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Mitigating Inter–Ethnic Conflict in Osce Region MITIGATING INTER–ETHNIC CONFLICT IN OSCE REGION HEARING BEFORE THE COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 4, 2010 Printed for the use of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe [CSCE 111–2–5] ( Available via http://www.csce.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 75–229 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:52 Nov 05, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 U:\WORK\050410.TXT KATIE COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS HOUSE SENATE ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida, BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland, Co-Chairman Chairman EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER, SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island New York TOM UDALL, New Mexico MIKE McINTYRE, North Carolina JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama RICHARD BURR, North Carolina JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania ROBERT F. WICKER, Mississippi DARRELL E. ISSA, California EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS Michael H. Posner, Department of State Alexander Vershbow, Department of Defense Michael C. Camun˜ ez, Department of Commerce (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:52 Nov 05, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 U:\WORK\050410.TXT KATIE MITIGATING INTER–ETHNIC CONFLICT IN OSCE REGION MAY 4, 2010 COMMISSIONERS Page Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Chairman, Commission on Secu- rity and Cooperation in Europe .............................................. 1 WITNESSES Heidi Tagliavini, Head of the European Union Investigation of the 2008 Russia-Georgia Conflict ....................................... 3 Peter Semneby, Special Representative for the South Caucasus, European Union ..................................................... 9 Soren Jessen-Petersen, Former Special Representative for Kosovo, United Nations .......................................................... 14 APPENDICES Prepared statement of Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin .................... 23 Prepared statement of Hon. Alcee L. Hastings, Co-Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe ........... 25 Prepared statement of Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Ranking Member, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Eu- rope ........................................................................................... 26 Prepared statement of Heidi Tagliavini .................................... 27 Prepared statement of Peter Semneby ...................................... 36 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:52 Nov 05, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 0484 U:\WORK\050410.TXT KATIE VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:52 Nov 05, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 0484 U:\WORK\050410.TXT KATIE MITIGATING INTER–ETHNIC CONFLICT IN OSCE REGION May 4, 2010 COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE WASHINGTON, DC The hearing was held at 10 a.m. in room SVC 208/209 Capitol Visitor Center, Washington, DC, Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Chair- man, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, pre- siding. Commissioner present: Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Witnesses present: Heidi Tagliavini, Head of the European Union Investigation of the 2008 Russia-Georgia Conflict; Peter Semneby, Special Representative for the South Caucasus, European Union; and Soren Jessen-Petersen, Former Special Representative for Kosovo, United Nations. HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, CHAIRMAN, COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE Mr. CARDIN. Well, good morning. The Helsinki Commission will come to order and let me thank particularly our witnesses. I know they traveled a long distance to be with us and we thank them very much for appearing before the Helsinki Commission. I can’t think of a more important, fundamental role for the cre- ation of the Helsinki process, for the U.S.-Helsinki Commission and for the OSCE today than the issue of trying to mitigate inter-ethnic conflicts in the OSCE region. When the organization was originally created, this was one of its primary functions. We had been through wars, we had been through ethnic episodes, and I think our hope was that by signing onto the fundamental principles with- in OSCE related to human rights, security, and economic issues that we would ease the ethnic problems in the region. And in fact, I believe OSCE has been responsible for mitigating problems around the region and has been used as an example throughout the universe. So I think it has had its impact. But clearly, we are still being challenged today. And that is why we want to have regular hearings to bring us up to date as to what is happening as far as inter-ethnic conflict within the OSCE region. And that’s why I’m particularly pleased that our three witnesses could be with us today. They are