CLOSING REMARKS

 

H.E. AMBASSADOR YUSRA KHAN

DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE

PERMANENT MISSION OF INDONESIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS

 

AT THE POLICY FORUM

ON SETTLING INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES: LESSONS FROM THE PAST, CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE

 

New York, 18 January 2012

 

 

Excellencies,

Distinguished panelists,

Dear Colleagues

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

As our policy discussion comes to close, let me on behalf of the Indonesian and Finnish Permanent Missions, reiterate our sincere thanks to the distinguished representatives and participants for their active participation and views.

Let me also thank our distinguished panelists for their very useful presentations. The discussion this morning has highlighted the centrality of peaceful resolution to conflicts, including through mediation. In that context, the use of special autonomy scheme for the maintenance of peace and security as well as promotion of development at national and regional levels, has emerged of vital significance.  

We, therefore, thank all speakers for having raised and stressed the benefits of using special autonomy approach, as an important mean for peaceful resolution of conflicts. The learning presented by our panelists today on how to advance and attain peace, in particular using the special autonomy scheme, is a very important lesson, that merits greater consideration by the United Nations and other relevant entities focused on resolution of disputes in an amicable manner.

While the nature of each conflict is unique, the experiences in Aland Islands and particularly, the Aceh Province of Indonesia, have clearly shown various indispensible elements for success in conflict resolution. These workable elements include, among others, a strong commitment to peace from national leadership, the need for comprehensive peace deal encompassing all aspects that prevent renewal of conflict, an approach that promotes overall political settlement of dispute, as well as existence of democratic political environment as crucial enabler for peace process. The latter was also apparent in the context of peaceful resolution of conflict in Aceh, as eloquently presented by Ambassador Puja.

Furthermore, it is to be stressed that in order for nurturing of mutual confidence among parties to disputes there should be a strong appetite in them for a negotiated resolution. While this appetite may not be apparent in the beginning, it could be created and developed through persistent political and diplomatic effort. Thus, as we heard, it is critical that there be impartial and experienced mediators with high level of international contacts and strong commitment to be fair and tough throughout the process of negotiation.

 Building of intra-party cohesion and understanding on ultimately all elements of a conflict is undoubtedly vital. But it is not easy, and the achievement of intra-party cohesion requires a careful consolidation of gains and allowing negotiators to function as the sole legitimate voices and representatives of respective parties. Such consolidation aims to ensure that internal divisions within conflicting parties do not damage the hard-won agreements in negotiation at the later stage.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

               Each society has different ways of achieving equity and justice and reconciling its differences, and as mentioned, every conflict is different. But as we have heard, there are some fundamentals that usually underpin peaceful and sustainable resolution of conflicts.

               It is my hope that our exchange here would lend a useful contribution to the work aimed at ongoing settlement to conflicts, particularly where concept of special autonomy scheme could be explored. In this regard, the two cases of Abyei and Kurdistan Region of Iraq presented today show opportunities where the use of special autonomy might yield positive results.  

I join my Finnish colleagues in thanking all of you for making today’s session productive through your very thought-provoking, candid and interactive participation.

In ending, we reiterate our hope that pertinent points from this session would be considered by the UN system as well as other stakeholders for enabling workable and lasting solutions to festering global conflicts of today.

 

 I thank you.