Suchergebnisse

The efforts undertaken by the international and African communities towards the decentralization of the management of peace and security issues since the beginning of the 1990s have meant for Central Africa a significant diplomatic and legal body of work. Several official documents express the political will of member states of the Economic community of Central African States (ECCAS) to work together and in partnership with the international community in general, and the United Nations in particular, towards a lasting peace and security in their sub-region. The sheer volume and quality of the documents produced to codify the norms and mechanisms created until now within ECCAS is impressive and represents a dynamic expression of hope for the sub-region. However, the very best legal texts and diplomatic intentions are but words, so that peace for the Central African peoples can only become reality through the concrete implementation and rigorous follow-up of the totality of measures collated in this book. After an introduction that sets the regional political and diplomatic context, the book provides a reference collection of the various regional and international documents pertaining to the management of peace and security in the Central African sub-region

Swiss Ambassador Edouard Brunner analyses the CSCE process from the first informal consultations in 1972 until its transformation into the OSCE in the 1990s. He considers the role played by the participating States, focusing on the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, and the neutral and non-aligned states. While the main interest of the USSR lay from the start in securing an agreement on the inviolability of the post-World War II borders, the USA was at first sceptical with regard to the Conference and remained so until human rights became a priority under the Carter government. The group of neutral and non-aligned states, who often developed common positions during the Conference, played an influential role both in mediating between East and West and as the motor of negotiations. Brunner shows how the CSCE process persisted despite various major international incidents that strained East-West relations. He also demonstrates how the unexpected dynamics of the CSCE human-rights commitments contributed to destabilizing the countries of the Eastern Bloc. Being able to legitimately criticize a state for its behaviour towards its citizens, as made possible by the Helsinki Final Act, represented a near-revolutionary innovation at that time. (IFSH-Pll)