truly experts in the area that we examine today. The witnesses’ full bios are available outside the hearing room but, briefly, Ambassador Tagliavini led the European Union’s in- (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:52 Nov 05, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\WORK\050410.TXT KATIE 2 vestigation into the causes of the Russia-Georgia conflict in 2008 and prepared an excellent report which we have found to be ex- tremely helpful. Ambassador Semneby is presently the E.U. Special Representative on the South Caucasus and has served as OSCE Head of Mission in Croatia. Ambassador Jessen-Petersen is a dis- tinguished international diplomat with extensive experience in the Balkans. So we really do have with us today three individuals who can, I hope, help us understand the current status within the OSCE on this issue. I do want to note that we did invite the OSCE High Commis- sioner on National Minorities to participate in this hearing and, while that was not possible, I did have the opportunity to meet with the High Commissioner when he visited Washington in March. Among other issues, we discussed the ‘‘Recommendations on National Minorities in Inter-State Relations,’’ prepared under the auspices of the High Commissioner. These 19 guidelines pro- vided greater clarity on how states can pursue their interests with regards to minorities without jeopardizing peace and good neigh- borly relations. They constitute yet another outstanding contribu- tion of the High Commissioner’s Office to the work of the OSCE and should serve as a foundation for the OSCE’s efforts in this area. Ethnic conflicts continue to break out within the OSCE region at great cost to the affected countries and populations. In this connec- tion, we are closely watching developments in Kyrgyzstan, where amidst the turmoil and ouster of a government in the last few weeks, land grabs and following attacks were directed against Rus- sians, Kazakhs, and other minorities. Ethnic conflicts, combined with territorial disputes, have erupted in the Caucasus as well, causing many thousands of casualties with hundreds of thousands of civilians remaining displaced and unable to return to their homes. As a result, security within the region is seriously undermined, while economic development is stymied by the insecurity and unsettled legal issues, particularly where the conflicts are interstate in character. The Crimea region of the Ukraine still bears the wounds of the 1944 mass deportation of thousands of Crimean Tatars and other ethnic minorities in Ukraine by Joseph Stalin. The Government of Ukraine and the affected population in Crimea continue to be chal- lenged with finding mutually acceptable settlements on property rights, as well as the exercise of educational and language rights of the Ukrainians, Russians, Tatars, and other minorities in the re- gion. This July, we will commemorate the genocide which occurred at Srebrenica in Bosnia 15 years ago, the senseless slaughter of 8,000 Bosniak men and boys trapped by Serb militants in what the U.N. declared safe haven. This horrific event should be kept in mind as we proceed with today’s hearing. Srebrenica demonstrates, in our own time, the degree to which even relatively small ethnic differences can generate fears and prej- udices that, in turn, can lead dangerously to hatred, violence and aggression, quite literally against innocent neighbors. Perhaps the most important lesson of Srebrenica, however, is that it made evi- VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:52 Nov 05, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\WORK\050410.TXT KATIE 3 dent the folly of blaming ethnic differences themselves for the crime. There was absolutely nothing inevitable about Srebrenica and the ethnic cleansing that occurred in Bosnia. It was orchestrated by individuals, not history, and was therefore preventable—had there been the political will to act. While we insist, and do, on bringing those responsible like Ratko Mladic to justice, we must also acknowledge our own burden of having failed to intervene to stop him and his murderous minions. If we do not learn from this mistake, human rights violations, eth- nic conflicts, and possibly even genocide will continue to occur. These are only some of the very good reasons for conducting today’s hearing. With that, we are going to turn to our witnesses and I look for- ward to a discussion. I can assure our witnesses that your entire statements will be made part of the record of the Commission and you may proceed as you would like. We’ll start out with Ambas- sador Tagliavini. HEIDI TAGLIAVINI, HEAD OF THE EUROPEAN UNION INVESTIGATION OF THE 2008 RUSSIA–GEORGIA CONFLICT Amb. TAGLIAVINI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, members of the Helsinki Commission, ladies and gentlemen, let me take this opportunity to express my gratitude for having been in- vited to address this eminent body on a topic which, contrary to many expectations, continues to be of top actuality whenever we talk about security and the current challenges to peace and sta- bility in Europe.
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