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TO WHAT EXTENT, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN THE CONFLICT RESOLUTION PROCESS.

by Muhammad Kamran (MA, Prev)

It is very necessary to define that what is Information Technology and what is the conflict resolution process, before showing the relationship between Information Technology and conflict resolution process. We can define the Information Technology as under:

    "A technology by which, the information are disseminated through internet on computer and many other resources about the world."

Whereas, conflict resolution process can be defined as:

    "The process in which a suitable resolution of conflict is find out for the satisfaction of both the parties involving in the conflict by the flow of correct information."

As far as, Information Technology is concerned, it is recognized that there must be free flow of realities and information and access to them play a very important role in establishing a healthy and democratic society. Today, the world witnesses communication explosion. The world mass media are quite effectively and successfully performing their functions..... Education, entertainment, information, public opinion formation and many others. The information revolution has changed the world into a global village and no doubt, we live in the age of close interaction and social and political intercourse, which has shrunk all distances and made the East rub its shoulders with the West. We have, in fact, reached a stage in human society, in which economic interdependence and scientific and technological collaboration have woven human society into one fabric. Misinformation, disinformation, propaganda are being communicated to the people in the world. And there is a credibility gap in the news being communicated to the public through the media in most of the world countries. In this regard, I would like to say that Information on the Internet are not secure. Even if every effort is made to assure the correctness of the material distributed, there are ways to invade sites and modify information; salient examples are invasions of sites of the US Department of Justice and the CIA. Users might copy information (even if done illegally) and transfer it to other parties, while the copied information might be undetectably altered. So we can say that in this way, it becomes very difficult to solve the conflict if the information is not correct and authentic and this may create complications.

Information Technology is an indirect way of negotiation for those conflicting parties, which don't want to held face to face talks or dialogue. In this regard, we can give the example of India and Pakistan on the Kashmir Issue because India doesn't want to held talks with Pakistan in spite of the offer of mediation by America. So I would like to say that Information Technology is the only way to communicate with each other and through Information Technology, both the countries can convey their messages and stands to each other in order to convince. For any conflict to resolve, information is very necessary because the correct information play a very important role in the conflict resolution. Correct information is like the blood that can find out a reasonable solution for the conflict. If we observe, we see that most of the conflicts have been resolved so far by the presence of the correct information. We can use the Information Technology to solve the conflict by establishing computer networks between conflicting areas and a wider international audience, so that information can be exchanged of the conflict, and the potential for escalation, so that they can find solutions and alternative routes to conflict resolution. The state of the Israel is also a signatory state to international copyright treaties (such as the Bern Convention) that provides copyright protection for Israel works published within the borders of other signatory states. In the same way, all the big powers have importance for the conflicting parties because of their highly improved Information Technology system and they can provide their services like, mediation, arbitration and facilitate talks between the disputing parties on the basis of correct and good information. In the past, this technology was not so much improves, as it is, in the present era and we can say that in the present world, Information Technology has got the importance in the conflict resolution process. As we see that mostly conflicts have been solved after and during the late 80s and after the emergence and taking part of Information Technology into the conflict resolution process by providing correct information. In this regard, there are many examples; like the Cambodian Crises, the recent issue of Figgie, to some extent, has been solved, Korean Crises, East Timor, Namibian Crises, Palestine-Israel Peace Process/Negotiations are under way, but due to misinformation, it is still in stale mate, Iraq's Crises etc. All these crises can be solved by the exchange of the correct information and in this way, Information Technology can play a very important role.

So, I would like to say that Information Technology is very important in conflict resolution process and the next century would be the century of Information Technology and this can take the place of diplomats and officials in resolving the conflicts in the conflicting areas. On the basis of this discussion, Information Technology has still been successful to a lower extent because of its limited use, especially in third world countries (which is the earth of conflicts) and I'd like to suggest that the third world countries must make the best use of this amazing technology of the 2000 century. We see that most of the conflicts are existing in the third world countries because they are not able to communicate with each other due to the lack of the information technology. If we look at the Europe we will see that this region is very peaceful because they have settled their most of problems by the use of latest technology such as Information Technology. It is reality that Europeans have come to know that resolving of the conflicts is very necessary for the betterment of the region and its people. Although there are some abuses of the Information Technology but its advantages are more than its abuses, so it becomes indispensable for the third world countries, to use the Information Technology in order to resolve their conflicts. According to my point of view that conflicts often hinder the way of development of the country, due to this reason 3 rd world countries are behind those of the European Countries. It is very ridiculous that mostly conflicts are existing in the developing countries but research is being done in the advanced countries. So we can observe that most of the advanced states offer their services to the 3 rd world countries in order to resolve their conflicts by applying the different techniques such as mediation, arbitration, conciliation, bargaining and diplomacy. In the long run, it is very necessary for us to adopt the Information Technology, if we are willing to resolve our conflicts and want to prevail the peace & security throughout the world.

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