How the United Nations prevents and mediates conflicts
Your Challenge:
Your challenge is to find out how the United Nations prevents and mediates conflicts around the world.
Follow this Process:
Watch this video of The United Nations Standby Team of mediation experts the video introduces its mediation experts who explain what their expertise is and how they help prevent and mediate in different conflicts.
Brainstorm the different ways the mediators help establish peace. The expert’s cover:
Process Design - Building Confidence Between Parties
Constitutions - Shaping the way we live together
Power Sharing - Finding a balance of power
Natural Resources - Addressing a source of conflict
Gender and Social Inclusion - Making Peace more sustainable
Security Arrangements - How to cease hostilities
In pairs, brainstorm under each section how the experts jobs help promote peace. Once you have finished this, write why you think each step is important in creating peace.
Research using the Internet do your own research on the United Nations Prevention and Mediation Strategies. How do they prevent and mediate conflicts around the world.
Discuss if there was a conflict between two countries and you were sent there to help them build peace-what would you suggest and what do you think would be important to do? Why?
Summarise the ways in which the United Nations prevents and mediates conflict. Include what strategies the experts talked about in the video clip and any extra information the students have discovered from their own research. After this ask the students to explain if they would do the same things as the experts or if they have any other ideas for preventing and mediating conflicts.
Take action Imagine that you have been sent as a peace expert to a country where there is a civil war (there are different groups in that country fighting each other). Using information you have found from your research and your own ideas about creating peace create a Mind Map of different steps you would go through or different strategies (different ideas) you would try to start in the country. Include written explanations and also drawings and diagrams of ways you would promote peace and stop the conflict. Or create a promotional video on peace and stability.
Capture and share by taking turns to explain your own mind map to a partner or to the class or watch the different videos people have made on Peace with each other and the school community.
Educator Notes
To make this more accessible:
Start by watching the video clip and discussing the different ways the mediator’s promote/ establish peace, then instead of the individual research part go straight to the Mind Maps. Ask the students to include strategies the experts talk about and to write any other ideas or techniques that might be important to building peace- i.e. communication, agreements, disarmament-trying to stop weapons being used, etc.
After they have created their own Mind Maps get them to discuss their Mind Map with a partner, explaining the steps they would go through to stop conflicts and promote peace.
To make it more challenging:
As part of the ‘Take Action’ section, instead of creating a mind map ask the students to each write an argument on what they think the most important task the UN should do when trying to mediate conflicts.
Or if the students think all aspects of mediation are equally important ask them to explain why all the strategies are equally important.
Once they have written their explanations ask them to explain to a partner what their argument is and why they think either one aspect is the most important or if the UN needs to use multiple strategies to mediate conflicts.
Links:
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDb4tAvN-UM
Additional videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDb4tAvN-UMhttp://www.un.org/undpa/en/diplomacy-mediationhttp://peacemaker.un.org/resources/mediation-guidance