Statement
by
Ambassador Ivan Šimonovic
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Croatia
in the Security Council
Open Debate onpost-conflict peace-building:
Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration
New York, March 23, 2000
Thank you, Mr. President.
I am pleased to greet you as the President of the Security Council for the month of March and welcome your initiative to hold an open debate on the centrality of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants to the restoration of stability and sustainable peace. Croatia understands well the importance of the role the United Nations peacekeeping has played in the past and could play in the future in this regard. Hence we wish to thank and commend the Secretary General for his thorough, systematic and comprehensive report of 11 February 2000 on the topic under discussion.
The report represents a major contribution to furthering the awareness of the importance of DDR to the cause of consolidating peace in post-conflict societies in several ways. First, it offers useful definitions of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration within a peacekeeping environment and a reminder that the success of these activities depends on their comprehensive, mutual and continuous reinforcement. Second, the report contains a very useful compendium and critical assessment of the ways and means in which the various UN, regional and other actors have dealt with DDR in the past, within the context of some peacekeeping operations and follow-on missions. Thirdly, the Secretary-General identifies a number of challenges for future implementation of DDR in all segments of the peace-setting, peace-keeping and peace-building agendae. Fourthly, he puts forward a number of innovative proposals for further pioneering action or refinement by the Security Council and other institutional actors with a vested interest in assuring irreversible peace.
Mr. President,
I am particularly pleased to note that the report either specifically or generally incorporates some points and proposals that Croatian representatives have raised in their previous statements in this chamber, as well as within other UN forums in the last two years. In this regard, we very much welcome a report that skillfully overcomes conceptual or bureaucratic compartmentalization. It challenges all actors to contribute to an enhanced effectiveness, scope and reach of the Security Council’s Charter-mandated responsibility to maintain international peace and security, by improving upon old or searching for new means to fit new realities in a comprehensive manner. Seemingly, such an approach is fully consistent with the political will of a number of Member States, as evidenced best by today’s turnout of speakers.
Mr. President,
Croatia has hosted five distinct United Nations peacekeeping operations in the last nine years; we have gained experience that entitles us to reflect upon the lessons learned in peacekeeping and peace-building. With your indulgence, I wish to briefly restate the three points from the lessons learned from the successful United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES). These three points are: the disarmament model that was used during the UNTAES mission; follow-on security assistance and political missions that ensued upon the successful completion of this UN mission, and national strategy and policy measures regarding rehabilitation and reintegration of former combatants.
UNTAES was created in an environment favorable to its ultimate goal of peaceful reintegration of the formerly occupied Croatian territory. There was agreement of the parties to the conflict, the recourse to the military option was unattractive to all interested parties, the political goal of peaceful reintegration was clearly set and known, as well as supported by the political will of the host-government, the international community and the skilled UN leadership in the field. And yet, the process of reintegration was, of course, more than politically challenging. It represented major technical and bureaucratic difficulties for the civilian aspects of reintegration.
Critical to the orderly implementation of the civilian timetable of reintegration, however, was the process of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants. Importantly, this process was launched not only early on in the operation, but also, was completed swiftly and in parallel with an innovative manner of a weapons buy-back scheme. The Firearms Buy-Back Program lasted approximately ten months, and was jointly conducted by the Croatian Government and UNTAES. Under the Program 9,680 firearms were collected, as well as 45,246 explosive arms and 2,325,378 rounds of ammunition and ignition devices and 106.16 kilograms of explosives, for which 10,700,000 kunas were paid or approximately 1.6 million USD. Since, the process of voluntary return and collection of small arms has continued. Since August 1999, any further illegal possession of arms has been penalized. We do recognize that in some other environments similar weapons buy-back programs inadvertedly produced undesired consequences, but I wish to stress that, in Croatia such a program worked quite well.
Another important element in UNTAES was the role played by the Transitional Police Force or TPF, which was made of 40% of Croats, 40 % of Serbs and 20% of other ethnic groups present in the region. The international community provided training assistance for a number of TPF members which proved crucial for establishing high-level of professionalism. This building of local capacity was invaluable to proper reintegration of former combatants and maintenance of law and order. The nine-month follow-on UN Support Group, by monitoring civilian police practices, added its weight to the positive momentum for the normalization of life in the area.
A regional organization, the OSCE, also played an important role in further consolidating peace. As a result of good cooperation between the UN, OSCE and the host government, after the successful ending of the UN mandate, the OSCE continued with certain monitoring duties in order to further help the local population move on towards rebuilding prosperity. In this regard, as it has been emphasized repeatedly in the past two years, demining still remains a priority task.
The critical importance of economic and social policy measures to speeding-up reconciliation and the overall post-conflict recovery cannot be overemphasized. In Croatia, we tried to stimulate the reintegration of ex-combatants in several ways, including by adopting an Amnesty Law, that exonerated former rebels, except for those who committed had war crimes. Other measures include priority access by veterans to higher education and employment in the public sector, as well as preferential lines of credit for new business ventures or agricultural leases, special unemployment benefits, including health care, as well as early retirement benefits.
Such economic, social and developmental policy measures have proven taxing on the national budget of an economy burdened with reconstruction, low investment and real growth rates and high unemployment, as is always the case in a post-conflict society. The new Croatian government, which has also recently mounted a major refugee return program, has recognized the challenges of practical implementation of a comprehensive reintegration policy. While offering its unwavering commitment to implement such a policy, it has called for much needed international assistance in resurrecting the economy that could sustain developmental needs. At the same time, we recognize that the contribution of institutional donors might be limited, as it is also urgently needed elsewhere. Hence, we are placing particular emphasis on the potential within the private sector and direct business-to-business cooperation.
In this regard, we wholeheartedly support the Secretary-General’s emphasis on the potential role to be played by the business community, and his call on the Security Council "to explore the creation of mechanisms through which it could enhance its capacity to enter dialogue with business". Of equal and timely relevance is his call issued to Member States to reexamine bilaterally the various development and trade policies that favor employment within post-conflict economies.
Mr. President,
Although not emphasized in the Secretary-General’s report, we continue to hold that reconciliation constitutes one of the corner stones of a successful DDR programs. Public security, where possible reparation, and truth are essential to the long-term process of reconciliation. Above all, establishing the truth about what happened during a conflict, particularly the establishment of responsibility for war crimes that have been committed, is critical to societal healing and reconciliation. The goal of reintegration of former combatants thus cannot be attained without this element of justice. Croatia is aware of its own responsibilities and obligations in this regard.
It is, therefore, Croatia’s intention to fully implement a policy of responsible cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). For the sake of justice, historical record, reconciliation, and peace and stability in the area, it is vital that the Security Council uses all its powers and influences that all indicted, including indicted from Republika Srpska and FRY, are finally brought to trial.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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