Armed conflicts have declined by 40% since the Cold War ended

ARMED conflicts have declined by 40% since the end of the Cold War primarily because the United Nations was finally able to launch peacekeeping and conflict-prevention operations around the world, according to a new study.

The first Human Security Report paints a surprising picture of war and peace in the 21st century: a dramatic decline in battlefield deaths, plummeting instances of genocide and a drop in human rights abuses.

The only form of political violence that appears to be getting worse is international terrorism, a serious threat but one that has killed fewer than 1,000 people a year on average over the past 30 years. Tens of thousands were killed annually in armed conflicts during that time, said the report, which was financed by five governments.

Despite the dramatic improvements in global security, the report warned against complacency, noting that 60 wars are still being fought around the world, including serious conflicts in Iraq and Sudan’s western Darfur region.

“The post-Cold War years have also been marked by major humanitarian emergencies, gross abuses of human rights, war crimes, and ever-deadlier acts of terrorism,” it said. “The risk of new wars breaking out - or old ones resuming - is very real in the absence of a sustained and strengthened commitment to conflict prevention and post-conflict peace building.”

Andrew Mack, a professor at the University of British Columbia who directed the study, said the end of the Cold War eliminated tensions between capitalism and communism, cut off US and Russian funding for proxy wars, and most importantly, liberated the UN.

A Rand Corporation study earlier this year concluded that the UN was successful in 66% of its peace efforts, but even the 40% success rate some believe is more accurate would be an achievement considering that prior to the 1990s “there was nothing going on at all”, said Mr Mack, who was the director of strategic planning in UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s office from 1998-2001.

Notwithstanding the genocides in Rwanda in 1994 and in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995, mass killings because of religion, ethnicity or political beliefs plummeted by 80% between 1988 and 2001, the report said.