Conflict prevention and the future of ‘intervention’

Saferworld submission to the Defence Committee’s inquiry on the future of the UK’s intervention strategy

This submission outlines Saferworld's response to the UK parliamentary Defence Committee’s inquiry into the future of the UK’s approach to intervention, as part of its broader inquiry towards the next UK Strategic Defence and Security Review. This submission focuses on conflict prevention activities as part of an overall approach to ‘intervention’ in conflict-affected or fragile contexts that aims to help societies manage conflict more peacefully.

As the Ministry of Defence has outlined in the International Defence Engagement Strategy, as well as the Building Stability Overseas Strategy, the UK’s thinking already recognises that military action represents only one form of intervention amid a much broader UK toolkit for promoting long-term peace and stability. The whole-of-government approach to conflict prevention requires defence actors to play a distinct role within civilian-led, people-focused interventions that are informed by a robust and nuanced understanding of the context and a long-term vision for peace and security. This submission offers some examples of how UK defence actors can fulfil that role using their unique capabilities to support upstream conflict prevention efforts such as security sector reform and defence transformation. It also briefly touches upon wider UK policies that relate to intervention, such as conventional arms transfers and the use of armed unmanned aerial vehicles.