how to prevent ethnic conflict

In the 2005 World Summit, Member States adopted the principle of the Responsibility to Protect, which reaffirms the primary responsibility of the State to protect its population from atrocity crimes, as well as their incitement. The former Yugoslavia is an important case study for our understanding of ethnic violence. Comments can be sent to CODA, The College of Education, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. All Rights Reserved. No effort has been made to summarize the research that supports these principles in the brief discussion that follows each of them. When the model doesnt include the borders around Slovenia and Macedonia we predict violence there, but when the model includes them that violence is gone. Here are five lessons for writing a constitution that can help prevent While some people insist that persons of color and certain ethnic backgrounds should abandon their racial and ethnic identities, others insist that individuals should choose a single cultural identity. Yugoslavia was formed at the end of World War I as a union of smaller states with diverse cultures. Fears of ethnic cleansing mount in Sudan's West Darfur. Schlesinger, speaking of the USA, argues forcefully that the liberal state, in spite of all its problems, is still the best solution for this country. There are two separable but related points embedded in this principle. The design principles developed by the CODA panel are meant to provide guidelines for action to those selecting or developing strategies to improve intergroup relations. Time to Stop Disruptive Russian-Serbian Machinations in the Balkans The Role of the State in Managing Ethnic Tensions in Malaysia: But there is little evidence~ that this strategy, in and of itself, is adequate. Figure 2 shows our analysis of ethnic geography and violence in Yugoslavia. They have an even greater interest in the recognition of ethnic pluralism within the state. The idea that local autonomy is a good way to organize a government is present in other places, including not just Switzerland but also the United States, which has municipal, district, state and federal government systems. Kubura Shinge na Rugero: Failure to Prevent Ethnic Conflict and Future This insight provides guidance for how the worst of ethnic violence can be prevented. Nearly half a million people have fled the rising conflict in Burundi, even as citizens of neighboring countries like Rwanda and the DRC rush in to avoid conflicts in their own home countries. The UN fears risk of these atrocities is . Evaluation is an invaluable source of program improvement. She notes that the Indonesian solution has involved a more authoritarian political system than would be acceptable in the west, with an outright ban on hate speech directed at other religions or ethnicities and suppression of "extremists" who might upset the delicate balance of the state. A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center1991-2023, Strategies for Reducing Racial and Ethnic Prejudice: Essential Principles. Yugoslavian borders are quite different from those in Switzerland. During Yugoslavias existence, it was variously called the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia, and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect has developed a Framework of Analysis to identify some of the main risk factors for atrocity crimes. It also means we should start to describe how groups of people interact with each other based upon the geographic patches that are formed. In our research we found that ethnic geography is the key property for predicting and explaining ethnic violence [1]. However, while this practice is desirable, it is difficult to achieve for at least two reasons. Given the differences in living conditions of various racial and ethnic groups, as well as the existence of discrimination throughout our society, improving intergroup relations is a challenge that requires ongoing work. Migrations of a group of people with a shared history and population displacements can increase this tendency to form patches when a group settles together in a specific area. Many programs receive positive evaluations, or so their advocates claim. The natural tendency to self-aggregate can be leveraged for peace if communities are given proper borders and self-governance over their own neighborhoods. Our prediction of populations likely to be in conflict with neighboring groups [red overlay, (C) and (D)] agrees well with the location of cities reported as sites of major fights and massacres [yellow dots, (D)]. particularly of European countries, to prevent the ethnic conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and will try to identify the causes of their failure. Condemning violence and persecutions committed against individuals based on their gender, origin, religion, belief, and sexuality, he said his country supports the . Subsequently, ethnic agitators inflamed the Tutsi/Hutu divide, some (like the infamous Radio Milles Collines) systematically inciting one group to massacre the other. Preventing Ethnic Conflict: Macedonia and The Pluralist Paradigm Global Europe Program By Steven L. Burg Society and Culture Race and Ethnicity Europe Eastern Europe North Macedonia The Yugoslav crisis demonstrates the importance of concerted international action