Peace Mediation and the Role of Mediation Support Units
What is peace mediation?
The term peace mediation refers to the entire structured process of supporting negotiations of intra- and inter-state conflicts. This can range from initial contact between mediators and conflict parties to ceasefire negotiations and the implementation of peace agreements. Peace mediation is thus a tool to be used throughout the conflict cycle.
Peace mediation interventions are subject to a careful design process based on a comprehensive conflict analysis and identified entry points. The resulting Process Design serves as a roadmap for operationalising the mediation principles and can include decisions on objectives, formats, strategies and logistics. The Process Design is a dynamic document that is adapted, as and when necessary, to changes within the conflict setting.
What are mediation support units?
Over the past ten years, mediation support has become an indispensable feature of peace mediation. It acts as a form of institutional memory to address systemic gaps in the peacemaking system, and provides on-demand operational support to peace processes. Mediation support comprises methodical, technical, logistical, and regional knowledge support with the aim of creating and sustaining the conditions required for long-term peace processes. It is provided to mediators as well as conflict parties, interest groups and other supportive actors such as donor institutions. Mediation support services include:
Technical and operational support for mediation processes refers to the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation elements of a mediation process. It also involves advising on thematic issues such as psychology or law.
Research and knowledge management takes the form of evaluating lessons learned so as to inform concepts and instruments. The unit develops analysis of conflicts, stakeholders and relevant topics such as human rights, gender, ethnicity and religion. It also drafts laws, constitutions and codes of conduct.
Capacity building involves providing training, workshops and mentoring for mediators to enhance their skills. The focus ranges from methodological, thematic and normative knowledge to practical mediation skills.
Developing and/or expanding mediation structures involves supporting the establishment and integration of mediation at the political level, such as within legislative processes and mediation support units in government ministries and international organisations. Mediation expertise is developed through setting up standby mediation teams or external rosters, as well as mediation infrastructure and conflict management systems.
Institutionalisation of mediation support
The professionalisation of peace mediation has been accompanied by the institutionalisation of mediation support. There are five tiers of mediation support: inter-governmental; governmental (within Foreign Ministries or Parliaments); non-governmental (within mediation or peacebuilding NGOs); hybrids (typically cooperation projects between governmental and non-governmental institutions) and networks (women, youth or religious networks). This article will focus exclusively on the inter-governmental level.
The United Nations (UN) was the most prominent international or regional organisation to develop a systematised capacity of operational support for individual peacemakers, mediators and peace processes. The UN’s Mediation Support Unit (MSU) was established in 2006 and is housed within the Policy and Mediation Division (PMD) of the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA). The UN also has a standby team of mediation experts, which in 2019 alone, was deployed 116 times in approximately 25 different contexts.
The UN example led to the institutionalisation of a mediation support capacity within several European organisations.
The OSCE, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe based in Vienna, developed a Mediation Support Team (MST) within the Operations Service (OS) of its Conflict Prevention Centre (CPC).
The European External Action Service (EEAS), the diplomatic service and combined foreign and defence ministry of the European Union, established a Mediation Support Team (MST) in 2011.
Mediation support units have also taken shape on the African continent, with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the African Union (AU) all now having such capacities. These mediation support units are often supplemented by non-governmental and partly governmental institutions, such as the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD Centre) and Switzerland’s Mediation Support Project (Centre for Security Studies and Swisspeace).
There has not been the same boom in mediation support units in Asia due to skepticism towards mediation and multilateralism in a region that has generally seen less integration. In the Muslim world, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has tasked itself with developing a mediation support capacity given that its member states have experienced a rise in internationalised internal conflicts over the last twenty years.
The inter-governmental mediation support units in existence receive legitimacy from official decisions aimed at systematising the organisation’s efforts in providing professional, cross-cutting activities such as preventive diplomacy. They have also released mediation guidance and lessons-learned material, such as the “UN Guidance for Effective Mediation” issued in 2012, and the OSCE’s “Reference Guide on Mediation and Dialogue Facilitation” in 2014.
Conclusion
As violent conflicts become more protracted, the importance of mediation support to peace mediation becomes clearer. With 60% of today’s armed conflicts having been active for at least a decade, mediation support is required to persuade conflict parties not only of the merits of mediation, but to also sustain peace processes with sufficient political, technical and financial backing.
Alice Munnelly, Accredited Mediator and Co-Chair of the Young Mediators’ Group