Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF), Robert Bosch Stiftung and the German Association for East European Studies (DGO) hold international conference The EU and Civil Society in the South Caucasus: a Common Effort to Build Sustainable Peace in Berlin, Germany on June 10, 2010. The seminar was the high-level events that brought together representatives of foreign governments, practitioners and experts in the areas of conflict, European Initiatives, and the development. The international events afforded a wonderful opportunity for discussions that facilitate furthering the partnerships between the South Caucasus and Europe, in the wider European context, where civil society can bring more transparency and accountability to the critical processes required for successful development.
Background and Topic
In May 2009 the EU launched the Eastern Partnership (EaP) with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Building on the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Eastern Partnership is the new framework under which relations between the EU and the six Eastern neighbors will be developing. It includes a bilateral dimension between the EU and each country and a multilateral dimension involving all Partners, the latter being accompanied by a Civil Society Forum which first met in November 2009 in Brussels.
The three countries of the South Caucasus pose a particular challenge to the Eastern Partnership. They all experienced violent conflicts on their way to independence that did not allow them to develop with the desired speed, to create new economic opportunities and to ensure their security. The unresolved conflicts in Abkhasia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh have become a major issue of international politics, and there is growing awareness that the spill-over from these conflicts can have a serious impact on Europe’s security. Since the war in August 2008, relations between Georgia and Russia are extremely tense and are further burdened by Georgia’s aspirations of NATO membership. Moreover, Nagorno-Karabakh continues to pose a serious threat of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Following the August 2008 war in Georgia, the EU has become fully engaged in conflict settlement in the South Caucasus. It worked out a comprehensive policy approach encompassing the EU Monitoring Mission and a broad set of soft policy instruments, which include political as well as economic and social means. After the termination of the mandates for OSCE and UN it is the EU who has slipped into the role of monitoring cease fire lines in Georgia. Its comprehensive peace building effort enjoys the full support of the international community, including Russia. These efforts are accompanied by some promising developments in the relations between Armenia and Turkey, which have been hampered over the past decades particularly because of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
However, efforts undertaken on the government level alone are insufficient. What is urgently needed is a strong engagement by the civil society. Unless there is a complimentary effort by civil actors’ peace building in the South Caucasus will hardly be sustainable. Above all this concerns such vital areas like confidence building and the restoration of people-to-people contacts.
The Berlin Conference will consider the role of civil society within the new peace-building landscape. It aims to take stock of the institutional setting which civil society organizations are facing. This would serve as a basis to identify opportunities for confidence-building initiatives suitable to reduce mistrust, to hold governments accountable and to support the EU’s conflict resolution activities in particular.
Program:
Opening remarks:
Panel One:The EU’s Contribution to Conflict Settlement in the South Caucasus
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia do not have identical objectives in their relations with the EU. However in their aspiration to advance links with the EU, all three South Caucasus Countries to varying degrees implemented political, social, and economic reforms. In addition unresolved conflicts in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh further hinder the process of the European Integration. What is the EU’s present contribution to conflict settlement? Where are the largest opportunities, and where the shortcomings of the present instruments applied? And is there a win-win strategy for Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia engaging with the largely unrecognized territories of Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia?
Facts and Figures:
Hans Gutbrod, Regional Director, Caucasus Research Resource Center, Tbilisi
Hans Gutbrod's notes (2.26 MBytes)
Speakers:
Tabib Huseynov's notes (24 KBytes)
Moderator:
Panel Two: The Role of the Civil Society: What Can be Done to Make the Effort Still More Effective?
Societies function most effectively when the state and its citizens engage openly in debate on how policies and decisions that affect them are formulated and implemented. What can be done to support peace processes and confidence-building? What is the role of civil society in dismantling and preventing confrontations, simultaneously serving as a mean of developing conditions where the states and the peoples of the region can enjoy friendly relations and close cooperation amongst each other as well as with the EU? And how can the EU engage Russia to help promote peace-building in the South Caucasus?
Speakers:
Farda Asadov's notes (38.5 KBytes)
Giorgi Khutsishvili's notes (32 KBytes)
Amalia Kostanian notes (22.5 KBytes)
Moderator:
Closing Remarks:
| Tweet |  |
15 March 2012
Eurasia Partnership Foundation, in cooperation with swisspeace and Bosch Foundation are going to organize a seminar “South Caucasus : Dark Spots & Bright Spots in a Peacebulding: Civil Society’s Role” that will be held in Bern, Switzerland on March 27, 2012.
23 February 2012
EPF and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), Istanbul-based independent non-governmental think-tank, analyzing social, political and economic policy issues facing Turkey are going to organize a seminar Turkey’s South Caucasus Agenda: Roles of State and Non-State Actors on March 2, 2012 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Please see the agenda and confirm your participation with Aybars Gurgulu at aybars@tesev.org.tr
12 January 2012
Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF), in cooperation with the European Policy Centre and the Robert Bosch Foundation held international seminar about EU’s role in the South Caucasus in Brussels, Belgium on 14 December 2011.
Copyright © 2007 Eurasia Partnership. Last updated: Thursday, 15 March 2012
This website is made possible by the generous support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the Eurasia Partnership Foundation and do not necessarily represent the views of USAID or the U.S. Government.
This web site has been financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. Sida does not necessarily share the views expressed in this material. Responsibility for its contents rests entirely with the author.