to prevent or resolve conflicts before they turn violent. During a period that included severe ethnic violence, the state broke apart in the 1980s and 90s. Respecting group decisions about public spaces, giving them the local autonomy to do so, is part of this respect. The way groups behave toward each other is determined by how individual behaviors combine together, a property that is itself related to the way groups are distributed in space. Tishkov discusses how ethnic definitions of the state can be challenged and what measures can be taken to counteract the efforts of those who seek to create or inflame ethnic tension. Top UN body asks what more can be done to stop genocide, atrocity Our research has identified a method to accurately predict propensity to violence based only on the large scale structure of a society. Preventing genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity is an ongoing process that requires sustained effort over time to build the resilience of societies to atrocity crimes . Yugoslavia was formed at the end of World War I as a union of smaller states with diverse cultures. In part this is because states affected by conflict are often reluctant to accept international intervention. Rolf Ekeus, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, shares his views on how protecting national minorities contributes to peace and prosperity. We identify such regions with a high likelihood of conflict. I have quickly learned that it is not a desk job. International Response Rwandan Genocide Trials During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, also known as 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, members of the Hutu ethnic majority in the. This insight provides guidance for how the worst of ethnic violence can be prevented. The division of Northern Ireland from the rest is similar. We performed case studies in Yugoslavia, India, and Switzerland and found indeed that when patches of ethnic groups are above a certain size, ethnic violence does not occur. Such boundaries are not needed if people choose to integrate, which is also present in many places. PLoS ONE 9(5), e95660 (May 21, 2014). India is the classic example, Secularists like Nehru hoped that the country's religious divisions would lose their significance in the modern state - a hope which has clearly not been borne out. We respect individual differences in a society because of what each individual can contribute. In fulfilling this task, I must address discrimination, injustice or exclusion - either real or perceived. Conflict Recurrence: Strategies to prevent it - LinkedIn Patches of a certain size that are surrounded by the other type are highlighted. Making the other seem less different, strange, or exotic can encourage positive interactions and avoid stereotyping. Tishkov points out that the FSU, like Yugoslavia, lacked alternative structures to help people cope, once the soviet state disintegrated and ordinary people were left to deal as best they could with extreme political and economic uncertainty. NICOLAS DE RIVIRE (France) stressed that preserving diversity helps prevent conflict, and the fight against all forms of discrimination is part of France's indivisible approach. Profile Kaapcke's paper shows how difficult it is to determine who are indigenous people in the Former Soviet Union and how such peoples fit into the bewildering kaleidoscope of new nations and new minorities that has emerged since the collapse of the Soviet state. In some cases, the one-time workshop, course, or learning module that focuses on sources of conflict or on racial or ethnic differences can even reinforce negative predispositions. This may not be the embodiment of a cultural melting pot, but well thought out boundaries and the way local decision making serves each community can allow for peaceful coexistence. Cultural Survival has long argued that the "imperatives of development" are not imperatives at all, but simply excuses for ignoring the rights of indigenous peoples. The conventional wisdom among advocates of strategies to improve intergroup relations is that opportunities to learn should be infused throughout the curriculum or the tasks that make up the work of the organization involved. An example can be found in data suggesting that some groups of Latinos are more likely than Anglos to prefer cooperative tasks. A well integrated society is often held up as the ideal. While they may have succeeded for a time, violence eventually broke out. Their analyses underscore a point that is now well accepted by scholars of ethnicity, namely that ethnic conflict is not the simple expression of the primordial instincts of humankind. Negative 9 2.1.1 The uneven distribution of education 9 People with power and authority send messages more by their deeds than by their words. In the critical range for violence, expectations about public spaces are in conflict. My mandate is clear on the limitations of my work when it comes to terrorism. This may not be the embodiment of a cultural melting pot, but well thought out boundaries and the way local decision making serves each community can allow for peaceful coexistence. What Causes Ethnic Conflict? He was active in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) during the period of post-Communist transition. [3] The causes of ethnic