Preventing Armed Conflicts Requires Broad-Based Effort

“With armed conflicts raging around the world, prevention is too important to be left in the hands of governments alone, senior United Nations officials told the press in New York today on the eve of a General Assembly debate on Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s recent report on the issue.

Issued five years after his first comprehensive report on the prevention of armed conflict, this 54-page document responds to resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council. Mr. Annan notes that “a culture of prevention is indeed beginning to take hold at the United Nations,” but adds that “an unacceptable gap remains between rhetoric and reality in the area of conflict prevention.” More