January 1999

Proposal for a European Parliament recommendation to the Council on the establishment of a European Civil Peace Corps Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy 28 January 1999 A4-0047/99 CONTENTS Procedural page A. PROPOSAL FOR A RECOMMENDATION B. EXPLANATORY STATEMENT Annex: Proposal for a recommendation B4-0791/98 At the sitting of 17 July 1998 the President of Parliament announced that he had referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy the proposal for a recommendation to the Council by Mr Spencer and 38 other Members on the establishment of a European Civil Peace Corps (B4-0791/98). At its meeting of 24 September 1998 the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy considered the proposal for a recommendation and decided to draw up a report. At the meeting of 24 September 1998 the committee appointed Mr Gahrton rapporteur. At its meetings of 1 December 1998, 7 January and...

BETÄNKANDE med Europarlamentets förslag till rekommendation till rådet om inrättandet av en europeisk civil fredskårUtskottet för utrikes-, säkerhets- och försvarsfrågor28 januari 1999 A4-0047/99 PROTOKOLLSIDA Vid plenarsammanträdet den 17 juli 1998 meddelade parlamentets ordförande att han hade hänvisat förslaget till rekommendation till rådet från Spencer och 38 andra ledamöter om inrättandet av en europeisk civil fredskår (B4-0791/98) till utskottet för utrikes-, säkerhets- och försvarsfrågor. Vid utskottssammanträdet den 24 september 1998 behandlade utskottet förslaget till rekommendation och beslutade att utarbeta ett förslag till betänkande. Vid utskottssammanträdet den 24 september 1998 utsåg utskottet Gahrton till föredragande. Vid sammanträdena den 1 december 1998, den 7 januari och den 22 januari 1999 behandlade utskottet förslaget till rekommendation, som hade utarbetats av utskottets ordförande, och godkände detta enhälligt. Följande deltog i omröstningen: Cushnahan (tredje vice ordförande och ordförande för sammanträdet), Gahrton (föredragande), Aelvoet, Bernard-Reymond, Burenstam Linder, Caligaris (suppleant för Bertens), Cars, Frischenschlager (suppleant för La Malfa),...

LONDON – The UN has now decided to give up on peace-keeping in Angola, the site of Africa’s second longest-running civil war in a continent where it’s difficult to measure the worst. It certainly proves what Clausewitz wrote, that everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. An Angolan peace was arbitrated as long ago as 1991. It couldn’t have been more straightforward–giving both sides a share in running the country. Yet human malevolence and personal greed is now so out of control that the antagonists don’t want peace. They want the spoils of war, in this case diamonds and oil, and they want it all. Again, to paraphrase Clausewitz, war is not just an act of senseless passion. Belligerents often calculate the relative costs of continuing the conflict versus reaching some kind of compromise agreement. We know very little about how to make peace. Compared with the...

By Colonel David H. Hackworth, US Army-Retired* 26 January 1999 Troopers from U. S. Army units in Europe are sharpening their bayonets; U.S.Navy ships, on station in the Adriatic Sea, are prepping their Tomahawk missiles; and U.S. jet-jockeys in Europe are doing their pre-strike drills. Will Serbia’s Kosovo province be Bill Clinton’s next military quagmire? Will this primitive land which has nothing to do with America’s national securitybe our next Vietnam? Bosnia — just one of Clinton’s current tar pits — was supposed to be an in-and-out-and-over one-year commitment. Instead, we’re going on four. The Bosnian swamp’s already cost over 12 billion bucks and almost ruined three of our best heavy Army divisions, and there’s no end in sight. On the human side, there have been more than 100 U.S. casualties, from arms ripped off to broken bones and more than a dozen body bags filled. Kosovo promises to be...

Den internationella så kallade “gemenskapen” är på plats som fredsskapare i så gott som varje konflikt och krig med sina diplomater, soldater, återuppbyggnadshjälpare, monitorer, jurister, ambassadörer, fredsbevarare, medlare, poliser, experter, förhandlare – och med agenter, satelliter, hangarfartyg och kampflygplan i högsta beredskap. Fredsstörande fraktioner skall bringas till det berömda förhandlingsbordet kring vilket de under det internationella samfundets tryck skall säga ja till fredsplaner. Denna generella, tidstypiska mediebevakning av politiska konflikter och krig befäster mer eller mindre medvetet två djupt missvisande, men funktionella uppfattningar. (A) Konflikter handlar om goda versus mindre goda aktörer och konfliktlösning är följaktligen en fråga om att bestraffa de onda och belöna de goda, offren. (B) Världen är uppdelad i två parter, ja det finns två världar: Å ena sidan har vi “fredsförstörarna” – skurkstater, hitleristiska diktatorer, förfelade stater, primitiva och onda aktörer, terrorister, folk som bara förstår stora bokstäver eller bomber – kriminella som inte efterlever...