conflict are debated by political scientists and sociologists. Locations of boundaries are shown on both plots as solid and dashed yellow lines respectively. A well mixed neighborhood would correspond to the case when people are fine with living together. Often, race relations programs and activities focus on awareness and knowledge about, and behavior toward, persons of color. Individuals have a natural tendency to choose to live near people similar to themselves. The role of local communities in peacebuilding in post-ethnic conflict Contact Us:(617) 547-4100programs@necsi.edu, Global pattern formation and ethnic/cultural violence, Good fences: The importance of setting boundaries for peaceful coexistence. A. Rutherford, D. Harmon, J. Werfel, S. Bar-Yam, A.S. Gard-Murray, A. Gros, Y. Bar-Yam, Good fences: The importance of setting boundaries for peaceful coexistence. In many settings, improved intergroup relations are the responsibility of a given officer or instructor, and the most common strategy is the episodic workshop or the introductory courseshort or long. She also notes that it is this emphasis on development which poses the greatest threat to the smaller "indigenous" societies of Indonesia. PDF Conflict Prevention, Resolution and Reconstruction - United Nations Science 317, 5844 (2007). The only "solution," cynics Throughout its history, Yugoslavia experienced frequent periods of economic and political turmoil. We performed case studies in Yugoslavia, India, and Switzerland and found indeed that when patches of ethnic groups are above a certain size, ethnic violence does not occur. Sign up today to stay informed about the latest news, Cultural Survival program updates, events and MORE 2023 Cultural Survival. Joint study of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence and the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide on the contribution of transitional justice to the prevention of gross violations and abuses of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law, particularly to the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, and their recurrence. Still, well over 90 . This model of governance is not being used in many places of the world where national governments have most of the governing authority. Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo | Global Conflict Tracker It was not the High Commissioner's decision to open or close the missions, and their closure has no formal bearing on my work. The way groups behave toward each other is determined by how individual behaviors combine together, a property that is itself related to the way groups are distributed in space. This means that these borders are not in the right places. Moreover, in some cases, those responsible for implementing a strategy are not fully committed and communicate that lack of commitment to participants. PLoS ONE 9(5), e95660 (May 21, 2014). While Switzerland has a reputation as a peaceful country, it has a diverse population of Catholics and Protestants and French, German and Italian speakers. Article copyright Cultural Survival, Inc. Our website houses close to five decades of content and publishing. Figure 4:Ethnic groups, political borders, and topographical boundaries, in the former Yugoslavia. It may also prevent cross-cultural conflicts by allowing someone to learn about a specific culture before potential conflict arises . These thresholds are approximately above 60 kilometers and below 20 kilometers. In this view, groups of various sizes are like individuals contributing to the global society that we are all part of. Lemarchand's article below stresses that Tutsi domination of the Hutu was exaggerated and institutionalized as a "natural fact" by Belgium in colonial times and that European writers invented a racial rationale for it - tall, aristocratic, Hamitic Tutsi lords ruling short, peasant, Bantu Hutu serfs. If Yugoslavia had respected local political autonomy of groups, it might have looked a lot more like Switzerland. My job is to find ways of allowing national groups to represent their interests and enjoy their cultural identity within states. Negara dengan Hak dan Kewajiban dalam Mencegah Konflik Etnis - Kompasiana Every group of people has a mixture of individual differences. The articles in this issue show us how and why ethnic conflicts are created and by whom. Self-governance at the neighborhood, municipal or district-level can offer communities a sense of autonomy and safety. The idea of self-determination is already one of the concepts that are widely discussed for inter-group relationships. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and overall international human rights law treaties contain provisions that oblige Member States to prevent those crimes or violations, including by ensuring the respect for the norms in them contained. Yet, in spite of the efforts of these fundamentalists, their party (the BJP has recently been rejected at the polls in major north Indian states. Traditional studies of violence focus on the details of historical animosities, economic disparities, leadership, or social structures of different regions. Thus, strategies to improve race relations need to include both highly focused activities and efforts to ensure that positive intergroup relations are pursued throughout the organization involved. While Switzerland has a reputation as a peaceful country, it has a diverse population of Catholics and Protestants and French, German and Italian speakers. First and foremost, prevention is the only way to avoid the loss of human life, trauma and physical injury. The system seems to offer hope and human fulfillment to people suffering under despotic regimes, but all too often it disappoints in practice, encouraging anomie and a kind of unsatisfying consumerism. How then do we account for the atrocities that flicker daily in our TV news reports? For example, assumptions many whites hold about the proportion of black males who commit violent crimes, the percentage of black college students who receive race-based scholarships, and the rates of alcohol and drug abuse among Latinos and African Americans are invariably wrong, and substantially so. I have also been introducing myself to the OSCE community and international partners. However, the presence or absence of borders in the rest of the country has little effect on the geography of violence. Will you place special emphasis on Latvia and Estonia, given recent closure of their Missions? The design principles developed by the CODA panel are meant to provide guidelines for action to those selecting or developing strategies to improve intergroup relations. They are also meant to focus discussion and research on the characteristics of program effectiveness. He analyses the puzzling situation of Quebec, whose francophone population has taken control of its own cultural and political destiny in a province whose economy has made immense strides and is still doing relatively well. Switzerlands multidimensional sub-populations, combining both languages and religions, are separated by both political borders in the form of cantons that are part of a federal system of governance, and physical boundaries formed by the countrys natural abundance of mountains and lakes. Switzerland is an example of a state with well placed boundaries [2]. There isnt violence in the real world, which does have those boundaries. Efforts to improve intergroup relations often overstate differences among and within racial and ethnic groups, and neglect beliefs and values that are shared across racial and ethnic lines. The search for generalizations that would promote sensitivity to differences and encourage positive responses to those differences often leads to oversimplification. Self-determination does not necessarily mean secession. The natural tendency to self-aggregate can be leveraged for peace if communities are given proper borders and self-governance over their own neighborhoods. 1, 67-91 What are the trends in and effects of early conflict prevention during the escalation of ethnic Ambassador Ekeus has a long and distinguished career in the Swedish diplomatic service. Despite violence in Nepal since the Certainly there is a lot of war in the ethnographic record, though it is far from universal. This region occurs near a too easily navigable mountain range between French and German speakers. A. Rutherford, D. Harmon, J. Werfel, S. Bar-Yam, A.S. Gard-Murray, A. Gros, Y. Bar-Yam, Good fences: The importance of setting boundaries for peaceful coexistence. A well mixed neighborhood would correspond to the case when people are fine with living together. Many stereotypes and sources of conflict are based on myths and misinformation. Principle 1 emphasized the importance of relating strategies to the particular context in which the participants are involved on a continuing basis. Toward a Common Destiny. Preventing atrocity crimes means being aware of these risks and taking action to address and reduce them, or ideally, eradicate them. The idea that local autonomy is a good way to organize a government is present in other places, including not just Switzerland but also the United States, which has municipal, district, state and federal government systems. Yugoslavian borders are quite different from those in Switzerland. Prevention of atrocity crimes is also much less costly than intervening to halt these crimes, or dealing with their aftermath. In many organizations, new participants are told of the organizations commitment to positive intergroup relations. Aragon analyses a different way of maintaining Unity in Diversity (the equally proud motto of Indonesia) as she describes how the Indonesian government holds together a nation with the fourth largest population in the world, scattered over thousands of islands, containing hundreds of ethnic groups and even greater numbers of local languages. Persons of color and immigrants are often expected to assimilate into the dominant white culture and are resented when they hold on to cultural traditions or language. If Yugoslavia had respected local political autonomy of groups, it might have looked a lot more like Switzerland. Even if they start from a random spatial distribution (see Figure 1), the desire to live near others of the same type causes them to form patches of a particular group that grow in area over time. Switzerland and other existing federal systems of governance can serve as starting points for this inquiry. He headed the Swedish delegation to the CSCE from 1988 to 1992 and played a key role in drafting the Charter of Paris for a New Europe (1990).

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