The price of war will always be much higher than that of preventing it. However, after a gradual decline, the number of armed conflicts in the world started to rise again in 2010. Some "35 conflicts are currently ongoing, and the international order has been put under an existential threat as a result of the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine,” PACE stressed today.
According to the parliamentarians, the Council of Europe is a peace project which aims to tackle, in a structural and systematic way, the root causes of tensions and disputes before they degenerate into conflicts. In this new risky security context, they said, the Council of Europe should "develop additional tools to promote democratic security, including a common democratic security policy aimed at intensifying the Council of Europe's efforts in matters of protection and strengthening of international security”.
This policy should “ensure that early warning systems and confidence-building measures are fully used, improve policy-making processes, strengthen accountability and help prevent future conflicts.” This policy should be developed and implemented within the legal and political mandate of the Council of Europe, in complementarity with the activities of other international organizations competent in this area.
The adopted resolution, based on the report prepared by Lesia Vasylenko (Ukraine, ALDE) also asks the '46' to “commit to the peaceful settlement of disputes” by recognizing as obligatory the jurisdiction of international courts. They should begin a dialogue aimed at consolidating positions on the reform of crucial security institutions, in particular the United Nations Security Council, and pursue an active and concerted policy to initiate change.