About Us

JCCP is an international NGO with offices in three countries, in addition to its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.

Our offices in Kenya, Macedonia and Cambodia enable us to run a wide variety of field projects, ranging from DDR (Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration), to livelihood building, Peacebuilding programmes and reconciliation work in these communities.

Fumiyo Takai, Head of the Kenya Office visits an IDP camp in the Rift Valley.Our team of four permanent JCCP staff in the Tokyo office shape the direction and objectives of the projects, in close cooperation with the field staff who both research and realize these initiatives for peace.

The organisation has been active since 1996, when it originated as a think tank on preventative diplomacy issues, with Mr. Mitsuro Donowaki, former Ambassador to the UN Conference on Disarmament, as its chairman. However, it was only three years later, in 1999, that it began working internationally on Conflict Prevention issues, and it was eventually registered as an official NGO under the name JCCP in 2002.
You can click here to read more about how JCCP came to be, and here to read more about the work we do around the world.

Since the end of the Cold War, the world has been confronted with the enormous challenge of regional conflicts taking place among a variety of ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups. In dealing with such conflicts, UN peacekeeping activities during the 1990s proved to be successful in some cases, but revealed their limitations in others. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan questioned the validity of the widely held view that poverty causes conflict. He pointed out that inequality among social groups and unequal access to political power, were also critical factors.

In order to prevent such regional conflicts from occurring and to forestall terrorist activities in the aftermath of 9/11, a renewed stress has been laid in recent years on the importance of conflict prevention. To this end, the international community has to adopt an integrated approach encompassing political, economic, environmental, social and developmental policies based on the UN Charter, the rule of law, democracy, social justice and full respect for human rights. Conflict prevention mechanisms require a variety of measures, depending on the evolving stages of conflict namely: (1) the stage of conflict prevention before violence erupts; (2) the early warning stage; (3) the stage of breakouts of conflict; and, (4) the peace agreement stage. In stages (1) and (4), the role to be played by NGOs is particularly important.

Difference in living standards, social discrimination, political inequality, insufficient democracy, disregard for human rights etc may be considered long-term causes of conflict. Civil society organisations, rather than governments, are in a better position to deal with such indirect causes of conflict. The role to be played by NGOs is also important after a peace agreement has been reached in carrying out rehabilitation, reconstruction and facilitating free elections for the establishment of democratic government. In order to eradicate conflicts and terrorist activities, sustained efforts and cooperation are required among a wide range of actors such as states, inter-governmental organisations and NGOs. As one NGO actor, the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention aspires to make its modest contribution.

Yasushi Akashi

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President / Mitsuro DONOWAKI

After graduating from Tokyo University, Mitsuro Donowaki entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1954. He held several posts including as Minister of the Embassies of Japan in the United States and China, Director-General for Latin American Affairs, Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and Ambassador to Mexico. More recently he has served as Special Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2004. During this time he has served as chairman of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters from 1996 to 1997 and as chairman of the UN Panel and Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) from 1996 to 1999. He has also presided over the high level meeting of the 2001 UN Conference on Illicit Trade in SALW.

JCCP Secretary General / Rumiko SEYA

Rumiko Seya has been Secretary General of the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention since April 2007. She has previously worked for various peace support operations in Afghanistan, Cote d’Ivoire Rwanda and Sierra Leone. She worked in Rwanda in 2000-2001 as an NGO Project Coordinator as well as in Cambodia in 2001, United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in 2002-2003 as a Reintegration Officer, Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan in 2003-2005 as a Special Assistant to Ambassador and United Nations Operation in Cote d’Ivoire in 2006-2007 as DDR Officer. She also served as an Election Observer in Indonesia in July 1999, Rwanda in March 2001 and Afghanistan in December 2004. Ms. Seya obtained an MA in Conflict Resolution from Bradford University in UK and was also a Research Fellow on Peacebuilding at Hiroshima University in 2005-2006. She has published several articles and books on Peacebuilding, Security Sector Reform, DDR, Peace and Security system. She has been a facilitator for various Peace Support Operation courses including DDR, SSR, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA), Peacekeeping and Peace Support Operation at various training centers such as the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC) in Ghana, Ministry of Defence, MOFA, National Commissions in and outside Japan.

JCCP works from its headquarters in Tokyo as well as from four country offices in Cambodia, Macedonia, Sri Lanka and Kenya. At present, the JCCP has a total of 14 full-time and volunteer staff based in Tokyo. Of these, the Secretary General is responsible for daily programmatic decisions. JCCP’s overall strategic direction is determined by the Board of Directors who meet regularly with the President and Secretary General. A general meeting of all official advisory members (54 individuals and organizations) convenes twice annually to verify and screen existing activities and approve future projects.

JCCP’s head office serves four main functions (see structure diagram) as follows: the Domestic Program unit is responsible for training of Japan based peacebuilding organizations; the Public Relations unit is concerned with media and member relations; the General Service unit is responsible for personnel, legal and financial issues; and, the Overseas Program unit provides a support role for JCCP country offices. Staff based in JCCP project countries are primarily responsible for project implementation and monitoring and evaluation.

JCCP’s main office in Cambodia is located in the capital Phnom Penh. A team of 10 staff work from here including a Japanese expert who is responsible for building the capacity of local Cambodian staff to manage and coordinate activities in collaboration with Cambodian officials, other local civil society groups and project constituents. Since 2002, JCCP has also had a regional office in Ratanakiri province. This office is run by a member of the local Kreung minority community who liaises directly with project participants and local communities. JCCP also has an office in Sri Lanka and since 2008, has established a new office in Nairobi, Kenya for East African projects, and a further office in Macedonia, from which operations for the Balkans region will be coordinated.

April 1st, 2006 – March 31st, 2007
(In thousands of Yen)

Revenue

Expenditures

The origins of the Japan Centre for Conflict Prevention lie in the work of the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR) during the 1990s. JFIR is a policy orientated think-tank concerned with international and diplomatic affairs with a special focus on issues relating to peace and conflict. In 1996, with the support of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, JFIR set up the International Study Group on Preventative Diplomacy (ISGPD) with Mr. Mitsuro Donowaki, former Ambassador to the UN Conference on Disarmament, as its chairman. After three years of study activities that included sending field missions to hot-spots in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin-America and holding international symposiums in Tokyo, Washington and Beijing, the final report of ISGPD recommended that “Japanese people also should play an active role on the world stage in the field of preventive diplomacy”.

This recommendation received much attention among Japanese people thanks to growing interest in preventive diplomacy and conflict prevention. With the valuable support of the late Keizo Obuchi, the then Prime Minister, as well as support from private foundations, organizations, business companies and a number of individual supporters, the Japan Center for Preventive Diplomacy (JCPD) came to be established as a private NGO attached to JFIR on July 19, 1999. At its inaugural meeting, Mr. Yasushi Akashi, former Under Secretary-General of the UN was elected Chairman, and Mr. Kenichi Ito, President of JFIR was elected President.

JCPD’s activities began with what came to be known as “The JCCP Seminar Course on Conflict Prevention” normally held in August for the first seven consecutive years. Over ninety graduates of this course, mostly post-graduate students at the time, are now spread all over the world, many of them engaged in key activities related to peace-building. Further to this, JCPD began engaging in overseas activities by establishing representative offices in Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Afghanistan. As JCPD’s activities expanded at home and abroad, it decided to apply for a special non-profit organization status, legally independent from the JFIR. The application was approved by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on 28 February, 2002, and its name was changed to the present one, the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention (JCCP).