May 31, 2010
Conflict and Health
Abstract:
The aim of this population-based study was to assess the long-lasting effects of ethnic conflict on
health and well-being (with a focus on injury and persistent pain) at family and community level.
We have also investigated possible risk factors for victimisation during the conflict and factors
contributing to healing. We conducted a district-level cross-sectional cluster survey of 1,115 households with a population of 6,845. Interviews were carried out in Mitrovice district in Northern Kosovo from September to October 2008, using standardised questionnaire to collect lifetime violence exposure, lifestyle factors and health information on individual and household. Ethnic Albanians made up 95% of the sample population. Crude mortality and under-five mortality rate was not high in 2008. Over 90% of families had been exposed to at least two categories of violence and human rights violations, and 493 individuals from 341 families reported torture experiences. During the two weeks before the survey, 20% of individuals had suffered physical or mental pain. There were differences in pain complaints according to gender and age, and whether people had been injured within 12 months, had lifetime exposure to violence-related injury, or had been tortured. Patterns of social and political participation in a family could affect the proportion of family members complaining of pain. The proportion of family members with pain complaints was related to a decline in the household income (coef=9.31, 95% CI=6.16-12.46, P<0.001) and the fact of borrowing money (coef=6.11, 95% CI=2.91-9.30, P<0.001) because of an injured person in the household. Families that were affiliated with the Kosovo Liberation Army, or had participated in a protest before or during the war, were likely to be targeted by Serbian paramilitary and law enforcement agencies. Mitrovice district is currently characterised by a low level of violence, but the effects of ethnic conflict on health and well-being have not gone. The level of lifetime exposure to violence, the proportion of family members reporting pain and lifetime violence-related injury, and family's financial burden were found to be inter-correlated. The sample confined to one ethnic group in one district limits the generalizability of the findings....
October 28, 2008
International Review of the Red Cross // International Committee of the Red Cross
Abstract:
This article discusses sanctions for and the prevention of mass violence. But rather
than take a classic approach centred on statutory players such as soldiers, officers or
political leaders, all of them acting within a legal chain of command, I focus on nonstate
perpetrators. My reflections are based on case studies of four former Serbian
militiamen who took part in mass violence in the former Yugoslavia. I argue that it is
of the utmost importance to consider the typical grass-roots relationship between these
local players and their own community, so as to maximize the effect of sanctions and
perhaps prevent further offences by potential future perpetrators....
September 16, 2008
International Law and Politics
Abstract:
The International Court of Justice’s docket increasingly
includes fact-intensive cases in which the Court must focus on
more than legal questions because the outcomes of the cases
depend on a detailed assessment of the facts. Examples of
such cases include Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo
(Democratic Republic of Congo v. Uganda) (the Armed Activities
case) and the more recent judgment in Application of the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
(Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro).
In the Armed Activities case, the Court dealt with a wide
range of complex, highly factual issues. These issues related,
inter alia, to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) assertions
that Uganda violated the prohibition on the use of
force and the principle of non-intervention by engaging in
military and paramilitary activities against the DRC, occupying
the DRC’s territory, and supporting irregular forces operating
there. The DRC further claimed that, in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law, Uganda had both
committed acts of violence against the DRC’s nationals and
their property and failed to prevent such acts by people under
its control. Finally, the DRC alleged that Uganda had violated
rules governing respect for sovereignty over national resources
and rules of occupation by looting, plundering, and illegally
exploiting the DRC’s assets and wealth.
In highly fact-intensive cases such as these, the Court must
untangle the exact sequence of events, identify the actors involved,
and make factual and, ultimately, legal determinations. For instance, in Armed Activities the Court had to assess
whether Ugandan forces were in the DRC, under what mandate,
and at what point in time. This task was further complicated
in Armed Activities by the fact that the deliberations on
the merits began before hostilities had concluded. The character
of these fact-intensive cases is fundamentally different
from that of the Court’s more traditional cases, such as territorial
disputes, where legal issues are clear-cut and involve many
of the same elements. In these cases, “it is not so much the facts that are disputed as the conclusions to be drawn from
them.”
The Court considers itself well equipped to engage in
complex factual determinations and has on occasion referred
to its very specific and fact-based findings as being “noteworthy.”
A close reading of Armed Activities challenges this view,
revealing that the Court fails to engage in independent fact assessment. Most strikingly, the Court accepts as proven facts
that are drawn from secondary evidence, in particular from
United Nations (UN) reports. Furthermore, the Court does
not articulate a clear standard of proof according to which it
might weigh the evidence presented by the parties, making its
factual findings difficult to disentangle from its legal conclusions....
August 20, 2008
The HUMSEC (Human Security) Project
Abstract:
The aim of the article is to highlight the ways in which transnational organised crime in the Western
Balkans developed and is developing, on the one hand, and some problems of combating transnational
organized crime on the other. For that purpose the author analyses the development and challenges of
criminal investigation trends in the Western Balkans and Slovenia, and reviewed literature and other
sources to identify main problems and try to find some answers. If new technologies are being used
(misused) for criminal purposes, then it is logical to use them in the field of criminal justice, that is,
for the purpose of the scientific suppression of crime. In that sense, professional education of judges,
prosecutors, attorneys and police should include knowledge of criminalistics, which is not the case in
all transitional countries. From all above stated facts it is important to analyse transitional crime
problems in the Western Balkans that we can plan for the future. In conclusion, the author examines
certain measures that expose failures and suggests some answers to the questions in connection with
the fight on transnational organised crime in the Western Balkans. The diffuse nature and complexity
of the problem should not reduce the countries’ determination to counter it, for that alone would result
in failure....
June 14, 2007
Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior
Abstract:
As NATO has moved from being a primarily military alliance to seeking more political roles, it has become pertinent to consider its impact on democratisation. At first glance, it might seem incongruent even to deliberate on the democracy promotion relevance of an essentially military organisation. But, NATO's successive enlargements have often hinged on the
fulfilment of democratic preconditions in aspirant members, while technical assistance provided under the Partnership for Peace (PfP) and other programmes has increasingly focused on the reform of civil-military relations. Assessment is consequently warranted of whether NATO has come to play any positive role in
encouraging democratisation across different regions, or whether its impact on political liberalisation has been either marginal or even negative. This paper argues that support for democracy has increasingly infused NATO policies, but that the organisation's role in democracy promotion is circumscribed by strategic considerations; most often an indirect side effect of
other aims; and most relevant to the niche area of defence reform....
Serbia 
