V Inter-American System
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419401200108 |
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| Author | Cecilia Medina |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Human Rights News |
Human Rights News
France by simply refusing to support the plan. This resulted in the decision to adopt a
drastically amended version of the Plan at the Brussels Summit of the Unionin December
1993.
The
final version
of
the Balladur Plan no longer contains a reference to the highly
dangerous concept of changes of borders. Although the project now officially aims at a
'consolidation of
borders',
some EU countries consider this still to be inherently
dangerous: the fact that 'consolidation' is necessary may be interpreted to imply that these
borders are not yet consolidated at the present time.
The plan provides for the convening of an inaugural conference in Paris in April 1994
to which will be invited a great number
of
states. In the formulation
of
the Presidency
Conclusions it concerns 'the countries mainly concerned by the initiative, the countries
immediately bordering on the countries immediately concerned, the States able to make
aparticular contribution to the initiative, countries with an interest in stability in Europe
by virtue
of
their defence commitments and countries having association agreements with
the Union'.17 In addition, representatives of international organizations which have an
interest in the project will be invited: CSCE, Council of Europe,
WEU,
NATO and the
UN. Other countries and organizations may attend the opening conference as observers
if they support the idea
of
the Stability Pact.
The structure of the project will consist of an inaugural conference which will be
succeeded by a series of bilateral round-table conferences between the candidate-members
of the European Union. These conferences ideally should lead to the conclusion of
bilateral agreements on mutual borders and on the protection of minorities. The
collectivity of these bilateral agreements should give rise to the Stability Pact which
should be officially adopted at a high-level conference which is provisionally scheduled
for 1996. According to the EU plan, the CSCE should then take over the project 'as its
guardian'.
The
question whether there is a consensus within the CSCE to take this
'job',
remains unanswered for the time being.
The adoption
of
the Balladur plan gives rise to another institutional body in Europe,
dealing with security issues in apreventive diplomacy sphere.
The
question may be
put
whether this institutional innovation was really necessary in view
of
the other existing
bodies and even whether the ensuing overlap may not even create frictions. One might
express serious doubts whether all this serves the interests of stability in Europe. One may
also doubt whether it is a wise policy that the European Union has chosen the idea of the
Stability
Pact
as its first joint activity in the framework of the common foreign and
security policy of the Union, in particular after the tragic course
of
the EC involvement
in the Yugoslav drama since 1991.
VINTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM
Cecilia Medina
Ratifications
The Dominican Republic (June 1993), Paraguay (March 1993) and Bolivia (July 1993)
recognized the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to handle
17 These countries are: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Finland, the Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania,
Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA.
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