Oman Hosts Forum on Preventing Conflict
Religious, traditional and Indigenous leaders gather in Muscat to discuss the Muscat Plan of Action for conflict prevention.
Updated on Nov. 15, 2026 in Safety
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Oman hosted the Muscat Plan of Action Forum, which brings together religious, traditional and Indigenous leaders to focus on preventing conflict. The forum opened on Sunday and was timed with the International Day for Tolerance, marked annually on 16 November.
Why it matters
The forum is designed to turn the Muscat Plan of Action, launched in June by Oman, the United Nations and international partners, into practical steps. Its emphasis on trust, dialogue and community-level prevention reflects a view that peace depends on how communities manage differences without hostility.
Young people from more than 20 countries are taking part in Oman's Harmonious Connections training course in religion and mediation alongside the forum. The source does not indicate how many participants there are in total or what outcomes the course will produce.
The players
Oman
Oman is a sultanate on the Arabian Peninsula that hosted the forum and co-launched the Muscat Plan of Action.
United Nations
The United Nations is the intergovernmental organisation that partnered with Oman in launching the Muscat Plan of Action.
Sonia Astuhuaman Pardave
Sonia Astuhuaman Pardave leads Indigenous women from the Quechua people of the Wanka Nation, who are participating in the forum.
The details
The forum's workshops are developing practical local, regional and international steps for implementing the plan, and its themes cover leadership and prevention, dialogue and cohesion, and partnerships and implementation. Participants in the training course studied gender-based violence and how to analyse conflicts, while the plan treats local communities as key partners in prevention.
Timeline
June 2026: Oman and UN partners launch the Muscat Plan of Action.
15 November 2026: The Muscat Plan of Action Forum opens in Oman.
16 November: The International Day for Tolerance, to which the forum is timed.
Roadmap
The forum follows the June launch of the Muscat Plan of Action, which Oman co-launched with the United Nations and international partners to frame conflict prevention around local communities. Its workshops are intended to convert that framework into a global implementation plan with steps at regional, national and local levels.
Community leaders and local organisations interested in conflict prevention can follow how the Muscat Plan of Action is applied in their regions as implementation steps are developed. The plan's focus on dialogue and mediation offers a practical reference point for those working to keep local tensions from escalating.
The takeaway
Preventing conflict depends on trust, dialogue and community partnership more than on responses after tensions escalate. The Muscat Plan's emphasis on local communities as key partners points to where prevention work can begin.
Further reading
For related coverage, see Safety reporting on preventing harm in communities.
Source note: This article includes information reported by UN News.
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