Sectoral Development Policy

Conflicts and the instabilities people face have a far-reaching negative impact on human development, and billions of people around the world are in unstable situations. Many of the countries that rank low on the Human Development Index (HDI) have not been able to free themselves from long-term conflicts, and their people are exposed to violence even now. As of the end of 2019, approximately 79.5 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes due to conflict and persecution—the worst figure seen in the past 20 years. Among these people, more than 26 million are currently living as refugees.
(Source: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), "Global Trends 2019")

Sustaining peace and stability is a prerequisite for development, and is essential for further prosperity of the international community and the achievement of international development goals. Conflicts undermine the progress in development achieved through long-term efforts, and cause massive social and economic losses. Moreover, so-called "failed states", that have become ruined due to conflicts, and lost their ability to govern, have the potential to become bases for terrorist activities and sources from which weapons of mass destruction can spread. This can be a serious threat to peace and security on both the regional and global scale. For such countries wherein the government lacks sufficient capacity to govern, it is important to provide assistance from the perspective of "human security." In the event of conflict, the challenge for the international community is to eliminate cross-border threats to individuals, and think of ways to establish peace.

In regional and internal conflicts in developing countries, poverty as well as political confrontations make it difficult to end the dispute and consolidate peace. In other words, dissatisfaction with corruption and a government that is incapable of governing give rise to opposing forces. In such circumstances, the poor living on meager incomes with inadequate social services are likely to be recruited into these forces as soldiers, rendering more civil conflict. Therefore, in addition to achieving political settlement, it is very important to improve the lives of people—including former soldiers—and enable them to realize peace through ODA, for the progress of peacebuilding. In consideration of these situations, Japan has been proactively providing seamless support ranging from emergency humanitarian assistance and assistance to promote conflict resolution, to assistance for restoration and development, and for the “consolidation of peace” and “state-building” that will lead to the prevention of the recurrence of conflict.

In the post-Cold War era, the international community has seen regional and internal conflicts frequently occurring in many parts of the world, due to the rise of disputes rooted in ethnicity, religion, and history. The vast majority of victims are citizens, including women and children. Conflicts often create large numbers of refugees and displaced persons and provoke humanitarian issues and human rights abuses. As the causes and forms of conflicts have diversified, the international community has gradually recognized the need for comprehensive measures for conflict prevention and conflict resolution, which include assistance for rebuilding the nation after the conflict, in addition to peacekeeping operations (PKOs) and dispatch of multinational forces, as well as political measures such as preventive diplomacy and arbitration. Thus, importance is now placed on the role of development cooperation in preventing and mitigating damage stemming from the conflicts. In light of the increasing significance of the nexus among humanitarian issues, development and peace, the roles of UN PKOs were also expanded beyond its original duty, such as monitoring ceasefires between countries, to also disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former soldiers (DDR), measures against landmines, security sector reform (SSR), and other activities related to the rule of law, as well as activities such as protecting and promoting human rights. As a result, coherence between development cooperation and PKOs is becoming important.

In 1992, the then UN Secretary-General Ghali published "An Agenda for Peace," in which he presented the importance of peacebuilding. In August 2000, the United Nations published the "Brahimi Report" based on experiences from past activities. Through the report, it positioned peacebuilding as activities "to reassemble the foundations of peace and provide the tools for building on those foundations something that is more than just the absence of war." In 2005, the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) was established with the aim of advising on an integrated strategy for post-conflict peacebuilding, based on a consistent approach from conflict resolution through to reconstruction. (Japan has been a member since its founding.) In particular, priority sectors were identified with regard to countries selected as target countries by the PBC, and the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) has contributed $79.4 million (Burundi), $68.7 million (Liberia), $93.2 million (Central African Republic), and $27.7 million (Guinea-Bissau) (as of November 2020) respectively, with discussions being held regarding the details on how to provide assistance after the withdrawal of UN missions. So far, Japan has contributed a total of $55.5 million to the PBF. In addition, the "Report of the Secretary-General: Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace" was published in February 2018, containing various proposals aimed at initiatives such as strengthening financing for peacebuilding. At the "High-Level Meeting on Peace Building and Sustaining Peace" held in light of this report in April 2018, Japan expressed its support for the Secretary-General's initiatives in the peacebuilding sector. 20 years have passed since the "Brahimi Report" was published, and through various initiatives and discussions, peacebuilding has now come to be recognized as not simply post-conflict activities, but the activities involved in the whole series of processes aimed at preventing conflict, reducing the risk of recurrence, and building the foundations for sustainable peace and development.

