The Role of Culture and Cultural Heritage in Conflict Prevention, Transformation, Resolution and Post- Conflict Action: the Council of Europe Approach

Introduction The Council of Europe's role in conflict prevention and crisis management is defined in its statute, adopted by the founding European governments in 1949, just after the Second World War. The Organisation's contribution targets a structural prevention of conflict through its multilateral tools, with the collection and analysis of information on the root causes of conflicts before they erupt, and the development of conflict prevention strategies in coordination with other international organisations. For over sixty years, the Council of Europe has adopted this approach, helping to make Europe a large space of democratic security. The conflicts in the Balkans during the 1990s reinforced the idea that the Organisation's core values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, together with effective intercultural dialogue and the appropriate socio-political and socioeconomic conditions, are vital elements for preventing and overcoming conflicts. The importance of cultural cooperation and intercultural dialogue has become ever more visible over the years. There is scarcely a domestic or foreign policy field which is not also to some extent a cultural policy field (e.g. environmental policy, peace policy, education/science policy, developmental/co-operation policy). At the same time, it appears that the number of cultural conflicts worldwide – ie those in which culture is an issue – has exceeded the number of non-cultural conflicts since the mid-1980s. The Council of Europe has developed skills and intervention tools in the field of culture and cultural heritage in order to contribute effectively to the Organisation's priorities and core values during conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict action. The Organisation's approach to this is process-oriented and inclusive. It involves different stakeholders, from national governments to civil society actors and practitioners in all relevant fields.