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Trust Fund for Special Missions and Other Activities Related to
Preventive Diplomacy and Peacemaking and the Trust Fund for Pre-
ventive Action. With reference to the potential activities of the MSU,
the Terms of Reference for the Trust Fund for Preventive Diplomacy
and Peacemaking notes that it was established to  support peacemaking
activities including the  mediation activities of Special Envoys or
Special Representatives of the Secretary-General . The terms of refer-
ence also note that these funds would be utilised to provide
long-term and systematic education and training of appropriate personnel includ-
ing government personnel, United Nations personnel, mediators, regional orga-
90 the ethics of peacebuilding
nisations and NGO personnel, and representatives of parties to conflict, with the
goal of improving capacity for early warning, mediation and conflict resolution.73
There is a need to determine where funding for the MSU should come
from. Given that the decision to establish the Unit was taken with the
consent of member states, the meeting should assess whether new funds
should be sourced directly from the regular budget rather than depleting
the limited trust funds. Beyond the need to mobilise resources it is
important to identify the potential constraints on the effective oper-
ationalisation of the MSU.
The MSU s primary objective is to put the mediation efforts of the
DPA on a much more robust and ethical footing in order to increase the
likelihood of generating sustainable agreements between parties.74 The
medium- to long-term strategy of the MSU includes empowering
countries to establish their own national mediation offices because
differences are bound to emerge in the future and it is much more
economical and ultimately sustainable for countries to manage their
own affairs.75 This also enables the DPA to build local relationships and
the trust required for ethical diplomatic interventions.
NON-OFFICIAL THIRD-PARTY INTERVENTION
EFFORTS
Even though the UN was structurally paralysed there were other
principled efforts at peacemaking. It is useful to assess other conflict
resolution frameworks that existed outside the UN framework, parti-
cularly during the Cold War when superpower imperatives impeded the
effective implementation of ethical policies. Intervention and mediation
activities during the Cold War were undertaken by a variety of third
parties including the Holy See, Moral Re-Armament (MRA), the
International Negotiation Network (INN), ecumenical bodies such as
the Quakers as well as a number of academic researchers in peace and
conflict studies.76
MORAL MEDIATION: QUAKER INTERVENTIONS
DURING THE COLD WAR
This section will assess the ethical basis of the peacebuilding efforts of
the Quakers. Sydney Bailey describes non-official mediation as  media-
tion in international disputes by persons who are not employed by or
responsible to a national government or an inter-government organisa-
tion .77 The Quakers have throughout their history been involved in
conflict resolution and mediation. They have developed a social activist
the utility of negotiation and mediation 91
programme predicated on pacifism and the practice of consensual
decision-making. By seeking to apply the central tenets of their religious
beliefs to the realms of international and domestic politics, the Quakers
have endeavoured to sustain the principles of peace, justice and recon-
ciliation in the difficult and often frustrating task of mediation.78 It is
therefore useful to engage in an analysis of the philosophical foundation
and the practical application of the Quaker approach to international
relations. This will involve briefly tracing the origins of their activities
and examining their methodology in dealing with various problems
culminating in an investigation of how their ideas were put into practice
in the Nigeria Biafra civil war of 1967 70. This section will also assess
the moral dimension of Quaker mediation efforts.
ORIGINS OF THE QUAKER BELIEF SYSTEM
The Quakers have been instrumental in establishing the modern peace
movement. In 1647 George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends,
refused to take up arms in the English civil war. Fox s stance was based
on his conviction that there was a fundamental contradiction between
the spirit of Christ and the spirit of war. He in effect provided the
embryonic core for the pacifist position that the Quakers subsequently
adopted.79 As described by the historian Arnold Lloyd, Fox  was
oppressed by the discrepancy between Christian profession and Chris-
tian practice; he sensed a failure of Christian faith in the very outbreak
of civil war, and he was conscious of frustration and futility in his own
Christian living .80 Lloyd further notes that Fox  got a deeper impres-
sion of the intellectual and moral chaos which accompanied the war,
and of the disillusion which was becoming more and more apparent in
Puritan ranks .81 Furthermore, after several years of searching for a
solution in new notions and ideas, Fox described an experience in which
an inner voice spoke to him, telling him that there is an  inward teacher
in everyone in the form of Jesus Christ who can and will  speak to thy
condition .82 Fox subsequently pondered this revelation and felt a
calling and responsibility to direct men to their inward teacher. Fox
came to the understanding that if people  would discipline themselves to
listen to this voice, they would be guided in all their perplexities,
theoretical and practical .83 The evolution of the Quaker society can
best be understood in terms of the communication of moral advice and
of helping to solve practical problems.84 The tradition of Quaker
peacemaking can be traced back to the efforts of William Penn to
reach a peace agreement with the native Americans living near the newly
formed colony of Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century.85
92 the ethics of peacebuilding
THE QUAKER APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL
MEDIATION
The Quaker ethos advocates peace, tolerance and goodwill as illustrated
by Bailey when he says that because
Quakers believe that there is that of God in all people to which others may respond,
they not only hope for the best but they expect the best, believing that bad
situations are likely to get better with the input of a little honest goodwill.86
Bailey further suggests that with reference to conflict resolution the
Quakers did not necessarily have any  special aptitudes or skills as
mediators ; rather they endeavoured to sympathise with both sides in
international disputes because they felt that both were  usually victims
of past mistakes .87 John Volkmar, a Quaker mediator who helped with
the peacebuilding efforts in the Nigerian civil war of the late 1960s,
reinforced this view when he suggested that with regard to conflicts
 no problem is ever resolved by war. War only postpones the problem,
and it is destructive, expensive, and painful. Ultimately you will have
to sit down together .88 Quakers adhered to four key elements in their
approach to international conflict resolution which are relevant to the
central theme of this book, namely:
1. The view that the use of power for the purpose of dominating
others is detrimental to human communities;
2. A belief that opening the lines of communication between dis-
putants is vital to correcting misperceptions and reducing mistrust;
3. There has to be a commitment towards refraining from being
judgemental about the activities of the parties that one seeks to
mediate between;
4. There has to be a commitment to maintaining a presence at the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]