As part of the efforts toward peacebuilding, in 2007, the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) published the "OECD DAC Handbook on Security System Reform (SSR)," which was compiled based on past lessons and issues with regard to supporting the establishment of security and justice. In the same year, the "Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States" was adopted. This document compiles the principles which donors should consider when implementing assistance to fragile states. In addition, a new sub-committee of the DAC called the "International Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF)” was established to provide a common forum to discuss the issues of conflict and state fragility, which have been discussed in different forums in the DAC. INCAF discusses the role of development cooperation in preventing conflicts, which are also impediments to development, post-conflict reconstruction, and developing fragile states. In April 2010, INCAF held the "First International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding" in Timor-Leste with the aim of sharing experiences, etc. related to peacebuilding and state-building, and the "Dili Declaration," summarizing the common goals necessary for peacebuilding and state-building in fragile states, was adopted. Furthermore, after the discussions at the "Second International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and State-building" held in Liberia in June 2011, "A NEW DEAL for Engagement in Fragile States," which is a new aid coordination initiative to improve assistance for fragile states, was agreed on at the "Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness" held in Busan in November 2011.

The "humanitarian-development-peace nexus" has also been actively discussed at the DAC. In line with the global trend, which has seen conflicts and humanitarian crises that are getting more protracted and serious, this concept is based on the idea to focus on preventing the occurrence and recurrence of conflicts, in addition to post-conflict response measures by combining humanitarian assistance and development cooperation with peacebuilding, conflict prevention assistance, and others. This concept leads to "human security," which Japan has been placing particular importance on. INCAF played a central role in making C the "DAC Recommendation on the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus." It was unanimously approved by the DAC at its Senior Level Meeting in February 2019. With the aim of effectively reducing the needs, risks, and fragility the people face, supporting preventive efforts, and delivering assistance to people who are likely to be left behind from it, the Recommendation sets out 11 principles from the perspectives of coordinating, planning, and mobilizing funding for coordination, in order to help donors and related actors to conduct effective and consistent activities to address humanitarian, development, and peace issues—and activities related to fragility and conflicts in particular.

The World Bank also established a Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit in 1997. The Unit's activities include providing advice and gathering information as well as monitoring development in individual countries when programs are implemented in post-conflict regions. It has also conducted activities regarding post-conflict reconstruction assistance through the “Post-Conflict Fund” established by the World Bank, based on the idea that the fragile government organizations and unstable economies are the some of the factors that cause conflicts. In recent years, it has been focusing on how conflicts and fragility of states are related. In 2007, it established a new group (the Fragile and Conflict-affected Countries Group) consisting of members of the Peacebuilding Group and Fragile States Group, and in 2008, it integrated a fund to support vulnerable countries (the Low Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS) Trust Fund) and established the State and Peace-building Fund (SPF) to provide assistance for peacebuilding and state-building. Moreover, in 2010, the World Bank's "World Development Report (WDR) 2011" addressed "Conflict, Security, and Development." In February 2020, the World Bank Group published the "Strategy for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence," presenting a systematic support strategy for low- and medium-income countries, as well as emphasized the need for urgent and concentrated assistance for countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence.

