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SUMMARY
OF OPENING
Welcome
Remarks - Republic of the Philippines
Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Strategic Assessment and International
Policy Alejandro P. Melchor III of the Department of Defense
delivered the welcome remarks for the opening ceremony.
Issues
and Concerns
- He
implied that seminars on international peacekeeping
are important these days due to the presence of difficult
areas.
- He
cited East Timor and Aceh, both in Indonesia as examples.
Both needed the presence of international peacekeepers
to restore peace and order in the area.
- He
emphasized the timeliness of the seminar and emphasized
that international peacekeepers should be taught on
how to enter and disengage from areas of conflict. And
this is one of the foremost reasons why this seminar
should be given utmost importance.
Prospects
and Recommendations
- The
Asia Pacific region is full of flashpoints nowadays
and there is a need to develop a paradigm that will
govern international peacekeeping operations. He hoped
that the outcome of this seminar would contribute to
that end.
- He
concluded his welcome remarks by challenging the participants
to actively participate during the duration of the seminar
and thanked the Center of Excellence for its role in
this activity.
Opening
Remarks - United States of America
Commander
J. Nelson Ramos, Senior Representative of the Office of
the US Pacific Command Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate,
delivered the opening remarks on behalf of Mr. Gerard
Bradford III, Director, COE.
Background
On The Topic
The
current International Peacekeeping Operations Seminar
entitled "End State and Exit Strategies in Complex
Contingencies" is part of the Asia Pacific Peace
Operations Capacity Building Program. This program represents
a partnership between the United Nations Department of
Peacekeeping Operations, the United States Pacific Command,
and co-sponsoring host nations in the Asia Pacific Region.
The
seminar represents the second program to be held in the
Philippines. The first event was the Asia-Pacific Regional
Senior Leadership Peace Operations Seminar, which was
held in May/June 2000.
Issues
And Concerns
-
Throughout
the years, the nature of peace support operations has
changed. Traditional peacekeeping has been replaced
not only by more vigorous peace enforcement operations,
but also by peace making and peace building activities.
-
Nations
today carefully weigh the implications of participating
or not participating, and in what capacity, in security
ventures overseas.
-
Security
concerns are highlighted by the global threats posed
by HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, and terrorism,
as examples.
-
Asian and the Pacific Island Nations offer unique perspectives
that may help other regions to overcome challenges in
peace operations. Experiences gained by members of peacekeeping
operations can contribute to counter new and difficult
challenges in the region.
Prospects/Recommendations
-
There
is need to evaluate on how to improve missions and manage
long-term outcomes in today's modern peace operations.
-
It
is important to coordinate efforts politically, strategically
and diplomatically to sustain efforts for future stability
in areas or regions of the world.
-
There
is a challenge to exhaust all possible means to get
a collective understanding of what constitutes an End
State through discussions between participants of the
course and the lecturers and experts conducting the
seminar.
Keynote
Address
The
keynote address by Hon. Feliciano Gacis, the Undersecretary
of the National Defense, Philippines, titled "The
Determination of End State of Peacekeeping Operations"
was delivered at the Opening Ceremony.
Background
On The Topic
The
end of Cold War was supposed to insure peace and stability
in the world order. Instead, a new kind of human conflict
emerged, characterized by pressures from ethnic differences,
historical animosities, assertive nationalism and extreme
self-determination, resulting in violence and enormous
human rights violations. The world's current situation
shows that not all countries can contain the violence.
While some of the developed countries have suffered. but
most victims are developing countries, characterized as
having weak social cohesion and immature government institutions.
Issues
And Concerns
In
envisioning end-states, there is a need to consider the
following questions:
-
Does
an end-state envision altering or redirecting history?
Or does it envision hastening the revolutionary process
of the host country?
-
Will
it impair sovereignty and territorial integrity?
-
Does
it encourage self-determination or follow the existing
order?
-
Will
it result in a change of regime? If yes, who will take
charge of the new order?
-
Is there a threshold for a condition to necessitate
international intervention?
The
above questions cover the socio-political, legal and moral
issues involved in achieving end-states, which must be
sensitively addressed by peace keeping and other similar
operations.
Prospects/Recommendations
-
The
timing of the exit strategy is very crucial to any peacekeeping
operation. That is why it is necessary for peacekeepers
to plan what they want to attain and insure that their
exit strategy guarantees the sustainability of the end-state.
-
In
the course of planning, it is important to look at the
real situation. This will help the peacekeepers properly
address the problems being encountered by the recipient
country.
- There
is now a growing demand for peacekeeping operations. But
this does not necessarily suggest that it is now a trend
in the global security environment, for national sovereignty
still remains supreme over supra-national authority.
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