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by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne

Due recognition and active protection of a minority's rights pertaining to racial, cultural and religious issues is the first characteristic of the new peace doctrine. This feature guarantees freedom from discrimination based on race, language, nationality and national origin or religion. Western democracies, particularly after World War II and the Nuremberg trials which ensured punishment for those responsible for the organized murder of thousands of innocent persons by the commission of atrocities during the war, have been particularly sensitive to the need to ensure human rights. This has led to a gradual evolution where focus on collective rights of national minorities has replaced earlier emphasis on individual rights.

The protection of human rights is the most significant and important task for a modern state, particularly since multi ethnic states are the norm in today's world. The traditional nation state in which a district national group rules over a territorial unit is fast receding to history. Globalization and increased migration across borders is gradually putting an end to the concept of the nation state, although resistance to reality can be still seen in instances where majority or dominant cultures impose their identity and interests on groups with whom they share a territory.

In such instances, minorities frequently intensify their efforts to preserve and protect their identity, in order to avoid marginalization. Polarization between the opposite forces of assimilation on the one hand and protection of minority identity on the other inevitably causes increased intolerance and eventual armed ethnic conflict. In such a scenario, the first duty of governance is to ensure that the rights of a minority society are protected.

Ethnic conflict is not an inevitable corollary in multi ethnic states. Involvement of minorities in society through due recognition, dialogue and participation can greatly ameliorate growing dissent and dissatisfaction in a minority. Ethnic harmony is best portrayed by Finland, where Swedish speaking Finns, a minority at 5.71 per cent of the population have been guaranteed that Swedish is an official language of Finland. Other examples of proactive measures are legislative measures that introduce high penalties for racially motivated crimes, ethnic monitoring and census taking to ascertain the number of persons of ethnic and national minority in particular types of employment, establishment of appropriate bodies to advise authorities on matters pertaining to combating racism and intolerance, the establishment of human rights institutions and public awareness campaigns.

Racial profiling is an issue related to minority rights and must not be ignored. In essence, racial profiling is intersectional in nature and may consist of multiple grounds of institutionalized discrimination such as nationality, race, age, gender, socio-economic status, disability, health status, descent, language, class, culture and religion. At the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa from 31 August to 7 September 2001, the Conference, referring to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, urged States to implement or strengthen legislation and administrative measures prohibiting racial discrimination and related intolerance.

In its Declaration, the Conference urged States "to design, implement and enforce effective measures to eliminate the phenomenon popularly known as 'racial profiling' and comprising the practice of police and other law enforcement officers relying, to any degree, on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin as the basis for subjecting persons to investigatory activities or for determining whether an individual is engaged in criminal activity."

At its 5th Session in September 2000, the United Nations adopted Resolution A55/2 - United Nations Millennium Declaration - which recognizes that states have a collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level, notwithstanding their separate responsibilities. The Resolution reaffirmed states' commitment to the United Nations Charter and its relevance and capacity to inspire nations and peoples.

The Resolution listed the following fundamental values as essential to international relations in the twenty-first century: Freedom. Men and women have the right to live their lives and raise their children in dignity, free from hunger and from the fear of violence, oppression or injustice. Democratic and participatory governance based on the will of the people best assures these rights.

Equality. No individual and no nation must be denied the opportunity to benefit from development. The equal rights and opportunities of women and men must be assured.

Solidarity. Global challenges must be managed in a way that distributes the costs and burdens fairly in accordance with basic principles of equity and social justice. Those who suffer or who benefit least deserve help from those who benefit most.

Tolerance. Human beings must respect one another, in all their diversity of belief, culture and language. Differences within and between societies should be neither feared nor repressed, but cherished as a precious asset of humanity. A culture of peace and dialogue among all civilizations should be actively promoted. Respect for nature. Prudence must be shown in the management of all living species and natural resources, in accordance with the precepts of sustainable development. Only in this way can the immeasurable riches provided to us by nature be preserved and passed on to our descendants.

The current unsustainable patterns of production and consumption must be changed in the interest of our future welfare and that of our descendants.

Shared responsibility. Responsibility for managing worldwide economic and social development, as well as threats to international peace and security, must be shared among the nations of the world and should be exercised multilaterally. As the most universal and most representative organization in the world, the United Nations must play the central role.

To strengthen respect for the rule of law in international as in national affairs and, in particular, to ensure compliance by member states with the decisions of the International Court of Justice, in compliance with the Charter of the United Nations, in cases to which they are parties. To make the United Nations more effective in maintaining peace and security by giving it the resources and tools it needs for conflict prevention, peaceful resolution of disputes, peacekeeping, post-conflict peace-building and reconstruction. In this context, we take note of the report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations and request the General Assembly to consider its recommendations expeditiously.

To strengthen cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations, in accordance with the provisions of Chapter VIII of the Charter.

To ensure the implementation, by States' Parties, of treaties in areas such as arms control and disarmament and of international humanitarian law and human rights law, and call upon all States to consider signing and ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

To take concerted action against international terrorism, and to accede as soon as possible to all the relevant international conventions.

To redouble our efforts to implement our commitment to counter the world drug problem.

To intensify our efforts to fight transnational crime in all its dimensions, including trafficking as well as smuggling in human beings and money laundering.

To minimize the adverse effects of United Nations economic sanctions on innocent populations, to subject such sanctions regimes to regular reviews and to eliminate the adverse effects of sanctions on third parties.

To take concerted action to end illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons, especially by making arms transfers more transparent and supporting regional disarmament measures, taking account of all the recommendations of the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons.

To call on all States to consider acceding to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on their Destruction, as well as the amended mines protocol to the Convention on conventional weapons.

It was clear that the United Nations has recognized the application of the principles of international law as an integral part of maintaining international peace and security and avoiding situations which may lead to a breach of the peace.

The United Nations Charter lists the achievement of international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, as one of the purposes of the United Nations. The problems that the United Nations is mandated by its Charter to solve should therefore be necessarily of an international nature. Article 2(7) of the Charter expands the scope of this philosophy further when it provides that the United Nations is not authorized to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State, without prejudice to the right of the United Nations to intervene in matters which are within the domestic jurisdiction of any state, and apply enforcement measures where there is an occurrence of acts of aggression, a threat to the peace or breach thereof.

Therefore, the United Nations cannot intervene in instances where natural disasters such as famine, drought or earthquakes render the citizens of a state homeless, destitute and dying of starvation unless invited by the states concerned.

Within the perceived limitations of the United Nations, its activities have demonstrated that the influence of the world body is quite beneficial and coercive. However, the limits prescribe certain restrains, which bring to bear the compelling need for States to guide their own destinies by giving their consent to international mediation in ethnic conflicts.

One could only conclude with the example of Afghanistan, where, although it is arguable that the United States led assault on the Taliban regime in late 2001 raises a doubt as to the validity of the new doctrine of international intervention, such an argument would not be sustainable since there had been prolonged efforts at solving the Afghan crisis throughout the nineties through international effort.

There were three parallel peace efforts to end the acrimony between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban and to establish a multiethnic coalition government in Kabul and the United States mainly added to the "six plus one" group i.e. six States bordering Afghanistan and Russia, in its involvement in the internal political process of Afghanistan. The involvement of Russia, through the Tashkent Declaration of 2000, was not singular in that the United Nations, The Organization of the Islamic Conference and supporters of the former king of Afghanistan, Zaire Shah were also working toward the same end.

Building peace in divided societies is today an international preoccupation which can be lauded. One could only wish for it the success it so richly deserves.

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