121.     The UN system is increasingly approaching the construction of a comprehensive culture of prevention as part of the broader effort to build mutual confidence and reduce tensions. A key foundation of this effort is the important engagement of the system in different aspects of disarmament. This engagement ranges from verifying compliance with existing treaties on the proliferation of nuclear and other weapons—led by the IAEA, and involving organizations such as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO)—to providing timely assistance to Member States for the removal and disposal of small arms and landmines.

122.      The UN system is at the same time keenly aware that building a truly comprehensive culture of prevention requires a constant, deliberate effort at integrating a prevention perspective, across all aspects of its work, not only in the political but also in the humanitarian and socio-economic areas, including its development programmes at the country level. Within the UN itself, considerable progress has been achieved in linking peace-building, humanitarian assistance and development work. The four UN Executive Committees—ECHA, ECPS, ECESA and UNDG—have been instrumental in acting on these linkages.⁽²⁷⁾  In turn, this is serving to facilitate the timely engagement in this perspective, of specialized agencies and other development actors in processes related to post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction.

123.      The UN system, at the same time, is introducing improved methodologies to deepen understanding of the impact of poverty and human rights on conflicts, and has begun to integrate more systematically the outcomes in development planning processes, within the framework of the UN Common Country Assessments (CCAs) and the UN Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs). On this basis, the system is reinforcing policy guidance to Resident Coordinators and UN country teams on conflict prevention. As part of the effort to nurture a culture of prevention among the personnel of all UN organizations, the UN System Staff College (UNSSC) has operated, for the past few years, a system-wide training course, the Early Warning and Preventive Measures Project, which aims to improve UN system’s analytical capacities in the area of conflict prevention.