Role of Leaders in Post-Conflict Societies

Author(s):  
Goran Simic

When Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić was attacked on the 11th of July 2015 in Srebrenica on the day of the commemoration and burial of the victims of the genocide committed in that town in 1995, he characterized it as an assassination attempt. Furthermore, he stated that “hand of peace” that he was offering was rejected once more from the “Bosnian” side. Of course, he didn't mention that he, in the previous six months, together with Serbia's ally, Russia, advocated that the UN Security Council rejects the resolution that would call all sides to accept the final decisions of the ICTY and draw necessary lessons in regard of commemoration of the 20 years from the Srebrenica Genocide. He didn't mention that he is, along with the leaders of Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, among those negating the Srebrenica Genocide (sarcastically calling it “grave crime”). He also did not mention his inflammatory rhetoric in the Parliament of Serbia in 1995 when during the events in Srebrenica he said “If you kill one Serb, we will kill 100 Muslims.”

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 51-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Chesterman

The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 has been the subject of much discussion for its impact on the use of force outside of UN Security Council authorization. Less commented upon is the fact that the so-called “Operation Iraqi Freedom” resurrected a body of international law that had been dormant through the second half of the twentieth century: the law of military occupation. Developed at a time when war itself was not illegal, this doctrine became something of an embarrassment after the UN Charter established a broad prohibition on the use of force. Nevertheless, through the 1990s the United Nations itself had become involved in operations in Kosovo that looked distinctly like military occupation. Even the most liberal reading of the instruments governing occupation law, however, finds it hard to reconcile this law with military intervention and post-conflict occupation premised on regime change. This article first surveys the law of military occupation before briefly examining the role of the UN Security Council in post-conflict administration. It then turns to the ambiguous responsibilities accorded to the United States and Britain as occupying powers in Iraq in 2003–2004.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-142
Author(s):  
Michelle E Ringrose

This article examines the intersection of language, power and national interest by discussing how the UN Security Council permanent five (P5) members navigate the linguistic rhetoric of genocide in debates surrounding the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A discourse analysis methodology is adopted to ascertain how P5 member-states framed the genocide in Srebrenica through an analysis of linguistic themes and silences in council debates. This article argues that UN P5 members use language as a mechanism to frame a conflict in a particular way that aligns with their own national political interests. The article reaffirms the importance of genocide recognition, not only as a vital legal instrument, but one that has the ability to acknowledge the significance of an atrocity and an important variable in post-conflict growth and mediation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 372 (402)-383 (409)
Author(s):  
Anna Igorevna Filimonova ◽  
Kseniya Dmitrievna Kot

The article is devoted to one of the most dramatic events in the history of Serbia - the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, in terms of analyzing two key aspects. Firstly, numerous inconsistencies, discrepancies, contradictions and outright falsifications were revealed on the part of the official investigation and the official version of the attentate, in which it was not possible to reliably establish the motives, methods of committing the crime and the true perpetrators of the prime minister's death. Consequently, the reason for the murder of the prime minister, which, no doubt, lies precisely in the politics, remains hidden. In the Serbian political dimension, Kosovo and Metohija have long been the main stumbling blocks. Secondly, the authors of the article analyze the radical change in Zoran Djindjic's policy, which took place in general across a wide range of issues, and in particular, on the indicated "Kosovo problem". The Serbian prime minister had a sharp change in political orientations due to specific measures taken by the US, the EU and the "world community" towards Serbia, among which there were extremely destructive tendencies covered by double standards and humanistic rhetoric. The West did not need a "renewed Serbia", moreover, Serbia, renewed on the basis of a combination of democratic and national-state principles, which, in fact, became the policy of Zoran Djindjic a few months before the attentate, was a direct threat to the West. In particular, it hindered the implementation of the plans to build a certain order (characterized through the formula "constant chaos of low intensity"). Pax Americana, or the "new globalized order", can only be established in the Balkans on the rubble of Serbia, with dysfunctional state institutions, a devastated economy and destroyed national consciousness. The West needs Serbia only in the form of a failed state. The key point is the deprivation of its main attribute of statehood - sovereignty, inviolability of borders and territorial integrity. The withdrawal from Serbia of its southern region, Kosovo and Metohija, occurred contrary to the UN Charter, the entire complex of international legal acts on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states, a number of UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution No. 1244, the Constitution and legislation of Serbia. Without idealizing or romanticizing the image of this Serbian statesman, the authors consistently identify the steps taken by Zoran Djindjic in the Kosovo direction at the international and regional levels, testifying to his firm desire to implement the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, to reconsider relations with the West in general and build democratic Serbian state on national basis. All undertakings were interrupted by an unknown sniper's bullet fired on March 12, 2003. English version of the article on pp. 402-409 at URL: https://panor.ru/articles/role-of-zoran-dindic-in-resolving-the-kosovo-issue/66002.html


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 17-39
Author(s):  
Ambassador Colin Keating

This article discusses the role of the UN Security Council during the crisis in Rwanda in 1993/94. It focuses on the peacekeeping dimensions of the Council’s involvement. It is a perspective from a practitioner, rather than an academic. It also makes some observations about whether the Rwanda crisis has had an enduring influence on Security Council practice. It does not address the impact on practical aspects of peacekeeping or on the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.


Significance The assassination follows months of political turmoil and rising gang violence and comes just weeks before elections, scheduled for September 26. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who has taken charge of the country, said yesterday that measures were being taken “to guarantee the continuity of the state and to protect the nation". Impacts Further political assassinations would exacerbate unrest. The Dominican Republic has closed its border, fearing a migrant surge; the situation will bolster public support there for a border wall. The UN Security Council meets today and may authorise emergency action in Haiti; any substantial redeployment, however, would take time.


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 361-384
Author(s):  
Ayodele Akenroye

The end of the Cold War witnessed the resurgence of ethnic conflicts in Africa, which necessitated the deployment of peacekeeping missions in many crisis contexts. The risk of HIV transmission increases in post-conflict environments where peacekeepers are at risk of contracting and spreading HIV/AIDS. In response, UN Security Council Resolution 1308 (2000) stressed the need for the UN to incorporate HIV/AIDS prevention awareness skills and advice in its training for peacekeepers. However, troops in peacekeeping missions remain under national command, thus limiting the UN prerogatives. This article discusses the risk of peacekeepers contracting or transmitting HIV/AIDS, as well as the role of peacekeeping missions in controlling the spread of the disease, and offers an account of the steps taken within UN peacekeeping missions and African regional peacekeeping initiatives to tackle the challenges of HIV/AIDS. While HIV/AIDS remains a scourge that could weaken peacekeeping in Africa, it seems that inertia has set in, making it even more difficult to tackle the complexity of this phenomenon.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard F. Hutabarat

<p align="justify">As peacekeeping has evolved to encompass a broader humanitarian approach, women personels have become increasingly part of the peacekeeping family. The UN has called for more deployment of female peacekeepers to enhance the overall “holistic” approach to current UN peacekeeping operations. There is clearly more work to be done to integrate more female peacekeepers into UN missions. More skilled and trained female peacekeepers can only be an asset to future peacekeeping operations. In October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The resolution was hailed as a landmark resolution in that for the first time, the Security Council recognised the contribution women make during and post-conflict. Since the adoption of Resolution 1325, attention to gender perspectives within the international peace agenda has ¬firmly been placed within the broader peace and security framework. This article explains the development of Indonesian female peacekeepers contribution in the period of 2009-20016 and argues why Indonesia needs to support and to consider deploying more female peacekeepers in UN peacekeeping operations.</p>


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