NORDEM 20 years This is NORDEM NORDEM, the Norwegian NORDEM recruits, trains and NORDEM’s annual courses on Resource Bank for Democracy deploys qualified personnel to human rights, democratisation and Human Rights, is a civilian roughly 15 international organi- and election observation inte- capacity provider specialising in sations and operations that work grate both practical and aca- human rights and democratisa- in the field of human rights and demic perspectives. NORDEM tion support. democratisation. NORDEM aims also develops and conducts towards gender balance in specialised courses. NORDEM’s main objective is to recruitment and deployment. enhance the capacity of interna- The Organisation for Security and NORDEM supports several tional organisations and national Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), international mechanisms and authorities to promote democ- the UN and the EU are some of collaborates with a number racy and human rights. NORDEM’s main partners. of organisations that provide civilian capacity. In addition, NORDEM’s expertise includes NORDEM manages a standby NORDEM offers advice, supports good governance, democratic roster of approximately 250 the transfer of knowledge and institutions, independence of the experts who have completed experience and contributes to judiciary, judicial and legal more than 2,000 assignments research. reform, human rights, election since 1993. observation and election NORDEM is fully financed by the assistance. NORDEM publishes special Norwegian Ministry of Foreign reports and manuals. Affairs and is a programme at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the University of Oslo. Table of contents Foreword by Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende................. 3 Foreword by Director of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights Nils A. Butenschøn .............................................. 5 The establishment of NORDEM – a conversation between Siri Skåre and Jan Egeland .................. 6 The establishment of NORDEM .................................... 8 Democratisation and Statebuilding ............................... 12 Elections: Observation and Support............................... 32 Afterword by NORDEM Director Marianne Kvan . 56 Photos by (from left) Leif Tomas Vik, South Sudan 2013, Bryant Jones, Mongolia 2013, Nicolay Paus, Senegal 2012 1 2 Photo: Bryant Jones, Mongolia 2013 foreWORD Strengthening democratic values and promoting respect for human rights – key pillars of Norwegian foreign policy – are essential for achieving lasting peace and development throughout the world. The NORDEM standby roster has proved to be a valuable means of furthering these aims. In 1993, the world was changing. The Cold War was over. It was a time of hope for a better future for millions of people who had been living under the yoke of dictatorship, but it was also a time of great uncertainty. New wars were already being waged in the Balkans. Norway was eager to support the fledgling democ- racies in former dictatorships and to strengthen respect for human rights world- wide. One way of doing so was to provide qualified personnel for international Photo: Thomas Haugersveen/ and regional organisations in countries undergoing a transition from war to Statsministerens kontor peace or from dictatorship to democracy. The Norwegian Resource Bank for Democracy and Human Rights (NORDEM) was established in 1993 as a standby roster of experts in the fields of democracy and human rights. It emerged as a separate project under what was then the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights, now the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights. The resource bank was a groundbreaking initiative. Over the past 20 years, NORDEM has carried out more than 2000 assign- ments. NORDEM’s expertise has been of great value to its partners, primarily the UN, the EU and the OSCE. On the international stage, the experts deployed by NORDEM demonstrate the breadth of Norway’s competence, and when they return, they bring back valuable experience from their assignments. In this way NORDEM brings benefits both abroad and at home. In 2013, the global patterns of conflict are quite different from those of 1993. Nevertheless, the need for democracy-building, institution-building, good governance and promotion of the rule of law and human rights remains as great as ever, and is in fact steadily increasing. NORDEM follows developments closely and is a dynamic, flexible mechanism that deploys Norwegian experts where they are needed most. It is a crucial instrument of Norwegian foreign policy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has worked closely with NORDEM for the last 20 years, and I am confident that this cooperation will continue in the years ahead. Congratulations on the success of your first 20 years. Børge Brende Minister of Foreign Affairs 3 4Photo: Nicolay Paus, Senegal 2012 foreWORD The Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) year I was deployed by NORDEM as an adviser to is proud to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Norwegian election observers in the first elec- NORDEM, our