§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the990W Government will be included in the Conflict Prevention Pool; and what the priorities are of the Conflict Prevention Pool. [178891]
§ Mr. RammellA review of the Government's work on Conflict Prevention in 1999–2000 concluded that delivery would be improved by bringing together in a more co-ordinated way the existing activities of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Department for International Development (DfID) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in this field. The Government therefore set up joint FCO/DfID/MOD Africa and Global Conflict Prevention Pools in 2001.
The pools were set up with the aim of reducing the number of people around the world whose lives are affected by violent conflict and, ultimately, of cutting the number of conflicts that occur.
Activities of these two pools seek to harness the expertise available within the three Departments across a wide range of sectors including development, security reform, public administration, good policing and equitable justice systems.
By 2006, DfID, FCO and MOD, together and with others, will work to:
(i) resolve existing violent conflicts and prevent new conflicts in priority countries and regions eg Afghanistan, Balkans, Former Soviet Union, Middle and Near East, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Great Lakes, Sudan, Angola, and Nigeria(ii) address the national and regional causes of conflict by:strengthening local conflict management eg through improved governance and security sector reform in priority countries and regionsimproving local peace support capacity in co-operation with international partners eg the development of a GS-Africa Peace Support Operations plan(iii) improve the inter-national community's response to conflict by:strengthening UN Conflict Management capacity eg improving peacekeeping deploymentsmobilising and supporting coherent bilateral and international action at UN, G8, EU, Commonwealth, and other forums including NEPADimplementing agreements to reduce the proliferation of small arms and light weapons eg international and national action plans(iv) tackle the Economic and Financial Causes of Conflict eg by mobilising national and international agreement to increase oil revenue transparency and corporate social responsibility.