• "High-Level Seminar on Peacebuilding, National Reconciliation and Democratization in Asia" (June 2015) (Program: Japanese [PDF] / English [PDF] )

On June 20, 2015, the "High-Level Seminar on Peacebuilding, National Reconciliation and Democratization in Asia" was held at the United Nations University in Aoyama, Tokyo. The seminar, which was chaired by Mr. Yasushi Akashi, Representative of the Government of Japan on Peace-Building, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Sri Lanka, was proposed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the East Asia Summit in November 2014. The keynote speech was delivered by Mr. Fumio Kishida, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan at the time. The seminar was attended by a number of prominent figures such as leaders, government officials, international organizations, and experts from Japan and overseas who have deep knowledge and rich experience in peacebuilding, national reconciliation, and democratization in Asia, among them former President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Dr. José Ramos-Horta, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Government of Sri Lanka Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, and the Chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim.

• Third Review Conference on the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (June 2018)

The Third Review Conference on the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA) was held in June 2018 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The conference reviewed the progress made in the implementation of PoA, adopted in 2001, and the International Tracing Instrument (ITI), a related document adopted in 2005. Based on the results of the review, a set of action guidelines and priorities for the following six years until the Fourth Review Conference, scheduled in 2024, were discussed, and the Member States reaffirmed its strong will toward future implementation of PoA and ITI.

• TICAD7 (August 2019)

In August 2019, the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) was held in Yokohama. In TICAD7, Japan announced the "New Approach for Peace and Stability in Africa (NAPSA), which aims to support efforts by the African Union (AU) and other actors for conflict prevention and mediation as well as the institution building. NAPSA is based on the two principles of (1) respect for Africa’s ownership and (2) measures against root causes that hamper peace and stability in Africa. NAPSA’s objective is to support African-led constructive efforts to achieve peace and stability which work as preconditions for economic growth, investment and improvement of livelihood. In addition, Mr. KONO Taro, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, hosted the Special Conference on Peace and Stability in the Sahel Region and the Special Conference on Peace and Stability in the Horn of Africa and the Neighboring Region, where the Minister discussed issues on peace and stability in Africa with related countries and organizations.

G8 Kyushu Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (2000)

• "G8 Miyazaki Initiative for Conflict Prevention" (Japanese / English)
  In this meeting, the Foreign Ministers confirmed the necessity of promoting and conducting sustainable efforts to encourage a "Culture of Prevention" throughout the global community as well as acknowledged the importance of pursuing a "Comprehensive Approach." The meeting affirmed that the G8 will not authorize the export of small arms to conflict areas for the first time. In addition, Foreign Ministers reaffirmed that UN remains central in conflict prevention, and recognized the importance of addressing root causes of conflicts in formulating Development Assistance Strategies.

G8 Whistler Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (2002)

• "G8 Initiative on Conflict and Development: Promoting Cooperative and Sustainable Management of Shared Water Resources" (Provisional Translation / English)
  G8 Initiative on Promoting Cooperative and Sustainable Management of Shared Water Resources was announced recognizing that "environmental degradation of resources, resource scarcity and subsequent sociopolitical impact are a potential threat to security as they may give rise to or exacerbate civil conflicts and conflicts between states" as noted in the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting in March 1999.

G8 Kananaskis Summit (2002)

• "G8 Africa Action Plan" (Provisional Translation / English)
  The G8 Africa Action Plan was adopted in which G8 leaders committed to ”Providing technical and financial assistance so that, by 2010, African countries and regional and sub-regional organizations are able to engage more effectively to prevent and resolve violent conflict on the continent, and undertake peace support operations in accordance with the United Nations Charter.”

G8 Saint Petersburg Summit (2006)

• "G-8 Declaration on Cooperation and Future Action in Stabilization and Reconstruction" (Provisional Translation / English) (2006)
  G8 leaders recognized that "the international community should be prepared to support vulnerable states and people in the transition from conflict to sustainable peace with robust stabilization and reconstruction assistance," and announced their commitment to establish a more coordinated approach.

G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit (2008)

• "G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit Leaders Declaration" (2008) (Provisional Translation / English)
  In the G8 process chaired by Japan in 2008, Japan raised the theme of peacebuilding, and in the Leaders Declaration, G8 leaders expressed its commitment to strengthening support for peacebuilding. After Hokkaido Toyako Summit, G7/G8 Peacekeeping/Peacebuilding Experts Group Meetings have been held regularly.