Peace-building resources exist within conflict-affected societies: India at UN

Ambassador K. Nagaraj Naidu suggested that the UN should ensure inclusiveness, ownership and participation of all stakeholders in the reconciliation process following the principles of neutrality and impartiality.

New York: Highlighting the importance of reconciliation in stopping the cycle of violence and insecurity in post-conflict situations, India said peace-building resources exist within conflict-affected societies and the United Nations should play a 'supportive and facilitating' role in the process of peace building.

Addressing the UN Security Council open debate on peace building and sustaining peace on Tuesday, India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador K. Nagaraj Naidu said that reconciliation should be truly home-grown process and adequate capacity-building resources must be made available for building robust institutions and state structures.

He also noted that the world body must avoid selectivity, partiality, and double standards in the application of rule of law at the global level.

"Reconciliation is a crucial step in stopping the cycle of violence and insecurity in post-conflict situations, and in building sustainable peace. Given the immense complexities and unique local context of each post-conflict theatre, there can be no one-size-fits-all template for such dynamic situations. Reconciliation is a long and arduous process, and artificially imposed standards or timelines are unlikely to achieve success," Naidu said.

"If peace building is to move beyond being an exercise in social engineering, we must acknowledge that peace-building resources exist within conflict-affected societies themselves".

"My delegation is of the view that reconciliation has to be a truly home-grown process. The inherent limits on the breadth, depth and duration of any external peace-building mission suggest that deep-rooted, sustainable change of the kind peace building seeks to bring about requires the long-term support and commitment of a critical mass of domestic actors including civil society, youth, women and religious leaders," he added.

The ambassador suggested that the UN should ensure inclusiveness, ownership and participation of all stakeholders in the reconciliation process following the principles of neutrality and impartiality.

Naidu said that India supports enhanced international cooperation for the development and codification of international criminal law and to strengthen the rule of law as a whole.

"Conflict corrodes and destroys human, infrastructural and institutional capacities. Such capacities need to be rebuilt if national actors are to exercise a meaningful degree of ownership over events in the post-conflict period," he cited.

"While it would be a mistake to overlook domestic institutions and practices as sources of peace building, it would be erroneous to uncritically romanticize them. It is, therefore, necessary that adequate capacity-building resources are made available for building robust institutions and state structures," he added.