Training and Dispatching Civilian Peacebuilders
- Responding to New Challenges on the Ground -

On October 31st, 2007, the Hiroshima Peacebuilders Center (HPC), United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and the Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized a symposium entitled 'Training and Dispatching Civilian Peacebuilders - Responding to New Challenges on the Ground.'

Program/Material

The symposium was divided into the following two panel discussions: "Latest Developments and Experiences of the Bilaterals", and "Latest Developments and Experiences of the Multilaterals".

In the opening remarks, Mr. Masatoshi Shimbo, Deputy Director-General, Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explained that Japan, as a Nation of Peace, is determined to make further contributions in this field. Japan was elected chair of the UN Peacebuilding Commission in June this year and will host TICAD IV and G8 Summit next year. He said that Japan would make full use of such opportunities to take strong leadership in promoting global actions for peacebuilding on various fronts. He explained the objective of this symposium and expressed his hope that not only the relevant institutions but also the peacebuilders in the future who attend this symposium would learn how they could be empowered to confront various challenges in the field.

Panel Discussion 1: Latest Developments and Experiences of the Bilaterals

Coordinator: Dr. Masashi Nishihara, President, Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS).

Mr. Magnus Lennartsson Nakamitsu, Minister from the Embassy of Sweden, outlined in his presentation that Sweden recently reviewed its capacities for peacebuilders' training and offers courses for military as well as civilian peacebuilders.Regarding the collaboration between Japan and Sweden, he explained that an institutional partnership has been developed, and the dialogue between countries involved in the training of peacebuilders will be encouraged by organizing international conferences.

Mr. Oscar G. De Soto, Director of Planning from the State Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS), Department of State of the United States, focused on the different Corps the US established or planned: Active Response Corps (dedicated personnel ready to be dispatched immediately), Standby Response Corps (involved in other ongoing duties, but deployable in a crisis) and Civilian Reserve Corps (a future staffing capability drawn from the non-federal sector to provide a sector-specific civilian response expertise).He also stressed the importance of integrated national planning and international collaboration. Sharing information, exchanging experts and developing joint training forces were the main aspects in the United States efforts.

Mr. Martin Laflamme, Second Secretary (Political) from the Embassy of Canada in Japan, first explained how UN operations have become increasingly complex over the last 50 years. To efficiently carry out the ambitious mandates of today's missions, participating states need to deploy a wide-range of experts. This normally includes soldiers, diplomats, aid officials and police officers. According to Mr. Laflamme, it is crucial that all elements of a mission work efficiently together. Before deploying to crisis-affected countries, it therefore helps tremendously if all participants, military or civilian, are given the opportunity to study together and train together. For Canada, close collaboration amongst government departments is a key component to ensure the success of a mission.

Mr. Hugh Watson, Third Secretary (Political) of the Embassy of Australia in Japan, underlined the importance of the 'Whole of Government' approach, where every agency knows what its own role is in order to have a more coordinated response to the issues. He emphasized that it is important for the international stakeholders to ensure cost effective outcomes and to reduce duplication. He explained different Australian agencies, such as AFP (Australian Federal Police) and AusAID (Australian Agency for International Development), which successfully dispatched public servants and other civilians.Regarding the cooperation between Australia and Japan, he mentioned, among others, the Australian-Japan Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation.

Dr. Hideaki Shinoda, Director of HPC, focused during his presentation on the structure of their Pilot Program for Human Resource Development in Asia for Peacebuilding. He explained that HPC provides practical training (a six-week coursework in Japan), deploys its trainees to overseas on-the-job training and assists them in their future career development. Dr. Shinoda congratulated the 29 trainees (15 Japanese and 14 Asian trainees) for their successful graduation of the peacebuilders training course 2007 and he wished them all the best for their imminent overseas on-the-job.

Dr. Keiichi Hashimoto, Senior Adviser (Peacebuilding), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), elucidated that, in the field of peacebuilding, it is important to have close cooperation of experts in various areas.He stressed the need to collaborate with the private sector and 'borrow' human resources from that sector so as not to damage the career development of civilian personnel.

The two commentators, Dr. Yukie Osa, Chairperson, Board of Directors, Japan Platform, and Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, Visiting Professor at Hitotsubashi University, focused on Japanese Government's recent initiatives.Dr. Osa pointed out that the Government, international organizations and NGOs need to collaborate to perfect the training and dispatching of civilian peacebuilders.

Ms. Nakamitsu identified four challenges to the training of civilian peacebuilders: the quantity (the vacancy rate is very high), the quality (lack of expertise in specific fields, like Security Sector Reform), the quick deployment of peacebuilders, and the diversity of expertise (diversity of nationality and gender).

Panel Discussion 2: Latest Developments and Experiences of the Multilaterals

Coordinator: Mr. Yozo Yokota, Professor, Chuo Law School.

Mr. Shun-ichi Murata, Director, UNDP Tokyo Office, emphasized the importance of working with other UN agencies as well as NGOs. The networking of training institutions is essential to share their experience. He also insisted on the need to promote collaboration between multilateral and bilateral agencies.

Mr. Saburo Takizawa, UNHCR Representative in Japan, outlined the changing environment for peacebuilders. The risk of violence, accident and attacks are nowadays getting extremely high. In this context, he gave a comprehensive presentation on security risk assessments and risk management approaches.

Mr. Dan Rohrmann, Director of UNICEF Tokyo, focused as well on the changing environment. He made it clear that it is indispensable for peacebuilding-related agencies to work together. Mr.Rohrmann explained that UNICEF searches first for internal peacebuilders, but has also stand-by arrangements with other agencies. This allows a faster deployment of peacebuilders.

Mr. Akio Nakayama, Head of Special IOM Liaison Mission in Tokyo, pointed out that it is important for teams engaged in peace building to take inter-disciplinary and multi-cultural approaches with delicate understanding on gender and security. He explained that IOM provides trainings for its own staff and other agencies as the cluster lead in Camp Coordination/Camp Management for natural disasters. He also introduced IOM's staff deployment system and Stand-by Personnel Arrangements with Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and Danish Refugee Council (DRC). Based on the MOU, IOM dispatches a CIMIC (Civil Military Cooperation) advisor to NATO and lecturers to their trainings.

Mr. Kojiro Nakai, Donor Relations Officer from WFP Office in Japan, stated that security-training is mandatory and that they collaborate with the Japanese Government, JICA and local NGOs to scoop the most benefits.

Mr. Shinji Nagase, Liaison Officer of the UNV Office in Japan, emphasized that UNV should not only be seen as a human resource bank. UNV has doubled its volunteers' mobilization since 1971 and provides training on the spot to its peacebuilders upon arrival at a crisis-affected area. He added that host-agencies provide relevant training programs to UN-volunteers.

Dr. Sukehiro Hasegawa, Former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste and Professor at Hosei University, reiterated that it is imperative to UN-ize peacebuilding: collaboration and cooperation of agencies, as well as Governments, international organizations and NGOs are crucial for an effective conflict resolution.

At the closing remarks, Dr. Hideaki Shinoda of HPC explained that the difficult challenges discussed at today's symposium need to be addressed one by one in the field through concrete actions. He expressed his appreciation for all the cooperation the relevant organizations and experts extended to the HPC and hoped that this initiative would be carried forward.