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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
June 20, 2008
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| April 14, 2008 |
Disarmament Expert Kenji Isezaki Speaks on Conflict Resolution |
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| Professor Isezaki, who has always dreamed of becoming a professional jazz musician, gives a lively trumpet performance onboard |
In a world where conflict continues to tear apart families, communities and nations, and disputes over ownership of land, sea and sky lead to the destruction of natural resources and civil infrastructure, the importance of conflict prevention and resolution is urgently apparent. Professor Isezaki, head of Peace and Conflict Studies at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, joined the 60th voyage to share his knowledge with participants. His lectures focused particularly on his experiences working for the United Nations in the field of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) in Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste and Afghanistan. |
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| Discussing the disarmament of Afghanistan militias in 2001 during an onboard lecture |
Professor Isezaki, who originally specialized in civil planning and architecture, first became involved in conflict resolution in 1999 when, after living in Sierra Leone for approximately a decade, he was called in by the United Nations to aid in the disarmament of local militias. Since then, he has disarmed militias in conflict areas in Timor-Leste and Afghanistan, where he successfully disarmed 60,000 soldiers without applying military force. Professor Isezaki also stresses the need to not only focus on disarming militias and demobilizing armies, but to also provide the disarmed soldiers with jobs and the means to create non-violent lifestyles that allow reintegration into society. Without alternative employment, he says that soldiers will just return to being soldiers, especially in countries like Afghanistan where war has been a way of life for nearly 30 years. |
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In this question and answer session, Professor Isezaki discussed issues of conflict and Japan’s unique position in the world as one of few countries with a peace constitution |
Rather than working merely for conflict resolution, Professor Isezaki also stresses the importance of prevention, saying that the responsibility to prevent is more important than the responsibility to protect. He conveyed to participants the potential Japan has to play a huge role in conflict prevention through international financial contributions, providing that conditions are set so that the funds are not used for weapons manufacturing. He sees the reduction of poverty, good governance and international support to aid democracy as important pre-conflict techniques that will allow early warning and response to prevent conflicts from escalating into violent conflicts.
At the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Professor Isezaki runs a special programme for non-Japanese students from conflict-affected areas. This program studies conflict through an analysis of world history, and includes classes on crisis management, and survival in conflict areas as aid workers, soldiers and civilians. His programme accepts eight students from different regions of the world each year, in the hope that programme graduates will help effect positive change in their home countries. During the curriculum, Professor Isezaki first gives the students the tools to analyze conflict, then the tools to find a solution to the conflict, and finally the tools to sell this solution, which he calls “peace advertising.” |
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Professor Isezaki also participated in a tour to visit the Maori people of Aotearoa (New Zealand), where he and fellow Peace Boat guest educators Isamu Tatsuno and Richard Nahi gave an impromptu musical performance |
Another topic that Professor Isezaki addressed was Japan’s contribution to the international community. Article 9 of Japan’s constitution states that Japan “renounces war as a means of settling international disputes and prohibits the maintenance of armed forces.” However, during former Prime Minister Koizumi’s administration, Japan sent their Self-Defense Force to conflict regions three times - to Afghanistan in 2001, Timor-Leste in 2002, and Iraq in 2004. Professor Isezaki believes that each of these three military dispatches was a mistake, stating that the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq lacked legal foundation, and that there was no need for military intervention at the time that Japan sent troops to Timor-Leste. However, Professor Isezaki acknowledges the argument that force may be necessary to resolve conflict in extreme cases, noting the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where over 800,000 people were killed in 100 days. The necessity of military force for Japan to contribute to resolving conflict in the international arena remains a topic of much debate, yet Professor Isezaki believes it important to keep Article 9 as a break against further military involvement in wars and international conflicts. |
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