Suchergebnisse

This article gives attention to the question if an unconditional amnesty enacted by a State Party to the Statute of the International Criminal Court would be an obstacle for the Court to exercise its complementary competences. Two arguments are supporting a negative answer: in so far as the Statute considers crimes falling within the scope of its competences as a threat to international peace, the States could be viewed as forced to prosecute the authors of such acts by obligations erga omnes while all indications of a State not to comply would entitle the court to exercise its competences. Moreover, such laws ignore the will of the States to put an end to exemptions from punishment that are impeding the democratic order & are fostering other crimes. However, these arguments should not be regarded as decisive. Before exercising its competence the court should also consider other factors -- in particular the impact of such laws on the process of national reconciliation. Adapted from the source document.

The international law foundations of the "Right to Development" were laid in the 1960s by legal experts within the framework of several UN organizations. The author analyzes & comments their reasoning by referring to the multifarious political concepts relevant at that period. Since then justifications for the right to development were differing even more in views of its scope & implementation than in legal considerations. The most outstanding points disputed by the legal experts related to human rights, self-determination of nations & the New Order of World Economy. The dispute is going on over questions of who are the creditors & the debtors of the right to development. In that context the author discusses the role of states, individuals, & international organizations & of ethnic groups & minorities. Adapted from the source document.

Economic integration among West African member states was the original mandate of ECOWAS. Threats to development, peace and security led the community to expand its mandate to include conflict management. ECOWAS has established a commendable record in peacekeeping. Its intervention in Liberia ended the conflict. In Sierra Leone, it provided the necessary support to the legitimate government, but in Guinea Bissau, it failed to stop the violence. In 2004, ECOMOG was replaced by the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF), made up of military, police and civilian personnel. As part of its missions, ECOWAS has implemented conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms outlined in its Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF). However, the organisation relies on its member states to achieve its objectives. Unfortunately, the latter is mostly characterised by a lack of political and financial commitment. In recent years, ECOWAS has focused on counter-terrorism strategies. However, these too have been hampered by capacity constraints, the persistence of a socioeconomic environment increasingly conducive to religious fundamentalism and extremism, and varying levels of political will and commitment. The ECOWAS institution's conflict prevention tools are currently stronger than its conflict management tools. At present, the ESF lacks the logistical and financial capacity for military deployment. Nigeria, the main troop and financial contributor, was supposed to provide more than half of the pledged ESF troops. But it has internal security challenges of its own. It is therefore doubtful that it could spare its pledged troops for an ESF mission. All this suggests that ECOWAS, once a force to be reckoned with in West Africa, has been reduced to a paper tiger. It's warning to intervene, by military force if necessary, in the current conflict in Niger, where a coup has overthrown the legitimate government, was reckoned as an empty threat. Especially since the coup leaders in Mali, Niger and Guinea have been backed by Russia.

La reforma al sector seguridad como piedra angular de la construcción de paz y de Estado en la posguerra es considerada una estrategia de aproximación relativamente novedosa. Las reformas al sector seguridad-principalmente en lo que concierne a su control democrático y a la separación del gobierno civil de la regencia militar-fueron sin duda alguna un elemento esencial en la tercera ola de democratización. Pero solo hasta finales de la década de los noventa los primeros países empiezan a reconocer la reforma al sector de la seguridad como un requisito importante para las medidas de construcción de paz en la posguerra. El concepto reforma al sector seguridad (RSS) fue utilizado primeramente por el Gobierno del Reino Unido, con su Department for International Development (DFID) [Ministerio para el Desarrollo Internacional] como una de las organizaciones líderes de desarrollo que se encontraban activas en el campo.