CPIC/Media Conferences
Subject: JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE – 19 June 2003
1. The following attended the regular Press Conference held at the CPIC at 11:30 hours on Thursday, 19 June 2003:
| Agency | Spokesperson | Topic |
| a. OHR | Mario Brkic
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| b. OSCE | Zinaida Delic
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| c. EUPM
| Kilian Wahl
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| d. SFOR | Captain Dale MacEachern |
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2. Twenty-two members of the media including four television crews attended the conference.
3. The transcript of the questions and answers is attached.
Mario Brkic – OHR
The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, was in London today to give a keynote speech at the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) annual lecture. On the eve of world refugee day, the High Representative used this opportunity to highlight the progress that had been made in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in the seven and a half years since the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) was signed. In his speech the High Representative outlined the ‘seven pillars of peacekeeping’, lessons that can be learned from BiH. Noting that the world’s attention has moved on from BiH to Kosovo, East Timor, Afghanistan and now Iraq, in his speech the High Representative warns the International Community of the dangers of not showing the “political will, the unity of purpose and the sheer stamina…to see the job through to lasting success”. This need for long-term commitment was the last of ‘seven pillars of peace keeping’, which sum up the lessons learned from the BiH experience. In his speech the High Representative explained each of these seven principles – some of which had been painful lessons in BiH:
First, a state building plan must be drawn up, “not as an after-thought, but well in advance…in BiH, we had no such plan for civil reconstruction, it is only in the last few months that we have finally drawn up a Mission Implementation Plan, setting out clearly what we are trying to achieve, how and by when.”
Second, the rule of law must be established as quickly as possible, “before crime and corruption infects every sector of political life choking off resources and threatening its chances of recovery.”
Third, it is vital to go in hard from the start; “on the military side, this means establishing credibility straight away, and on the civilian side, that means starting off with the powers needed to get the job, done rather than having to acquire them later.”
Fourth, “major reforms – from putting in place a customs service or reliable tax base, to reforming the police and the civil service, to restructuring and screening the judiciary, to transforming the armed forces” are essential to long-term success.
Fifth, the IC presence must be such that it can take decision in the field, “in BiH [OHR is] an ad hoc arrangement that works well.”
Sixth, there must be an “exceptionally close relationship between the military and civilian aspects of peace implementation”.
Finally, the will to stay the course to achieve a political goal; “for Iraq, that may be a democratic and prosperous state in a peaceful and secure Middle East, for Bosnia, it is Europe”.
In his speech the High Representative underlines that this final point is the message that he will take to the EU Summit on the Western Balkans in Thessaloniki on Saturday. He said “Europe bears a special responsibility in the Balkans, we must help determine the region’s future”. He underlined that this “will require leadership, continued financial commitments on a substantial scale [and] maintaining political interest”. In concluding his speech, the High Representative says: the International Community has made its mistakes here, the challenge in BiH now is to finish what we have started. Speech can be found outside on the tables outside but please have in mind that is embargoed for the publication by 19.00 hours.
During the final legs of his ten-day tour the High Representative will tomorrow be in Thessaloniki for Saturday’s EU Summit on the Western Balkans where he will lobbying for BiH. The Thessaloniki summit is an important opportunity for BiH to demonstrate to the EU that it is determined to undertake the necessary reforms. EU membership offers the best prospects for long-term prosperity and stability for BiH, but when BiH joins the EU depends on BiH and the pace of its reforms. It is up to BiH, as up to all potential candidates for EU membership, to meet the standards required and to show that it shares the values upon which the EU is founded. The faster it does so, the more rapidly it can make progress on the road to Europe, as several of its neighbors have demonstrated already. The end of the High Representatives tour will be on Sunday June 22, when he will meet the Pope in Banja Luka.
Zinaida Delic – OSCE
Yesterday, Ambassador Henry Zipper de Fabiani, OSCE Deputy Head of Mission, together with Deputy High Representative Ambassador Gerhard Enver Schroembgens and Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Dr. Sonia Moser-Starrach met with President of the Federation of BiH Niko Lozancic to discuss the issue of the parallelism. Last week the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) Steering Board expressed strong concern over the continued existence of 52 “two-schools-under-one-roof” in the Federation and called on Ministries of Education to take immediate steps towards unifying the schools. “We were encouraged to see that President Lozancic was aware of the urgency to take concrete steps to solve this problem, before the beginning of the next school year”, said Ambassador Zipper de Fabiani. President Lozancic expressed willingness to work together with the International Community, entity and cantonal authorities to introduce European standards in BiH education system. The International Community is expecting issuance of instructions on full administrative and legal unification from cantonal ministries by the end of this month as a minimum first step. Senior Deputy High Representative Ambassador Gerhard Enver Schroembgens reiterated the concern expressed by Political Directors at the PIC, stating that “we now await the unification of the ‘two schools under one roof’ before the start of the next school year.”
The OSCE Mission would like to highlight that the final meeting of the Textbook Review Commission takes place in Mostar from today through Saturday (June19-21). At this meeting, the Commission will finalise all recommendations on RS and Federation Textbooks for the National Subjects. These recommendations will then be forwarded to textbook publishers, thereby ensuring that inappropriate content is removed by the start of the next school year. The completion of the work of the Textbook Review Commission will mark a crucial step forward towards implementation of pledge 1 of the Education Reform Agenda including full implementation of the Interim Agreement on Returnee Children. For the start of the next school year, parents can count on the fact that their child will not be fed a politicised or ethnically biased message through
Kilian Wahl – EUPM
EUPM has obtained a copy of the above mentioned report a couple of days ago. We are currently evaluating theses findings but a final assessment will only be available in a few days. What we can state at the moment, however, is that the report is comprehensive and descriptive. But unfortunately it fails in some aspects. For instance the inadequate action taken by police forces is not highlighted. EUPM strongly believes that such report should rather address how to move forward, that is better prepare the police to prevent such riots in the future, than simply to blame the crowd for the escalation of the situation. EUPM has monitored the case very closely and came to the following conclusions among others:
- Uniform Police was inadequately prepared for its task. It was clearly under equipped.
- Thus, making it vulnerable through the use of teargas by the support units.
- Escalation of the situation could have been avoided through closer inter-Cantonal co-operation of police forces.
As the EUPM pointed out last Tuesday when discussing the riots in Brcko after a water polo match, the EUPM has drawn up seven major programmes to bring BiH police to European standards. One of them is called “Public order and Security”. Within this programme EUPM will facilitate special training regarding riot control and de-escalation strategies. As we have seen, there is a strong demand for such training in BiH. For the EUPM there is another aspect to these riots that which will be briefly discussed here today. Following the riots two complaints were received by the Professional Standard Unit of the Canton 7 police regarding alleged use of violence against civilians by two police officers. Both led to internal control procedures that are now in progress. The EUPM will monitor the conclusion of the cases very closely. And we expect the outcome soon, as such investigation must be concluded within 30 Days.
The EUPM is closely following the establishing of Public Complaint Bureaus in several Cantons. The idea of such an office was to create a neutral forum for the citizens of BiH to turn to when having problems or worries concerning police work. EUPM of course welcomes the establishment of such bureaus as they strengthen the independent role of the police in this country and at the same time provide democratic control instruments for a modern police force. Among Public Complaints Bureaus in the final stages of being set up at the moment, there is the one in Canton 1-Bihac and another one in Canton 8 -Ljubuski. The EUPM will monitor the procedure very closely expecting the installation process to be brought to and end in a matter of weeks rather than months.
Captain Dale MacEachern – SFOR
No Statement.
Questions and Answers
There were no questions.