OSCE Review Conference, Vienna, September 1999

9 September 1999

Mr Moderator,

What can this Review Conference learn from the terrible events in Kosovo? Minority Rights Group would like to make some practical suggestions. This violent conflict should have come as no surprise; it followed years of racism towards ethnic Albanians, a series of peaceful protests by Kosovo Albanians, and a series of early warnings from human rights activists and The High Commissioner on National Minorities. As early as 1993, MRG and the International Helsinki Federation held a conference on Kosova at the European Parliament.

It is clear that the terrible violations of human rights and mass displacement could have been prevented.

At this review conference we must ask the harsh question, why did we fail to act on early warnings?

We must also ask how would we act earlier to prevent such a conflict in the future?

In Kosovo, as long as the Albanians were following their peaceful leader and his strategy of demanding autonomy, much of the international community thought it could afford to forget the blatant minority rights violations. They were neglected during the Dayton Peace Agreement. Only when an armed resistance was formed and what seemed a repetition of the conflict in Bosnia began, did much of the international community take action. It was too late. The suffering in Kosovo has been immense. Thankfully the majority of refugees have returned home, but today there is considerable evidence of human rights violations of Kosovo Serbs and the Roma.

Elsewhere minorities have also been perceived as a threat to the integrity of the state. They have therefore been systematically excluded from participation in the life of their country, and excluded from economic development pacts. In some cases minorities are denied citizenship as we heard in the debate yesterday.

Many new states have defined themselves on an ethnic basis as one Nation States , rather than defining themselves on the basis of a civic sense of belonging. This is creating tensions and potential conflicts between communities.

Minority Rights Group believes that a coherent approach is needed linking governments, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the European Union. There is a great danger of a multitude of confusing top down political initiatives like the Stability Pact, that fail to address minority rights. Today governmental and intergovernmental programmes must receive new resources urgently to implement the OSCE human dimension standards to:

• enable all communities to participate in the government of their society; reinforce the rule of law with effective measures to combat ethnic discrimination;
• respect peoples' right to self-identification, freedom of movement and freedom of expression;
• promote multicultural and intercultural education throughout society; raise public awareness of minorities and international human and minority rights standards;
• ensure the full implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities; supporting visits of its monitoring committee to all States.
• create links between human rights NGOs inside and outside the region; enhance trade and commercial co-operation between communities.

Mr. Moderator,

One crucial factor is the development of a dynamic civil society, a civil society that can transcend racial divides and national barriers. This can take decades to build, but is absolutely crucial to ensure effective stability pacts and peaceful development.

In conclusion:

It is clear to Minority Rights Group that only a determination by all participating states to ensure the effective implementation of these measures now, will prevent other violent conflicts or prevent other tensions in the future. We urge the OSCE to ensure that lessons are learned from Kosova and that any stability pact makes minority rights and inter community co-operation a central feature, of its work. Without these foundations it will be like building on sand.