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Preventing Deadly Conflict

Final Report With Executive Summary

Carnegie Corporation of New York

1997

Appendix 2. Regional Arrangements

When local parties to a dispute are unable to resolve their differences peacefully, regional arrangements are increasingly willing and able to take preventive action. This trend toward finding creative regional solutions for regional problems is being reinforced by the UN under Chapter VIII provisions of its Charter. The following examples of regional arrangements illustrate their growing capacity for conflict prevention. While this is not a definitive list, it suggests the capacities of the arrangements to bring together member states to discuss common problems and craft joint solutions. Whether designed primarily as security, economic, or dialogue groups, these arrangements can make contributions to conflict prevention in peaceful settlement of disputes, advancement of democracy, and protection of human rights. 1

 

Security Organizations

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO's current challenge is to find ways to adapt its sophisticated decision-making and operational capacities to the security problems faced by member states. This means not only developing prudent ways to react to destabilizing situations in the former Soviet Union, such as Chechnya, but also engaging in out-of-area activities, such as in the former Yugoslavia. NATO's deployment in Bosnia represents dramatic use of a defensive alliance to encourage the parties to a dispute to settle their differences peacefully. In its deployment in Bosnia, NATO's Stabilization Force (SFOR) has had to consider whether its role should expand to promote reconciliation by bringing to justice people indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. NATO's Partnership for Peace is designed to help states of the former Warsaw Pact and newly independent states adapt to democratic governance and to build among the partnership countries a capacity to respond with military resources, when necessary, to a range of situations that may threaten peace. NATO's military-to-military programs advance civilian control of the military and promote democracy in the former Warsaw Pact countries. In addition, NATO is expanding to include countries in Central and Eastern Europe to further reduce risk and to build confidence among all the states of Europe.

The Organization of American States (OAS). The OAS has emphasized the need for member states to take an active role in the preservation of regional peace and stability. In the 1980s, President Oscar Arias Sánchez of Costa Rica and other leaders in Central and South America began to combine their efforts in a concerted approach to revitalize the role of the OAS in helping to end the violence that plagued many Latin American states. In 1987, Arias was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. The 1994 Miami Summit of the Americas served, in part, to confirm the progress of the OAS in this regard and its continuing role in preserving and strengthening democratic movements, protecting human rights, and eliminating poverty in the region.

In recent years, the OAS has been very active in promoting democracy. Passage of the Santiago Commitment in 1991 obligated signatories to act against violations of democratic norms in the hemisphere and indicated OAS states' willingness to intervene in each other's internal affairs, should the need arise. The OAS has used this procedure, also known as General Assembly Resolution 1080, four times to bolster democracy in Guatemala, Haiti, Paraguay, and Peru. The 1992 Protocol of Washington, which came into force September 25, 1997, adds a new article allowing the suspension of a member whose democratically elected government is overthrown by force.

In the Office of the Secretary General, the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD) was established to assist in democratic institution building, to encourage dialogue and information exchange, and to provide electoral assistance and other special programs. In 1995, the UPD initiated a Program for the Prevention and Resolution of Community-Level Conflicts in Guatemala and has spent considerable effort in researching root causes and aggravating factors of this conflict. It has also provided conflict resolution and mediation training for governmental and nongovernmental actors at local, regional, and national levels. The OAS has teamed up with the UN in conflict resolution operations in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and other countries.

The OAS has partner organizations that support human rights. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights acts as a consultative organ of the OAS, while the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, an autonomous juridical institution of the OAS, interprets and applies the American Convention on Human Rights.

Organization of African Unity (OAU). The OAU was established in 1963 to promote respect for the territorial integrity and sovereign equality of newly independent African states in the postcolonial period. Its charter precludes interference in the internal affairs of member states, and this feature both reflects and reinforces member states' sensitivities to questions of sovereignty and unwanted interventions. As a consequence, the OAU has historically been reluctant to become involved in the internal disputes of member states. Over the years, however, the OAU has set up ad hoc commissions on regional issues such as the Western Sahara, Chad/Libya, and Mauritania/Senegal. 2 During 1991 and 1992, the OAU extended "good offices" to seven countries. 3 In recent years, the OAU has devised more formal policy instruments for dispute resolution, and member states have worked to strengthen its ability to deal not only with ongoing violence, but with imminent violence as well. There has been a particular emphasis on early warning and information gathering. In 1993, the OAU established the OAU Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, and Resolution (MCPMR) to help provide assistance to states beset by war; it has also strengthened the position of its secretary general for this purpose. The OAU created the African Peace Fund as a means to help finance the MCPMR and contributes five percent of its annual budget to the fund.

