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lthough bearing primary responsibility for international peace and security issues, the United Nations recognizes the role of regional arrangements and organizations as being of great importance as well. As described here, these initiatives are contributing to a culture of peace in every region of the world.
With the end of the Cold War, regional organizations have been able to shift in many cases from military concerns to those of peace. In Europe, the Council of Europe and the Organization (formerly Conference) for Security and Co operation have been able to extend their actions on the basis of East-West co-operation. Even the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, although born as an essentially military alliance, has taken up work for conversion from military to peaceful production. Similarly, regional organizations in Latin America and Africa, freed from Cold-War rivalries, have been able to greatly expand their work for peace.
In Latin America, the Presidents and Parliaments of Central American have taken the lead in working for a culture of peace, and there is also a new initiative by the Organization of American States. In Africa, the Organization of African Unity has established a Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution. Other initiatives are described here by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the intergovernmental organization which has won three Nobel Peace Prizes, the International Committee of the Red Cross.
These organizations address the full range of alternative functions necessary for the replacement of the culture of war by a culture of peace. By promoting co-operation among nations on a regional basis they enhance the military security of their member states and allow for a decrease in the need for standing armies and military purchases or production. Economic co-operation among them contributes in many cases to economic security and freedom from hunger, thus diminishing one of the major causes for violent conflict.
In many cases special programmes and projects are being undertaken to enhance the strength and effectiveness of democratic institutions, thus contributing to the political security needed for peace. Special attention is being paid to economic conversion and development of alternative peaceful uses for military technologies as well as for military personnel themselves.
A number of intergovernmental initiatives are breaking new ground in the movement for a global culture of peace. In particular, the Code of Conduct on Politico Military Aspects of Security of the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (excerpted here in a box) addresses with new force the need to base national political security on non military and non violent means. Similarly, the sub regional initiatives of the Central American Presidents and Parliament are becoming a model for the peaceful integration of nations on the basis of a culture of peace.
International solidarity on the basis of tolerance and respect for the rights of all people - increasingly this is being promoted by special programmes of regional and sub regional organizations. An important example of this, described here, is the European Youth Campaign of the Council of Europe.
Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE)
Just as the end of World Wars I and II led to the establishment of new institutions for peace, so too the end of the Cold War made possible the development of a new mechanism for peace, originally called the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe and renamed as an 'Organization' in 1994. Founded by the 'Helsinki Accords' in August 1975, since the end of the Cold War it has grown in size (now 53 participating states) and been transformed from a forum for negotiation and dialogue to an active operational structure for peace.
With the end of the Cold War, regional organizations have been able to extend their actions for peace, contributing to economic, political and military security, to economic conversion, and to international solidarity among their citizens breaking new ground for the construction of a culture of peace.