Issue Brief on Prevention of Conflict

Preventive measures have the potential to avert disputes before they erupt into violent confrontations. The Security Council has called on UN organs and agencies to develop and implement appropriate preventive strategies, by enhancing early warning capacity and drawing information from a variety of sources given the multiple factors that contribute to conflict in a Presidential Statement, (Statement by the President of the Security Council, 20 July 2000). To develop this strategic approach, the Brahimi Report went further in calling for the UN to develop sharper tools to gather and analyse relevant information, (Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, http://www.un.org/peace/reports/peace_ operations/). The Security Council's resolution on women and peace and security underscored the need for such measures to support local women's peace initiatives for conflict resolution, and to increase women's participation, full involvement and decision-making roles in all preventive measures.