The Role of Third Parties in Conflict Resolution

Interventions by intergovernmental organizations are more complex than those of states. Peace itself would be the main reason for most intergovernmental organizations. Yet intergovernmental organizations are subject to certain policies and interests of their member states. Hence, they may be in a position to maximize such policies and interests in exercising intervention activities.

The first UN peacekeeping mission was deployed by the UN in May 1948 with the creation of the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) to monitor the ceasefire and supervise armistice agreements in Palestine. Another unarmed peacekeeping mission was deployed in January 1949 to supervise the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in Kashmir.

Third parties can assume especially four types of roles in this process of peace building. These include:
• the provision of humanitarian relief to
people in emergencies,
• rehabilitation functions,
• peacemaking activities,
• sustaining peace through multitrack
interventions.

Prolonged conflicts have serious economic consequences too. At the macro level, economic and social infrastructures, such as transport and communication systems, health care, education, banking, and financing, suffer extensive damage as a result of fighting or lack of maintenance. At the same time, the share of manufacturing, construction, transport, and commerce in gross domestic product drastically declines. In time, the country’s economic capacity to re-generate substantial investments slowly diminishes.

Conciliation is an alternative out-of jurisdiction conflict resolution instrument. It is a process whereby the conflicting parties use a conciliator that meets with the parties both separately and together in an attempt to resolve their differences. Conciliators attempt to do this by improving communications, identifying key issues, encouraging parties to explore potential solutions, and assisting the parties in finding a mutually acceptable solution

• First, conciliation may ensure party autonomy. That is, the parties can choose the timing, language, place, structure, and content of the conciliation proceedings.
• Second, the parties are free to select their conciliator. A conciliator does not have to have a specific professional background. The parties may base their selection on criteria such as experience, professional and/or personal expertise, availability, language, and cultural skills. A conciliator should be impartial and independent.
• Third, conciliation is time and cost-efficient. Due to the informal and flexible nature of conciliation, it can be conducted in a time and cost-efficient manner.
• Last, conciliation ensures confidentiality. The parties usually agree on confidentiality. Thus, disputes can be settled discreetly, and secrets remain confidential

In most applications, the third party is composed of a team of social scientists or practitioners whose group or national identity is perceived as impartial or at least as balanced. Psychologists, political scientists, sociologists, psychiatrists, and other professionals make significant contributions to the area

WIPO means that the World Intellectual Property Organization  arbitration is an adjudicative procedure and in this respect resembles court litigation. Once the parties have submitted a dispute to arbitration, neither party can opt out unilaterally, and any decision rendered by the arbitrail tribunal will be binding on both parties. Mediation, in contrast, as it will be talked about in detail below, is a voluntary process which depends on the continuing cooperation of both parties, since either party can withdraw at any time.

Yes it is and also that arbitration is often used for the resolution of commercial disagreements, especially in the context of international commercial transactions. However, it can be utilized by international actors for other issues as
well. Arbitration is particularly appropriate for disputes involving technology more generally, such as disputes arising from patent, trademark or copyright-licenses, research and development agreements, software development contracts, distribution agreements, franchises, and trademark coexistence agreement.

The term is "relevant data". Because,  a mediator has gained a commitment to mediate, he or she must first collect relevant data about the conflict and the parties involved in it. 

The following step is the "interpretation of data". There is no single procedure used by mediators to interpret information about a conflict. Most mediators begin to dissect and analyze a conflict by dividing the unrealistic causes from those that are realistic.

Procedural problems are  such as an absence of process or the wrong process.

When conflict has made direct contact between the parties impossible, thereby preventing them from talking to each other and from conceding without appearing weak or losing face,"the mediator can serve as a communicator"."

These ways are  communication and formulation

"Multi track intervention" strategies have a role in sustaining peace.The role of third parties in building peace also goes beyond monitoring negotiated agreements and mediating follow-up negotiations. The act of signing a peace agreement between political elites does not automatically create the result that fighting groups immediately lay down their arms and return to civilian life. Most of the time, mutual hostilities among ordinary people remain unchanged in the aftermath of negotiated agreements. These undermine the acceptance, as well as implementation, of peace at the societal level. Therefore, reaching peace between formal negotiators is an important step, but it is not enough for durable peace. The public in conflict should also be prepared to that end. This, indeed, constitutes the most challenging area for third parties. Multi track intervention strategies should be utilized to transform hostile relationships harming the parties at large. 

Strategy would be designing or redesigning the system of education for peace. Formal education is one way that national culture and historical enmities are transmitted from generation to generation. Yet education is a tool that can also
be used to foster intellectual and moral qualities, such as critical thinking, openness, skepticism, objectivity, and respect for cultural differences.

One of the pioneers of track-two diplomacy, both as a theorist and as a practitioner, is Joseph V. Montville.He defines the term as “an unofficial, informal interaction between members of adversary groups or nations aiming to develop strategies, influence public opinion, and organize human and material resources in ways that might help resolve their conflict”. The approach is rooted in the social-psychological assumption that contact and mutual communication is necessary to normalize hostile relationships.

the First Sudanese Civil War erupted in 1955 with the demand for regional autonomy of the south, lasting till 1972. During that period, many third-party interventions occurred. 

1972 agreement- Addis Ababa Agreement-, giving religious and cultural autonomy to the south, and ending the First Phase of Sudan’s civil war.

Because  it became clear in the following years that the central government was unwilling to share its political power with the south.The Addis Ababa Agreement also failed to respond to the root causes of the conflict. Under this atmosphere, in 1983, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) was founded in the south to re-establish an autonomous southern Sudan, initiating a guerilla struggle against the central government, whereby the Second Sudanese Civil War began.