At a joint two-day workshop in Jakarta on Friday on conflict prevention and preventive diplomacy, Vijay Nambiar of India, a United Nations under secretary general and special adviser on Myanmar to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, told reporters that the Buddhist-Muslim tensions needed to be controlled for regional security.
Though the ASEAN Charter underscores respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and non-interference in the internal affairs of member states, the grouping has recently started to work on regional humanitarian issues, security promotion, conflict prevention and preventive diplomacy.
The action plan cites climate change as "a key element of preventive diplomacy," aimed at preventing future violent conflicts through cooperation and dialogue.
ASEAN nations could help the situation in Myanmar by stepping in with preventive diplomacy – action taken to prevent disputes, conflicts and violence to address a problem that has both local and regional consequences.
He has written and edited several books, including "Preventing Violent Conflicts: A Strategy for Preventive Diplomacy".
He is the author of "Preventing Violent Conflicts: A Strategy for Preventive Diplomacy".
In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, declared that France's refusal to support the American invasion was a choice between "two visions of the world" -- America's "swift and preventive" force and France's patient diplomacy.
Subsequently, the risk and protective factors were translated into multi-sectoral, multi-modal and multi-level preventive interventions involving the economy, governance, diplomacy, the military, human rights, agriculture, health, and education.
John Newhouse, in IMPERIAL AMERICA: The Bush Assault on the World Order (Vintage, $13), argues that President Bush's foreign policy, by replacing diplomacy with a doctrine of preventive war, has done more to imperil America than to enhance its security.
Effective and cost-saving programs have been identified in areas like school enrollment maintenance, job training, drug dependency rehabilitation, criminal rehabilitation, diabetes prevention, pollution reduction and "preventive diplomacy/defense".
With the apparent failure of diplomacy to avert a conflict, they say, preventive action is more important than ever.
