Balancing National Sovereignty with Minority Rights: Will This Century Be Different? [http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/Balancing%20National%20Sovereignty%20with%20Minority%20Rights%3A%20Will%20This%20Century%20Be%20Different%3F?open&topic_id=300350000&theme_id=300]

            02.02.2002

            Annual Meeting 2002}

            When a country fails to respect or protect the rights of minorities, what can the international community do? Participants, clearly energized by the presence of special guest former US President William J. Clinton as he circulated the room listening to table discussions, expressed wide agreement on what steps should be taken to improve respect for minority rights and what circumstances justified external military intervention.

            Facilitator Michael Ignatieff, Director, Carr Center of Human Rights Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, USA, set the framework for discussion, stating that questions of intervention require balancing concern for national sovereignty with protection of the rights of minorities. Countries facing problems with minority groups could prevent external intervention by "decentralizing", Ignatieff said, since excessively centralized governments have trouble containing minority rights claims. Or, he added, they might follow the example of Northern Ireland and "internationalize", bringing in external actors to help resolve the dispute.

            In situations where states fail to adequately respect the rights of minorities, participants agreed NGOs and the media play an important role in documenting such violations, said participants. Sanctions were effective in South Africa, said Desmond M. Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus, South Africa. Many participants focused on the role corporate actors can play in influencing a country's respect for minority rights. Companies doing business in a country should inform themselves on the situation of minorities and discuss the issues among employees subtly and significantly, said Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. David Pecaut, President, iFormation Group, USA, said corporations can adopt codes of corporate conduct and take minorities on as interns or employees, giving minority members global resources in the private sector in case of crisis.

            Most participants agreed that military intervention is justified in situations where ethnic cleansing, large-scale massacres, or massive human rights violations are occurring or seem likely to occur. Aryeh Neier, President, Open Society Institute, USA, said his table would justify intervention when other approaches such as mediation and sanctions were exhausted; and where military intervention is feasible and not likely to make matters worse. Many participants agreed that the auspices for intervention should be international or multilateral, and applauded Clinton's call for "a permanent United Nations intervention force".

            Clinton jokingly likened the workshop, with its hugely varied group of participants, to "a Fellini movie" but added seriously: "The truth is, we should be locked up in this room discussing these issues for three days." He suggested that solutions to problems of minority rights differ, depending on the size and geographic concentration of minority groups. East Timor, Cyprus, Kashmir, and Northern Ireland require diverse approaches. Clinton said an agreement like the one reached in Northern Ireland would "never happen" between Israel and Palestine. At the time of the talks, Ireland's economy was growing, and Northern Ireland's main dissident group, the IRA, had a monopoly on the secessionist violence, and so could guarantee peace if it agreed to an accord. The PLO has no such monopoly, he noted. Further, he said, both sides in Ireland recognized that due to population growth rates, within a generation the balance might flip-flop as the majority became a minority in need of protection. The various sides in Israel have no such belief that their opponents will be around in one hundred or two hundred years, he suggested. In terms of resolution and intervention, Clinton said, "a fair and lasting peace" in the Middle East will require the commitment of external forces "to guarantee security for the small state of Israel and the new state of Palestine."

            Clinton and a number of participants noted that conceptual work is as important as legislation in obtaining respect for minority rights. A majority must feel and understand the weight of their majority status, rather than taking this status for granted, one participant said. Clinton remarked that a "spiritual journey" is necessary. "It may seem abstract and soft," he said, "but in the end it is the hardness of the human heart that has prevented a lot of these problems from being resolved." Poverty, poor healthcare and inadequate education impede progress on this spiritual journey, he said.                  

                  *{Contributors:       Adams Gerry
                  Caldwell Gillian
                  Clinton William J.
                  Dieckhoff Alain
                  Ervine David
                  Fares Issam
                  García Sayan Diego
                  Harris Bruce C.
                  Ignatieff Michael
                  Insulza José Miguel
                  Khan Irene
                  Kirienko Sergei V.
                  Neier Aryeh
                  Pace William R.
                  Radoncic Lejla
                  Ramos-Horta José
                  Robinson Mary
                  Roth Kenneth
                  Tutu Desmond M.
                  Védrine Hubert}