ICTJ in the News

December 9, 2003

Colleges aim to heal nations torn by war

Green Bay Press Gazette

By Nathan Phelps

Though the Dayton Peace Accords may have faced a bumpy road in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the late 1990s, retired U.S. Ambassador Robert Frowick said he feels they made a difference in bringing about peace with justice in that region.

Frowick, who was the deputy special adviser to the president and secretary of state for the implementation of the accords, said Monday on a panel at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay that the accords' success in the Balkans came about through a broad coalition of international partners working together.

That's a tactic he said the United States and its coalition partners can still pursue in Iraq.

"Get an international team together before you go in there and keep it together, both military and civil," he said. "That's probably the key to success. ... It's late, but I don't think it's too late."

The panel event was part of a daylong symposium at UWGB sponsored by both the university and St. Norbert College in De Pere.

The conference was aimed at addressing a number of diplomatic, foreign policy, human rights, legal and intelligence issues.

The event was organized as a tribute to Gary Weidner, who died in January at age 54.

Weidner was a Green Bay attorney who helped represent a defendant before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2002.

Alexander Boraine, president of the International Center for Transitional Justice, said there is no one-size-fits-all solution for countries making the transition away from oppressive governments like those of Yugoslavia, East Timor, Rwanda and Iraq.

Boraine said one of the first priorities of dealing with those situations is accountability and dealing with the past.

"The past won't go away - it will continue to reach out a long, cold hand," he said by phone from New York City. "It's extremely important to deal with the past for the sake of victims. They want to know people recognize what they have endured."

That accountability comes down to the prosecution of war criminals.

Events in the former Yugoslavia played a central role in Monday's discussions, including the formation of a war crimes tribunal set up by the United Nations in the early 1990s, a venture many thought wouldn't work.

Alan Tieger, who was selected in 1994 as the U.S. representative to assist in the establishment of the tribunal, said one of the goals of setting up that body is deterrence against crimes of humanity.

"At a bare minimum, the tribunal sends a message of support by the international community for the existence of international law," he said. "It thereby supports those that may wonder in a time of war (whether) to obey or resist orders."

Tieger pointed out the tribunal has brought about 45 convictions, 140 indictments and continues to hold 51 suspected war criminals in custody.

Frowick said he wanted people to leave the event realizing that international events can have a direct effect on people living in the upper Midwest. He pointed out that strife in the Balkans in 1914 brought on World War I and the deployment of American troops to Europe.

At the end of the century, troops went back to the region and remained there to keep peace.

"There's some direct connection that we should be attentive to - that there are crises that cause members of our own families to try and get it right," Frowick said.