Det internationale såkaldte “samfund” er tilstede som fredsskabere i snart sagt hver eneste konflikt og krig med sine diplomater, soldater, genopbygningshjælp, monitorer, jurister, ambassadører, fredsbevarere, mæglere, politi, eksperter, forhandlere og med agenter, satelliter, hangarfartøjer og kampfly på alert. Fredsforstyrrende fraktioner skal bringes til det berømte forhandlingsbord omkring hvilket de under det internationale samfunds pres skal sige ja til fredsplaner, Den generelle, tidstypiske mediedækning af politiske konflikter og krige befæster mere eller mindre bevidst to dybt misvisende, men funktionelle, opfattelser. (A) Konflikter handler om gode versus mindre gode aktører og konfliktløsning er følgelig et spørgsmål om at straffe de onde og belønne de gode, ofrene. (B) Verden er opdelt i to parter, ja der er to verdener: På den ene side er der “fredsforstyrrerne” – slyngelstater, hitleristiske diktatorer, forfejlede stater, primitive og onde aktører, terrorister, folk der ikke forstår andet end store bogstaver og bomber – kriminelle, der ikke efterlever folkeretten,...

LONDON- “The arm of the moral universe is long it bends towards justice”. So said Martin Luther King. And indeed, since Nuremberg and the first international court for war crimes to try Nazi leaders, the development of international human rights law has steadily improved. Justice, even if it’s often two steps forward, one step back, is by the decade reaching further. The case of ex-dictator General Augusto Pinochet is now back before the law lords in London and the betting here is that they will confirm their earlier ruling that he does not have sovereign immunity. But even if the decision goes the other way it will have pushed the British and other governments to clarify the standing of international law–the treaties on genocide, torture, hostage-taking and the supression of terrorism in particular–in domestic law. In any event the ruling ought to be overshadowed by the debate now coming to a...

By Regine Mehl* Very much concerned with the war (and still no peace) in Kosovo and following the discussions running on all our international email lists I (more or less suddenly) recognised that we usually have a very selective perception of wars in general and of atrocities towards civil societies in particular – at least on the discussion lists. While we were so much concerned in the war in Kosovo, 26 other wars were running and still do, and amongst them a war of almost undescribable atrocities in West African Sierra Leone. Only very, very few NGO’s and international partners take care of it at all. What they and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and now UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, report about the situation there “is even worse than everything we saw in Kosovo,” as Mary Robinson expressed it. The generel public, and I suppose most of...

Until the 1998 financial meltdown (“black September” 1998), the World economy was said to be booming under the impetus of the “free market” reforms. Without debate or discussion, so-called “sound macro-economic policies” (meaning the gamut of budgetary austerity, deregulation, downsizing and privatisation) continue to be heralded as the key to economic success and poverty alleviation. In turn, both the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have asserted authoritatively that economic growth in the late 20th Century has contributed to a reduction in the levels of World poverty. According to the UNDP, “the progress in reducing poverty over the 20th century is remarkable and unprecedented… The key indicators of human development have advanced strongly.”1 The Devastating Impacts of Macro-economic Reform are casually deniedThe increasing levels of global poverty resulting from macro-economic reform are casually denied by G7 governments and international institutions (including the World Bank and the IMF);...

THE GLOBALIZATION OF POVERTYThe late 20th Century will go down in World history as a period of global impoverishment marked by the collapse of productive systems in the developing World, the demise of national institutions and the disintegration of health and educational programs. This “globalization of poverty” –which has largely reversed the achievements of post-war decolonization–, was initiated in the Third World coinciding with the onslaught of the debt crisis. Since the 1990s, it has extended its grip to all major regions of the World including North America, Western Europe, the countries of the former Soviet block and the Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs) of South East Asia and the Far East. In the 1990s, local level famines have erupted in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and parts of Latin America; health clinics and schools have been closed down, hundreds of millions of children have been denied the right to primary education....

“Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men”.(Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address, 1933) Humanity is undergoing in the post-Cold War era an economic crisis of unprecedented scale leading to the rapid impoverishment of large sectors of the World population. The plunge of national currencies in virtually all major regions of the World has contributed to destabilising national economies while precipitating entire countries into abysmal poverty. The crisis is not limited to Southeast Asia or the former Soviet Union. The collapse in the standard of living is taking place abruptly and simultaneously in a large number of countries. This Worldwide crisis of the late twentieth century is more devastating than the Great Depression of the 1930s. It has far-reaching geo-political implications; economic dislocation has also been accompanied by the outbreak of regional conflicts, the fracturing of...

Boston Research Center for the 21st Century* Be the heart of a network of global citizens. * Be a bridge for dialogue between civilizations. * Be a beacon lighting the way to a century of life. Boston Research Center (BRC) is an international peace institute founded in 1993 by Daisaku Ikeda, a Buddhist peace activist and President of Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a religious association with members in 128 countries. Aiming toward the goal of a twenty-first century free of war, the Center fosters dialogue among scholars and activists on common values across religions and cultures. Human rights, nonviolence, ecological harmony, and economic security are focal points of the Center’s work. THE EARTH CHARTERDuring the BRC’s recently completed Religion & Ecology conference series, Steven Rockefeller, Professor of Religion at Middlebury College, presented an early draft of the Earth Charter&emdash;a kind of “people’s treaty” that sets forth principles on environmental conservation and...