largest and longest-running interna- tions in Palestine, and was the co-author of an tional programme. It was natural for the Institute analysis of these elections that was published for Human Rights (the name used up to 2003) to by NORDEM as a follow-up research report. The assume this responsibility in 1993 at the request of projects linked to Africa’s Horn and the Middle East the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. are two of many examples of the positive collabora- At that time we were a small, young and broadly tion and synergy created between academic and based institute working at the intersection of aca- practical work via NORDEM: practitioners in the demic and practically oriented human rights efforts. field need researchers’ insight into various geo- In the crucial phase that followed the Cold War, a graphical and thematic areas, while researchers number of the institute’s key staff members con- derive great benefit from the practical experience tributed as experts in various UN forums and in the and access to fieldwork that NORDEM projects Council of Europe. The desire to anchor human often offer. rights more firmly in the international order was In this anniversary report we want to present very strong, not least on the part of the Norwegian some highlights of NORDEM’s activities and initia- authorities. tives over the past 20 years. I am certain that the NORDEM became an important mechanism for need for such Norwegian pioneering efforts will be recruiting and training experts for international no less 20 years from now than it is today. assignments in the field of democracy and human rights. During the very first year NORDEM received 32 requests from international organisations, and 28 people were deployed to seven countries. The first assignment in 1993 was to monitor the referen- dum in Eritrea on independence from Ethiopia, and this was the starting point for comprehensive activities addressing human rights challenges in the Horn of Africa in the following decade. NORDEM’s mandate in the field of democracy and human rights was defined broadly and was related to the needs that immediately arose in the rebuilding of ‘the new democracies’ after the disso- lution of the Soviet Union. The need was particu- larly acute for competence in the organisation of free elections, democratic governance, legislation and the administration of justice, news media and human rights education. I myself became familiar with NORDEM’s work when I represented the Faculty of Social Sciences Nils A. Butenschøn on the board of the institute from 1996. In the same Director 5 NORDEM turns 20 “Democracy and human rights are inseparable,” said Nelson Mandela. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 – the same year that NORDEM was founded. The world had witnessed many humanitarian crises. Could they develop and establish an emergency And Norway had built up an emergency prepared- preparedness mechanism providing personnel to ness that could supply humanitarian assistance international organisations? Kristin Høgdahl was a where it was needed. But with the break-up of the student at the centre at that time: former Yugoslavia and warfare in the Balkans at the beginning of the 1990s, it was quite clear to Thor- “When the request came, I was in the process of vald Stoltenberg, the Foreign Minister at the time, completing my thesis in political science,” says and to his State Secretary Jan Egeland, that there Høgdahl. “The Centre was smaller than it is today was also a need for a completely different kind of and there was no one who could take on the assign- competence: People who at relatively short notice ment from the MFA. So the management of the could be deployed to international operations to institute asked if I could head up the establishment work in the field of human rights and phase. There were many consultations with the democratisation. MFA: What did they envisage? What thematic areas would it be appropriate to support? What tasks The idea was conceived in 1991: Norway was to should the experts have?” establish a resource bank consisting of experts in democracy and human rights. Thorvald Stoltenberg Høgdahl soon became the first head of NORDEM launched the concept of NORDEM – the Norwegian and remained in that position until 2001. Today she Resource Bank for Democracy and Human Rights is acting head of the National Institution for Human – at a meeting in Oslo of the CSCE (Conference Rights at the Centre. on Security and Co-operation in Europe), the fore- runner of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Thorvald Stoltenberg wanted to put in place a Co-operation in Europe). community of professional and highly qualified experts. He left it to NORDEM itself to identify who The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) sent an enquiry should be recruited for assignments abroad. to the Institute for Human Rights (later the Norwe- Norway was scoured for experts in the following gian Centre for Human Rights) where the lawyers areas: elections, democratisation, free media, and human rights experts Asbjørn Eide and Torkel conflict resolution, the protection of minorities, Opsahl worked.