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Roundup: UN Security Council debates relationship between development, conflict

Xinhua, November 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

While UN member states agreed that peace and development are inextricably linked in a UN Security Council debate here Tuesday, some members disagreed about the relative importance of development as a root-cause of conflict.

The debate on "Security, Development and the Root Causes of Conflict" was chaired by British Minister for Development Justine Greening, the first minister for development to chair the UN Security Council. The 15-member council is ordinarily chaired by ministers of foreign affairs or ambassadors to the United Nations.

Britain chose to use its presidency of the security council for the month of November to draw attention to the connection between development and conflict prevention.

"Investment in prosperity and stability overseas is critical if we don't want global problems to end up on our own doorsteps," said Greening, "lack of development and exclusion provides fertile ground for extremism, for terrorism, organized crime and conflict to thrive, it drives migration."

Conflicts can also have a negative impact on development, said Greening. For example, she said, the conflict in Syria is estimated to have set back Syria's development by 30 years.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon agreed that conflict and development are intertwined.

"Today's violent conflicts and violent extremism are often rooted in a mix of exclusion, inequality, mismanagement of natural resources, corruption, oppression, governance failures, and the frustration and alienation that accompany a lack of jobs and opportunities," said Ban.

Ban said that the UN could do better to reflect the recognition that conflict and development are related in the way it approaches its work.

China's Ambassador to the UN, Liu Jieyi said that the UN Security Council should cooperate with other UN agencies to maintain and build peace.

"The Security Council has a primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security and it is duty bound to remove the root causes of conflicts," said Liu.

Liu said that peace and development rest on win-win cooperation and building a community of common destiny for mankind.

"To establish a new type of international relations centered around win-win cooperation and build a community of common destiny for mankind is a fundamental guarantee for promoting peace and development and eliminating root causes of conflicts around the world," he said.

Other UN member states expressed their support for development and peace building as ways for addressing the root causes of conflict.

Speaking on behalf of the non-aligned movement, representing over 100 countries, Iran's permanent representative to the UN, Gholamali Khoshroo, emphasized the importance of peace building over peace keeping.

"(UN peacekeeping) should not be used as a substitute for addressing the root causes of conflicts," he said. "Root causes should be addressed in a coherent, well-planned, coordinated and comprehensive manner, with other political, social, economic and developmental instruments."

Meanwhile, Eugene-Richard Gasana, Rwanda's minister of state, said that an achieved development will help eliminate several root causes of conflict.

"If poverty is reduced, social inequalities are lowered, and there is an optimum allocation of scarce resources, it certainly help to avoid many of the situations that exacerbate conflict," he said.

However, some member states noted mild or stronger reservations about the relative importance of development as a root-cause of conflict.

Samantha Power, the United States representative to the UN, said that development challenges could become the kerosene which fuels instability, but development is not a panacea that will eliminate all threats.

Bhagwant S. Bishnoi, deputy permanent representative of India to the UN, said that although development and peace are mutually supportive, the greatest threat to peace and security comes from violent extremism.

Russia's ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin expressed possibly the strongest reservations, saying that development should not be a prerogative of the UN Security Council since there are other arms of the UN which are dedicated to these issues already.

Churkin noted that some of the countries which have had the worst conflicts of recent decades were far from the poorest. Endi