Preventive diplomacy is an approach used by the United Nations to avert conflicts and disputes that may arise between nations or within a country. Despite its purpose, it faces challenges that make it difficult to achieve its goal. Preventive diplomacy is a political action taken by sovereign states with the assent of involved parties to prevent disputes and conflicts that could pose a threat to regional peace and stability from emerging between states. Preventive diplomacy also helps to prevent such disputes and conflicts from escalating into armed conflict, thus minimizing their impact. The UN has encountered challenges in practicing preventive diplomacy, especially in Africa, which is home to numerous conflicts. Since the end of the Cold War era, the UN has experienced an increase in peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and peacemaking activities, even for war-torn countries. These activities put a strain on the UN's budget and resources, with the global financial crises, a sense of global weakness, and the high cost of post-conflict activities compounding the issue.
Peacemaking often involves international action to improve the situation that caused the dispute or conflict. If displaced persons within a country require aid, the UN calls upon the resources of all relevant organizations and programs. However, the diversity of the UN's organizations and the time needed to implement the relevant principles is a significant challenge. The UN often defers to respond appropriately and on time. If peacemaking requires the imposition of sanctions under Article 41 of the Charter, states facing severe economic difficulties have the right to consult the Security Council regarding such issues, as Article 50 provides, but they also need a fair chance to have their difficulties addressed.
Preventive diplomacy's goal is to prevent crises and conflicts from emerging or to reduce their impact, but its effectiveness has been questionable, as seen from the more than 112 significant conflicts worldwide that have claimed over 25 million lives since the UN's formation in 1945. The UN's inability to prevent many of these crises is due to the exclusions cast during the Cold War by the Security Council, which represented a clear expression of the divisions of that era.
Preventive diplomacy requires specific measures to build confidence, provide early warnings based on data gathering and informal or formal fact-finding, and in certain situations, also involves preventive deployment. Dag Hammarskjöld, during his tenure as UN Secretary-General, saw the UN as a dynamic instrument that allowed member state governments to develop types of anticipatory action before a crisis emerged, or at least, through preventive action. Preventive diplomacy is still viewed as a challenge by the UN, especially in Africa, where conflicts continue to be prevalent.