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Since the promotion of “ICT4Peace” started at the beginning of the 21st century (Hattotuwa 2004: 22), the peacebuilding sector has been increasingly enhanced with the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), centred around the question how ICT can be integrated in peace processes by mediators constructively in order to increase the participation of the different conflict parties.
During the pandemic, when peace mediators were often restricted in their freedom of movement due to closed national and regional borders, digital technologies – especially social media – were employed in order to maintain a broad-based participation in the peace processes that were already ongoing before the outbreak of the virus (Hofstetter 2021: 5).
This incorporation of digital technologies into peace mediation processes follows the participative paradigm of communication for development. It gives the stakeholders in a peace process the opportunity to tell their own stories about themselves and for themselves, following Freire’s approach of participation in communication for social change and development as a process and not a product (McAnany 2012: 91f.). In the best case, this leads to a process of community interaction with the external outcome to “make their voices heard” to the outside world (ibid.: 99).
Hence, by more and more integrating the use of digital technologies into peace processes, this emphasizes a common norm of peacebuilding, namely the inclusive character of peace processes that should take into account not only the views and needs of the powerful conflict parties (their stories), but of all conflict stakeholders involved (Hellmüller 2019: 47).
In general, the term ‘peace mediation’ focusses “(…) on so-called ‘Track 1’ processes: negotiations between official representatives of conflict parties facilitated by third parties, usually international actors” (Lanz and Eleiba 2018: 1). However, as there are much more actors that have to be taken into account, mediators should always aim at actively integrating online movements or civil society initiatives into the peace processes, too.
In case they do not exist or do not appear in public, peace mediators can also get in direct contact with the people themselves. This is exactly what the US-American peace activist John Filson did: In order to find out how to use digital media for peacebuilding, he worked with community leaders in Sinjar, Iraq, together with the Enabling Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC). The cooperation culminated in the publication of a very hands-on manual.
Here, it is important to note that using digital technologies in conflict settings cannot produce meaningful results when used without the active participation of the users. This “digital inclusion” enlarges the capability of peacebuilders to compile and share knowledge about the positions, interests and needs of those most affected by conflict and, thus, making their voices to be listened to.
In Iraq, the EPIC put this approach into practice by offering training and mentoring on peacebuilding through digital media, involving seven community leaders from the Iraqi town of Sinjar in the north of the country, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Each participant designed and implemented a change initiative using the techniques they learned.
There are many other success stories like this. Nevertheless, although the seemingly endless outreach via digital technologies to millions of users might be a temptation for mediators to let social networking websites as well as instant messaging and voice applications take the work off their hands to a certain extent, offline participation in peace processes still remains a viable option. Thus, it is still important to explore the bipolar correlation of the use digital media for peace mediation, both offering opportunities and posing challenges to peace mediators, and not to pretend that the use of digital technologies can transform conflicts all by itself.
Or would it be an interesting vision to assume that the human conflicts of the future could be solved by swarm intelligence via social media? Discuss with me, I look forward to your comments.
References:
Hattotuwa, Sanjana (2004), Untying the Gordian Knot: ICT for Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding, Geneva: ICT4Peace Foundation
Hellmüller, Sara (2019), Beyond Buzzwords: Civil Society Inclusion in Mediation, in: Ho-Won Jeong (Ed.), Conflict Intervention and Transformation: Theory and Practice, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 47-63
Hofstetter, Julia-Silvana (2021), Digital Technologies, Peacebuilding and Civil Society. Addressing Digital Conflict Drivers and Moving the Digital Peacebuilding Agenda Forward, INEF Report 114/2021, Duisburg: Institute for Development and Peace
Lanz, David and Eleiba, Ahmed (2018), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Social Media and Peace Mediation, Policy Brief 12/2018, Basel: swisspeace
McAnany, Emile G. (2012), Saving the World: A Brief History of Communication for Development and Social Change, Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press