the EU and its structures in highlighting the benefits of the peace building process to Slovenian decision-makers and to the Slovenian public.

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Some Recommendations forSome Recommendations forImprovementsImprovements

2. Identify the origin of negative perceptions of peace building amongst the population.

3. Encourage the participation of all political and public opinion leaders in peace building and ODA discussions, as was the case with Slovenian entrance into Euro-Atlantic organizations.

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Some Recommendations forSome Recommendations forImprovementsImprovements

4. Incorporate peace building into educational curricula.

5. Enhance cooperation between ministries involved in peace building activities, especially as regards public administration.

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Some Recommendations forSome Recommendations forImprovementsImprovements

6. Clarify the meaning of peace building through government-sponsored awareness campaigns.

7. Support capacity-building of NGOs and academia, in order to develop a cadre of professional peacebuilders to support Slovenia’s engagement in peace building activities.