*{Economic Options in Zones of Conflict [http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/Economic+Options+in+Zones+of+Conflict?open&topic_id=300350000&theme_id=300]

            27.01.2001

            Annual Meeting 2001
 *partie=titre Promoting a Role for Business in Conflict Areas *partie=nil

            With 24 of the world’s forty poorest countries mired in conflict, it is crucial to find a way to ensure economic development despite hostilities. But the focus should be on political decisions rather than economic strategies, argued Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. "There are no economic options in conflict zones, only political ones," he said.

            Focusing on post-conflict situations, Brown argued that the international community must "spend its way to peace". This means directing substantial cash flows to potentially risky situations to build up national government institutions and jump-start the process of rehabilitation. "Unless there is a peace dividend at the community level, people won’t stick with peace," Brown said.

            Injecting important sums of funding into post-conflict situations to stabilize political environments may make sense, but the reality is that donors have disappointed needy countries emerging from war. José Ramos-Horta, Cabinet Member for Foreign Affairs of East Timor, said his country was pledged US$ 500 million in reconstruction funds. After most of that money was spent for international peacekeepers and humanitarian work, only 10% actually reached East Timor’s national treasury. Today, East Timor is facing the future with no infrastructure and few prospects of foreign investment.

            In conflict areas such as the Great Lakes region of Africa, the good news is that economies have not been totally disrupted. Regional economic ties continue, pointed out Benjamin William Mkapa, President of Tanzania, and businesses have not been specifically targeted in the fighting. He also noted that attempts have been made to incorporate conflict-prone countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, into larger trading groups as a means of offering some stability. 

            Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is a strong supporter of businesses assuming a more engaged role in conflict areas. She encourages corporations to address human rights issues and believes more work needs to be done on holding businesses accountable for remaining silent in the face of human rights abuses. On a positive note she said that many businesses are moving in the right direction, by adopting guidelines and codes of behaviour. Particularly important is the role media corporations can play in embedding a culture of human rights in conflict areas, Robinson noted. 

            Colombia is experimenting with new models of promoting economic growth in the Magdalena River Valley, a region the size of Brussels that has one of the highest levels of violence in the world. Community-based leaders there have joined forces with civil society, the private sector, national government and international agencies to create a virtuous circle to encourage the export of palm oil as an alternative to the drug trade. It is expected that every family participating in the programme will double its income in the next year, explained Juan Carlos Echeverry Garzón, Director of the National Planning Department in Colombia.

            The Colombia project is an example of promoting sound economic policies during an entrenched conflict. It is crucial that the international community not pull out during a conflict but find ways to remain engaged. For example, even if heavy financial investment during fighting isn’t recommended, it is important to maintain community development programmes, said Brown.

                  *{Contributors:       Echeverry Garzón Juan Carlos
                  Gowing Nik
                  Malloch Brown Mark
                  Mkapa Benjamin William
                  Ramos-Horta José
                  Robinson Mary}