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2711. The Human Rights Council: A New Era in UN Human Rights Work?

Author:
Yvonne Terlingen
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
Kofi Annan did more than any UN Secretary-General before him to stress the close link between human rights and peace and security. In his inaugural address to the newly created Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 19, 2006, he said: ''. . . lack of respect for human rights and dignity is the fundamental reason why the peace of the world today is so precarious, and why prosperity is so unequally shared.'' With the creation of the Human Rights Council, ''a new era in the human rights work of the United Nations has been proclaimed.''
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Geneva

2712. Southeast Asian Cross-Regional FTAs: Origins, Motives and Aims

Author:
Stephen Hoadley
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
University of British Columbia
Abstract:
This article surveys the free trade agreement (FTA) initiatives of three governments: Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. It examines each in a search for motives, not only for negotiating FTAs within the region but also for reaching outside Asia to find negotiating partners. It finds that the presumption of economic gain as the primary motive must be qualified because the markets of many of the extra-regional partners are relatively small in Asian terms, and their trade and investment barriers are already amongst the lowest in the world. This is especially true of New Zealand and Chile, which nevertheless are becoming popular extra-regional partners for Asian governments. While the national and sectoral economic motives announced by the trade spokespeople for Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are acknowledged as predominant, this article goes beyond such declarations to explore the explicit and implicit diplomatic, political and bureaucratic aims that could account more fully for these trade negotiation initiatives. In accordance with the conceptual analysis presented by Solís and Katada in this issue of Pacific Affairs, the drivers of FTAs are grouped into three broad categories: 1) economic motives; 2) security and diplomatic motives; and 3) leverage motives. Seven hypotheses derived from these categories are employed to guide this survey of recent FTA initiatives by Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, and to explore their reasons for engaging with FTA partners both outside and within the Southeast Asian region.
Topic:
Security and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Southeast Asia

2713. Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency

Author:
Elbridge Colby
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
Sadly, discussions of the pricklier issues of law, terrorism, and security rarely follow a cool, pragmatic approach. Richard Posner provides just such a perspective on the relationship of the Constitution to the terrorist threat. Undaunted by controversy, he forthrightly addresses detention, harsh interrogation methods, limits of free speech, ethnic profiling, and the boundaries of privacy rights, among other hot-button topics.
Topic:
Security, Terrorism, and Law

2714. Conceived in Law: The Legal Foundations of Resolution 242

Author:
Michael Lynk
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
UN Security Council Resolution 242 endorsed the "inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war" and called for "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied" in the June 1967 war. Since then, a debate has raged over whether these provisions call for a complete Israeli withdrawal, a minor revision of borders, or license for Israel to retain sovereignty over some of the conquered lands. This article argues that the resolution must be read through the lens of international law. A principled legal interpretation clarifies 242's ambiguities on withdrawal and re-establishes the importance of universal rights to a just and durable peace in the Middle East.
Topic:
Security and Law
Political Geography:
Middle East, Canada, and Israel

2715. Forty Years without Resolve: Tracing the Influence of Security Council Resolution 242 on the Middle East Peace Process

Author:
Omar M. Dajani
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
This essay offers an assessment of the extent to which UNSC Resolution 242's procedural and substantive recommendations have facilitated a negotiated settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The historical record of each of the mechanisms of the Middle East peace process demonstrates that the mediation mechanism established in 242 was too feeble for the task assigned to it. The resolution's ambiguities and omissions further diminished its value as a tool of dispute resolution, creating confusion about what acceptance of 242 signified, encouraging hard bargaining by the parties, and denying leaders the political cover for necessary compromise.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Middle East and Arabia

2716. Security Council Resolution 242 and the Right of Repatriation

Author:
John Quigley
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
Israel takes the position that UN Security Council 242's call for a "just settlement of the refugee problem" does not require the repatriation of the Arabs displaced from Palestine in 1948. However, the background to the drafting of that phrase, reviewed in this article, suggests that this was in fact the intention of the resolution's drafters.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Israel and Arabia

2717. People without Borders for Borders without People: Land, Demography, and Peacemaking under Security Council Resolution 242

Author:
Jamil Dakwar
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
UN Security Council Resolution 242, drafted to deal with the consequences of the 1967 war, left the outstanding issues of 1948 unresolved. For the first time, new Israeli conflict-resolution proposals that are in principle based on 242 directly involve Palestinian citizens of Israel. This essay explores these proposals, which reflect Israel's preoccupation with maintaining a significant Jewish majority and center on population and territorial exchanges between Israeli settlements in the West Bank and heavily populated Arab areas inside the green line. After tracing the genesis of the proposals, the essay assesses them from the standpoint of international law.
Topic:
Security and International Law
Political Geography:
New York, America, Middle East, and Israel

2718. Security Sector Reform in South East Europe – from a Necessary Remedy to a Global Concept 13thWorkshop of the Study Group „Regional Stability in South East Europe” in cooperation with the Working Group „Security Sector Reform”

Author:
Anja H. Ebnöther, David Law, Ernst M. Felberbauer, Amadeo Watkins, Matthew Rhodes, Krunoslav Antoliš, Branka Bakic, Jozsef Boda, Dejan Bojic, Reto Brunhart, Alex G. W. Dowling, Svetlana Djurdjevic-Lukic, Saša Janković, Kalman Kocsis, Rudolf Logothetti, Chris Morffew, Ferdinand Odzakov, Neven Pelicarić, Pasi Pöysäri, Jürgen Reimann, Anthony Cleland Welch, and Zoran Šajinović
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
This publication is based on the results of a seminar that took place in October 2006 in Cavtat, Croatia. The partners to this project, the PfP Consortium Security Sector Reform Working Group (under the chairmanship of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces – DCAF) and the PfP Consortium Study Group on Regional Stability in South East Europe (under the chairmanship of the Austrian Ministry of Defence), together with the Croat Institute for International Relations – IMO – Zagreb, together with the Western Balkan policy community, reviewed the democratic standards for security sector reform and governance and the development of the preaccession SSR conditionality in the light of the evolving Security Sector Reform concepts of NATO, the EU and other International Organisations.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Democratization, Intelligence, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe and Balkans

2719. Assessing the Contribution of International Actors in Afghanistan

Author:
Christoph Zürcher and Jan Koehler
Publication Date:
10-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 700
Abstract:
This paper is based on a representative survey among 2034 households in North East Afghanistan, conducted in spring 2007. The main results of the survey can be summarized as follows: Many Western observers claim that the security situation in North Afghanistan is rapidly deteriorating. We find that this sentiment is not shared by the majority of the rural population. An overwhelming majority thinks that security has very much increased over the last two years. Most Afghans credit foreign forces as well as the Afghan government with this progress.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, and Development
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Asia

2720. Security Structure of the Black Sea Region in the Context of New Challenges

Author:
Selcuk Colakoglu
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
This paper aims at investigating the security environment of the Black Sea region. It firstly reviews regional organizations and their security agendas. The Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) is the most organized and largest regional organization in the region. Non-regional organization, namely NATO and the EU, both of which pursue their respective security agendas in the Black Sea region will be dealt with afterwards. NATO has its own policy of penetration toward the Black Sea region. The EU is the dominant economic and political organization which also aims to enlarge in the Black Sea region. Finally, the security environment of the Black Sea region will be examined in view of the BSEC, NATO and EU.
Topic:
Security and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe