The panel Mediation in a New Multipolar World – Between Expectations and Reality at the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) on Tuesday saw the participants stress the increasing role of mediation as the conflicts around the world are getting more complex. They also discussed the role of countries that pursue peaceful policies, of women, and of NGOs in mediation processes.
Ms Helga Maria Schmid, Secretary General of the European External Action Service, said in her keynote address that mediation was more needed than ever as the world was moving away from multilateralism to unilateralism.
Multilateralism is at risk and is challenged, with many of the achievements, including the Paris climate change agreement and the nuclear deal with Iran, are at risk, she said.
Dr Amre Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League (2001-2011) and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt (1991-2001), said that the question was how we should effectively address complex contemporary challenges and threats.
“The world may never had so many tools for conflict prevention and early warning mechanisms, but we fail in preventing conflicts,” he said, stressing that the term mediation has turned into a different term – to manage crises.
Moussa believes that mediation needs an honest broker, because without it you cannot achieve anything. “Unless there is an element of honesty in brokering, in trying in reached a balanced deal, it cannot work.”
Dr Bassma Kodmani, Member of the Syrian Negotiation Commission and Executive Director of the Arab Reform Initiative, leaned on Moussa’s point, saying that in Syria, Russia was not being an honest broker.
“Russia is fully on the side of the regime and it is trying to ‘solve’ the issue by pressuring groups to surrender,” she said, adding that civilians were the first target, being demoralised and starved.
Mr Roman Vassilenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, pointed to the role of Astana as the host of the Syrian peace process, helping “contribute to end the violence and bloodshed”.
He believes Kazakhstan is a good host for mediation processes as it is a middle power that pursues peaceful policy. “Such countries have the potential to be most effective because they are not burdened by past conflicts.”
Vassilenko also pointed to President Nazarbayev playing a key role in mediating between Turkey and Russia. “He has been successful because he enjoys the respect of both Putin and Erdogan”.
Ms Katarina Kresal, Founder and President of the European Centre for Dispute Resolution in Slovenia, discussed the role of women in mediation, saying that there should be more women in these processes.
“Women would be addressing different issues, women do bring different issues to the table, including social issues,” she said, adding that women get affected differently than men in armed conflicts.
Ambassador Samuel Žbogar, Head of EU Delegation to the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, discussed the mediating role of the EU in the Western Balkans, but not before noting that “we still have a kind of a frozen peace there”.
“All the time you have these tensions popping up”, Žbogar said, but stressed that the EU had had successful mediations in the region – in Montenegro independence, in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, and in the Ohrid Agreement.
Mr David Gorman, Director Eurasia at Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, USA, presented the increasing role of NGOs in mediation, saying that the field had developed and there were a whole range of actors out there.
“We inject a bit of creativity because we tend to be more open and flexible, more inclusive than state actors,” Gorman said, adding that they might also bring women to the table and were a little bit more nimble.
The keynote listener, Ambassador Peter Semneby, Special Envoy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden, said that the changing nature of conflicts and mediation should be addressed.
“We have the dispersion of power through social media and proliferation of non-state actors,” he said, adding that the result of that were more complicated conflicts, including local conflicts which trigger regional or even global competition.
