Teaming up with Insider Mediators

By Christina Horváth-Stenner

The OSCE has a broad mandate from its participating States to strengthen peace and security throughout its region, yet, almost paradoxically, sometimes experiences self-imposed political constraints in fulfilling it. This, together with the rapidly changing nature of conflicts, calls for new and resourceful approaches to conflict prevention and mediation. Engaging with insider mediators is a promising option.

Ever since the OSCE developed from a conference to a fully-fledged organization, it has been mediating in situations of conflict and tension. In the 1990s it began deploying long-term field operations to accompany the transitions in the countries of the former Yugoslavia and Soviet Union. Many of OSCE field operations have mediation and dialogue facilitation in their mandates. The OSCE has also been an essential mediation tool in conflicts that have become protracted in its regions and has created mediation spaces of diverse formats to seek for solutions. It is a co-mediator in the 5+2 talks of the Transdniestrian Settlement Process; it functions together with the United Nations and the European Union as co-chair in the Geneva Discussions on Georgia; and it holds the auspices of the Minsk Group dealing with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, co-chaired by Russia, the United States and France. In addition to the above mediation platforms, the OSCE is also engaged in mediating in on-going crises. For example, it is striving to open the way for a resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine as a member of the Trilateral Contact Group.

In all of these processes, the Mediation Support Team of the Conflict Prevention Centre’s Operations Service offers OSCE special representatives, heads of field operations and other mediators targeted assistance, as mandated by the 2011 Ministerial Council Decision on elements of the conflict cycle, which calls for strengthening the OSCE’s mediation capacity. The support is request-based and strives for a holistic approach, accompanying mediation processes with assistance that is pertinent to the given phase and identified needs. It may include individual coaching on mediation and negotiation, conflict analysis and strategy workshops or consultancy on dialogue facilitation or mediation processes. The question is how to make full use of the OSCE’s expanded capacity for mediating conflicts?

Conflicts are changing

Violent conflicts have grown significantly more complex over the past twenty years. They are more frequent and more destructive. Some are a flaring up of old regional disputes and some involve new issues. The readiness for escalation and the propensity for violence seem to have increased over time. Something seems to have changed in the motivation of conflict parties, which requires more attention than it is given at present. Additionally, the number of stakeholders typically involved in conflicts has risen, enormously, further augmenting their complexity. This calls for new forms of mediation, not only between the conflict parties, but also within them and possibly even within the mediating organization. How best to respond to these new challenges is a matter of intense discussion among academics and practitioners.

In the author’s view, the OSCE needs to both strengthen existing mediation processes and look out for new entry-points and hitherto unused potential. Insider mediators are a great resource for peace processes, but engaging with them requires sensitivity to avoid doing harm to them and their communities.

An untapped resource

Insider mediators are individuals, organizations, or institutions that come from the conflict context itself. They may belong, or have belonged, to one of the conflict communities. But they enjoy enough moral legitimacy and respect from all sides to be accepted as mediators.

Research on the behaviour of conflict parties, especially with regard to the rationale for changing conflict behavior, is still insufficient. But practical experience has shown that conflict actors are very receptive to peers or other former conflict participants. Insider mediators often have close relationships with conflict parties and therefore represent a valuable yet underutilized resource for peace building.

Protracted conflicts, the object of many of the OSCE’s conflict resolution efforts, provide a good example of a context in which inside mediators can be engaged to advantage. These long-simmering disputes typically affect almost everyone in the society concerned. They can therefore never be settled by means of a high-level political peace agreement alone; their resolution requires the widest possible participation. Insider mediators often have access to an extensive social network. They can reach out not only to their own communities but often also to persons on the other side of the conflict.

Another context in which insider mediators can be invaluable is the prevention or resolution of conflicts involving deep local issues that affect parties’ fundamental interests, needs and values, including matters of justice and human rights. These kinds of issues are deeply embedded in the stakeholders’ moral orders and are likely to be non-negotiable. Insider mediators may be able to connect with key players on such issues where outsiders cannot.  

One of the main reasons why insider mediators can be useful to the OSCE has to do with the Organization’s unique political nature. The OSCE originated as a conference and is until today essentially a permanent forum of participating States, supported by a secretariat and with operational arms (institutions and missions) extending into the field. As an extended conference, it is its participants.

This provides a level of inclusiveness that is hard to exceed, but it also means that every activity the OSCE executive structures undertake has to derive from agreement among the participating States, who take their decisions by consensus. The conflict resolution efforts of the OSCE are often characterized as impartial, that is, not taking the position of any of the parties to a conflict. Considering the above, they are, in fact, “omnipartial”, reflecting the position of all the states. That can put constraints on action in certain situations. The OSCE may not have access to certain conflict regions or conflict actors. Or a certain structure may not have the political mandate to facilitate dialogue or engage in mediation. In such situations, supporting the work of insider meditators can be a good way forward.

OSCE activities

The OSCE, in its conflict resolution initiatives, has just started working with insider mediators. The Centre in Bishkek, for example, has since 2011 provided training and a platform for exchange to the so-called “Peace Messengers” in the south of Kyrgyzstan, a public-private network of civil society mediators who work in communities to resolve tensions between ethnic groups or between the public and governmental authorities.

The Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine trains local peace builders in dialogue facilitation, so that they can set up their own platforms for dialogue with the broader society on the many social issues with which the country is faced.

The “Follow Us Initiative” organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the OSCE Mission in Kosovo has brought together influential women from Serbia and Kosovo for mediation training and exchange since 2012.

There is much potential for future OSCE engagement with insider mediators, for example by providing coaching and briefings, launching mentoring or fellowship programmes or supporting peer exchanges. In all of these activities, it will be important to keep in mind the particular vulnerabilities of insider mediators and to avoid doing harm. This includes being careful not to compromise their reputations because they are collaborating with international actors, and making sure one does not create a market of international attention and competition among them.

In conclusion, we cannot always go where we want and we cannot always talk to whomever we want. But the OSCE has a strong mandate to work for conflict resolution, including through mediation. We need to refocus our efforts on conflict parties, on their ability to develop and change. Insider mediators are a resource of great potential. We will do well to direct our efforts towards stimulating the necessary framework conditions for them to better exercise their functions in the communities concerned.

Dr. Christina Horváth-Stenner is Mediation Support Officer in the Conflict Prevention Centre at the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna.