The fourth online symposium on conflict prevention closed last week with a review session that provided an overview of the nine-day Internet-based event.

Participants in the e-symposium examined "The Role of NGOs and Other Non-State Actors in Conflict Prevention." The event was hosted by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention, with the cooperation of The Japan Times and the Transatlantic Internet/Multimedia Seminar Southeastern Europe, and supported by the International Communications Foundation.

Eighteen panelists, all experts in conflict-prevention issues, and participants from more than 50 countries presented papers and exchanged ideas online in a public-discussion session.

Participants discussed such topics as the concept of positive peace, the need for different actors to cooperate in conflict prevention and the importance of different approaches to peace that encompass government, professional conflict resolution specialists, businesses and private citizens.

The discussions covered a wide range of aspects, including research and education, peace activism, religion, funding and public opinion.

On Friday, the last day of the symposium, three expert reviewers summarized and assessed the achievements and findings of the event.

Ross Cottrill, moderator for the session and executive director of the Australian Institute of International Affairs, said: "The diversity of experience discussed during the symposium offers a wider range of possibilities. It is for leaders and individual organizations to draw from these possibilities."

Reviewers at the final session included Bishnu Raj Upreti, a conflict-management specialist from Nepal; Andjela Jurisic, a consultant in operations and information in the Iraq Transitional Program for the U.S. Agency for International Development; and Dennis Sandole, a professor at George Mason University in the U.S.

Discussing the conflict in Nepal, Upreti noted, "The irrational use of power is fueling conflict and creating a wider gap between rich and poor."

Jurisic said there is a need for coordination and complementarity in the efforts of nongovernmental organizations and other nonstate actors in conflict prevention.

Sandole commented on the symposium's "multiplicity of responses from presenters, commentators, and the general public . . . in one of the finest examples of the 'democratizing' impact of the Internet."

He said that when nonstate actors work in conflict prevention, there is a need for state actors to be involved, and to ensure success and long-lasting peace.

The proceedings of the nine-day online event can be viewed at www.dwcw.org/4th_e-symposium.