15 NOVEMBER 1999 • NUMBER 72 • ISSN 0966-9175 

• OSCE TO ADOPT NEW CIVILIAN RESPONSE CAPABILITY AT SUMMIT

• GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ADVANCE SMALL ARMS EFFORTS

OSCE to Adopt New Civilian Response
Capability at Summit

By Julianne Smith

In an effort to develop better means for promptly and effectively addressing conflicts like Kosovo, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) plans to commit itself to building an international civilian capacity at its upcoming Summit, 18-19 November 1999 in Istanbul. The concept, officially called REACT (Rapid Expert Assistance and Cooperation Teams), will be included in the new "European Security Charter for the 21^st Century," the showcase document of the Summit.

REACT will provide the OSCE with an on-call capability that would allow the organization to rapidly send in teams of trained experts to address conflict prevention, crisis management, and post-conflict rehabilitation situations in OSCE participating states. The concept was proposed by the US last summer with the aim of both strengthening OSCE capabilities and reducing the ad hoc nature of large scale or specialized operations. The US would like to see each OSCE participating state commit itself to developing national contingents of trained experts available on short notice.

While few OSCE participating states disagree that there is a need to develop a better civilian capacity, response to the REACT proposal has been mixed. Many states question the viability of REACT. "Everybody likes REACT, but we are still lacking some of the details on how it will be operationalized," commented one OSCE representative at the Vienna OSCE Review Conference in September. "What kind of a [financial] investment is REACT going to require? How many more people will the Secretariat need to hire to implement REACT?"

EU Concerns about Duplication
Some members of the European Union are concerned that REACT will duplicate EU commitments to strengthen its capacity for conflict prevention and crisis management under a European Security and Defense Identity. However, one non-EU member at the OSCE Review Conference pointed out that duplication should not be a problem, noting, "There's no reason that national capabilities developed for one institution can't be shared with another." Some OSCE participating states, such as the Netherlands, Norway, and Canada, already use their pools of trained civilian personnel for both OSCE and UN missions. One OSCE national representative stressed that the personnel could be multi-tasked and commented, "Once you develop the capacity, it can be used for a variety of missions. The real challenge lies with creating a roster of trained experts."

Because questions remain on the resources needed to develop REACT, the statement in the new "European Security Charter" will contain only a few lines about the concept and "express a commitment" to develop a civilian capacity. According to officials attending the Review Conference in September, participating states still need to reach a consensus on how to implement REACT. Given the differences in resources, reemployment laws, the availability of experts, and their expertise, it may take months to find a model that all states find acceptable. "It's easy for a country like the US to find experts but for smaller countries, especially emerging democracies, it is very difficult to find the right people for the job. REACT is a good idea, but we wonder how a country like our own could realistically help develop this concept. We're doing the best we can right now." said one OSCE official from the Caucasus.

In response to that concern, US OSCE officials stressed that each participating state will be able to develop its own method for identifying, funding and training those experts. The United States has also proposed that the OSCE Secretariat create and maintain a database of the experts who have been identified by their national governments according to areas of expertise, including democratization, human rights, mediation, and policing. Working through the Chairman-in-office, participating states and OSCE institutions could then recommend sending a REACT team into the field for two or three months. Final decision regarding deployment, however, would rest with the Permanent Council.

Lessons Learned from the Kosovo Verification Mission
REACT, if implemented according to these guidelines, is intended to eliminate the deployment problems associated with large-scale OSCE missions like the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM). Deployed in October of 1998 in response to UN Security Council Resolutions 1160 and 1199, the KVM found itself faced with a shortage of trained personnel ready to verify the maintenance of the cease-fire, monitor movement of forces and provide assistance in the return of refugees. By the beginning of 1999, three months after the second UNSC Resolution, only 600 monitors had been deployed from the 2000 originally envisaged. Prior to the KVM, the OSCE had never attempted to staff a mission of that size and, as a result, its member states found it difficult to locate personnel who were both immediately available and well-trained.

The KVM was eventually forced to withdraw in early 1999 when conditions deteriorated from ceasefire to violence. On July 1, 1999, however, the OSCE returned to establish a Mission in Kosovo, forming a distinct component within the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). "Significant improvements have been made with our current Mission in Kosovo, but much more work still needs to be done," said Gaby Kluck, Chief of Mission Staffing at the OSCE Secretariat. "The call for missions comes quickly, and we need qualified and experienced people in place, able to react."

General Assembly to Advance 
Small Arms Efforts 

Editor’s Note: Pursuant to the recommendations issued in September by the UN Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms, the UN First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) is expected to pass a resolution outlining the preparatory process for the 2001 conference on the illicit small arms trade in all its aspects. The following is an excerpt of the draft text of the resolution. Notably, the resolution encourages the inclusion of non-governmental organizations in the preparatory process and emphasizes the desire for broad participation in shaping the conference.

...

Recognizing the importance of the role of civil society, including non-governmental organizations, in preventing and reducing the excessive and destabilizing accumulations of small arms and light weapons,

Convinced of the need for a comprehensive approach to promote, at the global and regional levels, the control and reduction of small arms and light weapons in a balanced and non-discriminatory manner as a contribution to international peace and security,

...

Taking note of the complementarity of the efforts to prevent and reduce the excessive and destabilizing accumulation and transfer of small arms and light weapons and the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of a Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, including a protocol to combat illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components and ammunition,

...

1. Decides to convene the United Nations conference on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects in June/July 2001;

2. Also decides that the scope of the conference will be the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects;

3. Also decides to establish a preparatory committee open to participation by all States, which will hold no fewer than three sessions, with its first session to be held in New York, from 28 February to 3 March 2000;

4. Further decides that the United Nations specialized agencies, other relevant intergovernmental organizations and relevant entities, having received a standing invitation to participate as observers in the sessions and in the work of the General Assembly, will participate, as observers, in the preparatory committee, and requests the committee to take a decision on the modalities of attendance of non-governmental organizations at its sessions;

5. Also requests the preparatory committee to decide, at its first session, on the date and venue of the conference in 2001 as well as on the dates and venue of its subsequent sessions;

6. Stresses the need to ensure the widest possible and effective participation in the conference in 2001;

...

10. Endorses the report of the Secretary-General on small arms, prepared with the assistance of the Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms pursuant to General Assembly resolution 52/38 J, bearing in mind the views of Member States on the report;

...

14. Further requests the Secretary-General, in order to assist in preventing the illicit trafficking in and illicit circulation of small arms and light weapons:

(a) To carry out a study... on the feasibility of restricting the manufacture and trade of such weapons to the manufacturers and dealers authorized by States, which will cover the brokering activities, particularly illicit activities, relating to small arms and light weapons, including transportation agents and financial transactions;

(b) To submit the study as one of the background documents for the conference to be held in 2001...

This version of BASIC Reports was edited by Christine Kucia in Washington. .

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