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In recent years, the private sector has participated in formal peace processes by promoting them from the inside as part of the negotiating team or from the outside by mobilising public opinion, serving as a bridge between the clashing parties or offering logistical support⁹.

Recent studies indicate that in contexts in which the private sector has had a high degree of credibility (even higher than some formal players in the conflict), direct access to the parties in the conflict and a strategic interest in resolving the conflict, it can become a direct actor and make a significant impact in the course of the peace process¹⁰. However, in many cases company motivations, which have been as diverse as the conflicts in the world, seem to have reflected the need for peace as the only means to conduct larger-scale economic activity that leads to the consequent rise in profits and a drop in the costs associated with the conflict. This was particularly the case in Northern Ireland where the Northern Ireland Confederation of British Industry (CBI) changed the terms of the political debates by introducing the term “peace dividend”. It succeeded in showing conflict parties that the economic rationale was an area of agreement.

According to some authors¹¹, the contribution of the private sector to peace-building is diverse and can take various forms which have to do with the company’s involvement in the following interconnected realms: economics, politics, reconciliation and security, as shown in the figure below.

FIGURE 1

COMPANY INVOLVEMENT IN PEACE ACTIONS

Source: Authors’ own.

After briefly screening practices worldwide, it can be determined that in order to promote social and economic recovery, companies have acted along the following lines (although this list is not exclusive):

- By facilitating technical and values training (human rights and peace) for collectives involved in the conflict, thus supporting their employability and the development of both their technical and personal capacities.

- By employing or subcontracting collectives involved in the conflict through mentoring and personalised attention, which includes a holistic vision of the employee, their family and the community in which they operate.

- By forging alliances with the local communities and their political, economic and social organisations and supporting their community development.

In this sense, some business experiences have employed former members of demobilised or displaced armed groups after a period of training. Others have fostered the creation of cooperatives with other victims of the conflict through training and technology transfer, turning them into the company’s suppliers or partners in the middle term and supporting parallel family or community projects linked to them.

As companies have a high potential for reconstruction through economic development, they can also play a role as a peace-builder through actions that sometimes extend beyond the traditional conceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) theories, as shall be seen below, which are based on a role that is limited to economic, social and environmental considerations. Indeed, in different contexts and countries in conflict or post-war reconstruction, companies have developed policies and activities that have gone even further, such as by actively supporting the negotiation of a peace process among the parties involved.

In fact, in recent years, the private sector has participated in formal peace processes by promoting them from the inside as part of the negotiating team or from the outside by mobilising public opinion, serving as a bridge between the clashing parties or offering logistical support. This has taken place in countries with different kinds of conflicts such as Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, Mozambique, South Africa, DR Congo and Sri Lanka.

The case of South Africa, described below, can be considered an example of this political dimension.

TABLE 1

FACTORS THAT EXPLAIN THE PRIVATE SECTOR’S INVOLVEMENT IN PEACE-BUILDING

- Reduction in the financial and human costs associated with the conflict

- Rise in the benefits associated with resolving the conflict

- Reduction in the high levels of violence to which the company is subjected

- Moral motivation, profile and leadership of some business people

- International or regional economic embargoes

- Absence of the State - Need to preserve the elites’ economic interests in the post-conflict era

- Relative weight of economic issues in resolving the conflict

- Importance of the clout of the business sector and its credibility in the eyes of the other actors

- Capacity to mediate between the parties

- Business culture on local community relations

- Explicit request from some of the actors in the conflict to get involved

- Apparent neutrality of the private sector compared to the political actors

- Capacity to unblock the negotiations

- Financial, technical and logistical capacities

Source: Authors’ own