1507 Spoilers (Web).indd

Th e Impact of Spoilers on Peace Processes and Peacebuilding M ceasefires and peace agreements in civil wars are initially unsuccessful and give way to renewed violence. In other cases, peace processes have become interminably protracted: lengthy and circular negotiations in which concessions are rare and even if agreements are reached they falter at the implementation phase. State-building and peacebuilding processes are also often subject to outbreaks of violence, as recent experience in Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo and East Timor illustrate. Given the huge material and human costs of a failed peace process, the consolidation of confl ict settlement and dealing with threats to peacebuilding are critical challenges for the international community. After a history of painful experience in cases such as Angola and Bosnia, the importance of this was fi nally addressed in December 2005 by the UN Security Council in Resolution 1645 which calls for the creation of a UN Peacebuilding Commission. Th is new organ is expected to improve coordination amongst, and eff ectiveness of, all agencies involved in peacebuilding, peacekeeping, disarmament and demobilization, development, human rights issues, and the administration of former confl ict zones.