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1051. The New Transatlantic Security Network

Author:
Chantal de Jonge Oudraat
Publication Date:
07-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Transatlantic Relations
Abstract:
The United States and its European allies often found themselves at loggerheads in the 1990s. Disputes over arms control, peacekeeping operations in the Balkans, the environment, and the role of the United Nations (UN) were frequent. European governments repeatedly accused the United States of being disengaged and not living up to its responsibilities as a global power. When it did, they feared U.S. power and its disdain for multilateral approaches to international problems.
Topic:
Security, Terrorism, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Balkans

1052. Transformation of UN Peacekeeping: Role of the International Community in Peace-building Statement

Author:
Julian Harston
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Konichiwa. It is a pleasure to address this symposium, The Role of Peace Keeping Operation in the Process of Nation Building – Peace -building Experience in East Timor- , jointly sponsored by the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) and the United Nations University (UNU), especially in light of East Timor's imminent admission to the United Nations as a Member State later this month. While East Timor's journey to statehood is a testament to the courage and determination of its people, it also reflects positively on the emergence of multi- dimensional United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Cooperation, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Asia

1053. Indoor Air Pollution: The Quiet Killer

Author:
Vinod Mishra, Robert D Retherford, and Kirk R Smith
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Air pollution in big cities gets headlines, but in many rural areas of developing countries indoor air pollution is an even more serious health problem. Long-term exposure to smoke from cooking indoors with wood, animal dung, and other biomass fuels contributes to respiratory illness, lung cancer, and blindness. As a cause of ill health in the world, indoor air pollution ranks behind only malnutrition, AIDS, tobacco, and poor water/sanitation. The results of a national household survey in India linking cooking smoke to tuberculosis and blindness in adults and acute respiratory infections in children add to a growing body of evidence from other studies that reducing exposures to toxic emissions from cookstoves can substantially improve health and save lives. Governments can do more to promote clean fuel use, educate people to the risks of exposure to cook smoke, and provide and promote more efficient and better-ventilated cookstoves. Curbing indoor air pollution is not only a key to better health but also an important investment for achieving development goals and improving living standards.
Topic:
Environment, Human Welfare, Science and Technology, and United Nations

1054. The Case for U.S. Leadership in Rebuilding Afghanistan

Author:
Wali M. Osman
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
To further its strategic interests and national security, the United States has intervened in Afghanistan twice in less than two decades, first in the fight against the Soviets and then the Taliban. Now, as Afghans attempt to rebuild, American interests are at stake again. Before the Soviet takeover, Afghanistan had been moving slowly toward modernity, its development impeded by ethnic and tribal divisions kept in check by the monarchy's patronage system. Today, the country needs not only a new physical infrastructure but also institutions that will enable it to function as a modern economy, while politically accommodating its diverse and divided population. Democratization and economic development offer the best hope for stability, and specific steps can be taken to achieve these outcomes, but the country cannot move forward without increased security. Warlords contest the authority of the transitional government, which is itself critically divided. Beyond the issue of security, there is the urgent need for a more active commitment of U.S. resources and influence to the political and economic aspects of the reconstruction effort.
Topic:
International Cooperation and United Nations
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, South Asia, and Taliban

1055. Seeking Justice on the Cheap: Is the East Timor Tribunal Really a Model for the Future?

Author:
David Cohen
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Over the past eight years the UN Security Council has paid some $1.6 billion dollars to operate International Criminal Tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Successfully pressured to establish a tribunal in East Timor, the Council sought to cut its costs by creating a new form of tribunal—a "hybrid" tribunal with both international and domestic judges and partially funded and staffed by the national government. Today, though the hybrid tribunal is lauded by the United Nations as a model, the East Timor Tribunal is anything but. Of its meager $6.3 million budget for 2002, $6 million went to the prosecution, which nevertheless has failed to take any high-level perpetrators into custody. The balance was almost all for international judges' salaries, who sorely lack adequate administrative and clerical support. Though some steps have now been taken to improve the training of defense counsel, the Public Defender's unit is so under-funded and inexperienced that it did not call a single witness in any of its first 14 trials. Whether a minimally credible tribunal is better than none at all is the real issue the United Nations has not openly addressed.
Topic:
International Law and United Nations
Political Geography:
Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Southeast Asia

1056. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: The Countdown

Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Il reste officiellement un peu plus de cinq ans au Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR) pour achever le mandat qui lui a été confié, en novembre 1994, par le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies. Le TPIR se trouve donc exactement à mi-parcours de son mandat. Depuis un an et demi, plusieurs nouveaux procès ont été initiés. Toutefois malgré cette amélioration significative marquée par un fort regain d'activité, le Tribunal d'Arusha n'a pas établi, les priorités judiciaires qui lui permettraient de remplir son mandat avant 2008. En mai 2001, ICG publiait un premier rapport bilan des activités du TPIR intitulé: "L'urgence de juger". Cette urgence reste, malheureusement, toujours d'actualité.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Ethnic Conflict, Genocide, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Africa and Rwanda

1057. Shaping a New UN Draft Resolution on Iraq

Author:
Patrick Clawson
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
The United States and Britain are consulting with the other three permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, France, and China) before introducing a new draft resolution on Iraq. Much attention has been given to whether the resolution will explicitly authorize the use of force. At least as important will be whether the resolution reverses the long, slow erosion of Iraq's UN-mandated obligations. For all their seemingly tough language, recent Security Council resolutions on Iraq have been ambiguous at best about the issues on which Saddam Husayn has been allowed to cheat in the past.
Topic:
Security, Religion, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Iraq, Middle East, and Arab Countries

1058. Accounting and Accountability: Defining Donor Requirements for Palestinian Reform

Author:
Matthew Levitt
Publication Date:
07-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Following preparatory meetings on Palestinian reform between Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Cheney and European officials, the Quartet (the United States, the European Union [EU], the UN, and Russia) met this week in New York. The Quartet established an International Task Force on Palestinian Reform with seven subcommittees, which are to meet quarterly. As talks about Palestinian political reform progress, the donors intend to find an acceptable means enabling the group to begin disbursing $1.2 billion in donor funds to the Palestinians.
Topic:
Security, Religion, United Nations, and Reform
Political Geography:
New York, Middle East, Palestine, and Arabia

1059. The UN Development Program Report: A Closer Look

Author:
Simon Henderson
Publication Date:
07-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Earlier this month, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) published the Arab Human Development Report 2002, a critical look at development in the Arab world. Written by Arab scholars, it attempts to explain why Arab societies lag behind much of the rest of the world in key areas of economic, political, and social progress. The report has been hailed for the honesty of its conclusions, which assert that the Arab world has deficits in three areas: freedom, knowledge, and the participation of women in economic, professional, and political activities. Moreover, the details and methodology of the study itself offer further, perhaps unintended insights.
Topic:
Security, Religion, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Middle East and Arabia

1060. Assessing Crown Prince Abdullah's 'Normalization' Plan

Author:
Robert Satloff
Publication Date:
02-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
On February 17, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia was quoted by New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman as saying that he had drafted a speech ready for delivery before next month's Arab summit, offering the "idea" of "full normalization of relations" with Israel in exchange for "full withdrawal from all the occupied territory, in accordance with U.N. resolutions, including in Jerusalem." As Friedman's column was headlined, this was an "intriguing signal" from the Saudi heir. Is it an important one, too?
Topic:
Security, Religion, and United Nations
Political Geography:
New York, Middle East, and Arabia