The OAU has developed an "African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights" that came into force in 1986. The charter includes the principles of equality before the law, respect for life, prohibition of slavery and torture, freedom of conscience and assembly, equal pay for equal work, and the right to an education. 4

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE has long been involved in efforts to support the peaceful resolution of disputes. When still called the CSCE, it undertook preventive diplomacy missions of long duration in Chechnya, Estonia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslavia, and other conflicts. Following the 1994 summit in Budapest, the OSCE broadened its approach to conflict management, formally establishing the Center for Preventive Action. The OSCE also has established a Court of Conciliation and Arbitration to offer members peaceful means to resolve disputes. 5 The OSCE's Office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities has taken on an important role in helping to broker peaceful solutions for the many groups that now find themselves in minority status in newly independent states. The OSCE has also assumed a broader role in promoting the transition to democracy and market economies of former Soviet bloc countries and newly independent states. The human rights agenda has been a pillar of the OSCE's activities since the signing of the Helsinki Final Act, which emphasized broad-based societal contacts (including among religious organizations), educational exchanges, and cultural cooperation.

Western European Union (WEU). The WEU was founded in 1948 as a collective defense mechanism, but quickly became overshadowed by NATO. In 1994, members revived the WEU as a defense component of the European Union (EU) and the European pillar within NATO. An example of its recent work on peaceful dispute settlement is the WEU's police element within the EU administration in the town of Mostar in Bosnia. This type of activity follows from the June 1992 Petersberg Declaration in which WEU foreign and defense ministers outlined a basis for preventive missions, including refugee and humanitarian assistance, peacekeeping, and peace enforcement operations. The ministers stated that the WEU could act on its own initiative in crises and at the request of the EU. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia have been admitted as associate partners, creating prospects for additional military cooperation.

 

Economic Organizations

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group. APEC was established in 1989 and has become an important forum for promoting economic growth and reducing trade barriers among its members. APEC countries have considered creating a regional dispute settlement mechanism to supplement that of the World Trade Organization. APEC's regular summit meetings provide opportunities for leaders to broaden their dialogue beyond economic matters to discuss a wide range of issues of mutual concern.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Treaty of Lagos created ECOWAS in 1975 to promote trade, cooperation, and self-reliance among 15 developing West African countries. In 1993, member states reformed the body to focus on measures to improve the free movement of goods and people. The new treaty also assigned ECOWAS the responsibility of preventing and settling regional conflicts, a step that added weight to the experimental peacekeeping effort that ECOWAS had under way in Liberia. ECOWAS has been a regional leader in dispute resolution. In 1990, for the first time, an all-African peacekeeping force, the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), was deployed by an African multilateral organization to help restore order and prevent further conflict in a troubled African state. Four thousand troops from the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone were deployed to Liberia. The force grew to 12,000 and was sustained with strong financial and political backing by Nigeria until Liberia finally held national elections in July 1997. A 1997 military coup in Monrovia also engaged ECOMOG forces in an effort to restore civilian government. ECOWAS has been active in supporting democracy, placing a trade embargo on Sierra Leone after a junta seized power from a democratically elected government.

The European Union (EU). Although the EU traces its origin to an economic body, the European Coal and Steel Community, it has always had an underlying strategic purpose. The Coal and Steel Community brought together former adversaries France and Germany in a framework to manage resources that had been a source of conflict. The changing landscape of Europe has prompted the EU to take on a larger role in anticipating and managing conflicts even beyond the borders of member states. The Stability Pact developed by Edouard Balladur in 1994, for example, was designed to establish a means by which minority disputes in Central and Eastern Europe might be defused. 6

Although the EU has focused on the strengthening and deepening of economic cooperation among its members, it has also taken steps to broaden its agenda by defining a common foreign and security policy and coordinating joint action. The European Parliament has taken several modest steps to become engaged more substantially in conflict prevention. A number of members have formed the Forum of the European Parliament for the Active Prevention of Conflicts—a loosely organized effort that seeks to investigate circumstances of incipient conflict and lobby for more active engagement. In addition, the EU's 1996 report on human rights urged the creation of a Center for Active Crisis Prevention and the establishment of a European Civil Corps to help EU member states deal more systematically and practically with potential conflict in Europe. This same report also called for the creation of a code of conduct for European businesses operating worldwide that would oblige them to abide by international agreements protecting fundamental human rights. 7

Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR). MERCOSUR was founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It has a formal dispute resolution mechanism, the Controversy Settling System, for commercial disputes. Beyond its formal structure, however, as the 1996 events in Paraguay demonstrated (discussed in chapter 6), the very existence of MERCOSUR combines the economic clout of its members and makes it a useful source of influence within the region in noneconomic matters as well.

Southern African Development Community (SADC). The first Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) was held in 1979 to harmonize development plans and promote collective security by reducing the economic dependence of ten southern African countries on South Africa. In 1992, in anticipation of the end of apartheid, a treaty was signed that transformed SADCC into SADC and included a commitment to achieve a fully developed common market. A tribunal has been established to arbitrate disputes between member states arising from the treaty. In 1994, SADC ministers of defense approved the establishment of a regional rapid deployment peacekeeping force to help contain regional conflicts or civil unrest in member states.

