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Addressing the Causes of Insecurity in Indonesia
Conference Report |
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Introduction
The Conflict Prevention Initiative of the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research convened an online conference “Addressing the Sources of Insecurity in Indonesia” from 5 June to 14 June 2001. Over one hundred respected scholars, NGO activists and officials were selected from Indonesia and around the world to join this important forum. The participants were carefully chosen to represent a wide variety of different perspectives on the sources of the current insecurity.
The objective of the conference was to provide a closed forum for the exchange of information and analysis on the sources of social, political and economic insecurity in Indonesia as well as to deliberate on the most effective strategies for conflict prevention in the region.
This conference aimed to use online conferencing to facilitate an exchange between scholars and practitioners from around the world on conflict prevention strategies. This medium provided an opportunity to bring together a diverse group of individuals, many of whom would be unable to meet in a more traditional forum.
This report presents a synopsis of the main issues and findings of the online discussion, and includes policy recommendations suggested by the participants for organizations involved in the promotion of human security in Indonesia. The report summarizes the contributions of the over 100 participants, many of whom were Indonesian. Their input was not censored and represents an array of political opinions. The role of the Harvard Program was to present these various perspectives and to distill innovative recommendations from the discussion, not to determine the value of participants’ observations or to judge their appropriateness. Consequently, the report and the recommendations reflect the views of the participants and not necessarily those of the Harvard Program.
The early sections of the report outline the historical background of the present unrest, discuss the challenges of conflict prevention in Indonesia and lay out key considerations regarding the territorial integrity of Indonesia. The following sections analyze the causes of human insecurity in the historical, political, socio-cultural and economic spheres. The final section focuses on the role of NGOs. The recommendations provide concrete suggestions for ways to promote human security in each focus area.
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