 

Dialogue Organizations

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The original objective of ASEAN was to promote economic cooperation and development, but in recent years the organization has begun to explore how the shared interests of its members might enable it to take on additional tasks. ASEAN has developed mechanisms that could support dispute resolution. The ASEAN framework includes a ministerial-level High Council to help resolve disputes between members. The council offers good offices, and if parties agree, serves as a committee of mediation, inquiry, or conciliation. ASEAN together with its traditional dialogue partners has created a new, broader group, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), to promote confidence-building mechanisms between states and preventive measures to anticipate and prevent potential conflicts. The ARF expands the links of ASEAN membership to other dialogue partner states primarily in the Asia/Pacific region, and has permitted still others to associate themselves with ARF deliberations through observer status. While ASEAN does not have specific instruments for promoting democracy or human rights, ASEAN representatives went to Cambodia following the July 1997 coup to help negotiate a settlement between Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Although their overtures were rebuffed, this effort demonstrates the kind and level of effort ASEAN is prepared to take on behalf of its members.

The Commonwealth. Composed of the United Kingdom and most of its former colonies, the Commonwealth has evolved into a network of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations whose 54 member states account for 1.6 billion people, or over one quarter of the world's population. The heads of government meet biennially, and there are regular ministerial level meetings. Many of the 300 Commonwealth NGOs meet in an NGO Forum every two years under the auspices of the Commonwealth Foundation. The Commonwealth works to advance democracy within its member states and uses election observer groups, fact-finding missions, and suspension of members to advance these goals. The Commonwealth was a leader in the international anti-apartheid movement and forced South Africa to withdraw from membership in 1961. The organization imposed sanctions on Rhodesia after the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) was created in November 1995 to address breaches of the 1991 Harare Declaration, in which the members committed themselves to democracy, good governance, human rights, and the rule of law. Nigeria was the first case in which the CMAG was deployed following the suspension of Nigeria's membership in 1995 by the Commonwealth heads of government. The CMAG has held discussions with the Nigerian government since then in an effort to restore democracy and reestablish normal relations between Abuja and the other Commonwealth members. In 1997, the Commonwealth withdrew recognition of the current regime in Sierra Leone after the army overthrew the elected government.

Nonaligned Movement (NAM). The NAM was formed in 1955 when a group of 29 predominantly newly independent states met in Bandung, Indonesia, to discuss colonialism, economic development, and the maintenance of peace. By 1961, Egypt, India, and Yugoslavia had taken the lead in establishing the NAM as a form of collective resistance to the two superpowers, with the ostensible goal of preventing deadly conflict between East and West. Today, the NAM has grown from 29 to over 100 members in a very loose and diverse coalition of states that operates by consensus; it has no means of enforcing its decisions. The NAM does not have a formal dispute resolution mechanism, nor does it promote democracy or human rights within member states. However, it does provide a voice for smaller states. Today, when the NAM meets, economic issues dominate the agenda. Indonesia has sought to promote a pragmatic role for the NAM that would emphasize research, training, and cooperation in science and technology for development as well as ways to improve the competitiveness of developing countries.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Founded in 1985, the SAARC framework offers member states the opportunity to meet once a year to consider a wide range of issues. The organization has developed a facility for arbitration in commercial and industrial problems between members. SAARC has concentrated on a growing array of confidence-building programs to protect and educate children, provide adequate housing, protect the environment, and improve the living standards of the poor. SAARC has also conducted regional conventions that deal with illegal drugs, terrorism, and food security.

 

Notes

Note 1: Connie Peck, Sustainable Peace: The Role of the UN and Regional Organizations in Preventing Conflict (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1997). Back.

Note 2: Gareth Evans, Cooperating for Peace: The Global Agenda for the 1990s and Beyond (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1993), p. 31. Back.

Note 3: Peter de Costa, "Combining Against Conflict," Africa Report 37, No. 5 (September-October 1992), pp. 21-26. Back.

Note 4: "African Charter on Human and People's Rights," O.A.U. Doc CAB/LEG/67/3 Rev. 5. Back.

Note 5: Diana Chigas, with Elizabeth McClintock and Christophe Kamp, "Preventive Diplomacy and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe: Creating Incentives for Dialogue and Cooperation," in Preventing Conflict in the Post-Communist World, eds. Abram Chayes and Antonia Handler Chayes (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1996), pp. 25-97. Back.

Note 6: Reinhardt Rummel, Common Foreign and Security Policy and Conflict Prevention (London: International Alert and Saferworld, 1996), p. 16. Back.

Note 7: Reinhardt Rummel, Common Foreign and Security Policy, p. 42; European Information Service, "Human Rights: EU Needs To Put Teeth into Policy," European Report, December 7, 1996; and European Information Service, "Human Rights: European Parliament Seeks Reform of EU Policy," European Report, December 14, 1996. Back.