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The Peace Operations Policy Program (POPP) at George Mason University’s School of Public Policy will host a conference entitled “Brcko—Durable Model for Peace?” on September 21-22, 2005.
To mark simultaneously the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords and the 5th anniversary of the Brcko Final Award, POPP is pleased to invite policy makers and analysts, peace implementers and practitioners, academics and students to submit papers addressing issues related to the attainment and current status of peace in the Brcko region of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Strongly held differences over the political status of the strategic Brcko corridor threatened to derail peace talks in Dayton, Ohio in November 1995. In order not to lose momentum, the parties agreed to submit resolution of the impasse to binding international arbitration. After searching in vain for an acceptable compromise formula, the Arbitral Tribunal, in 1997, imposed an international supervisory regime on Brcko. The Supervisor was to restore civil society and oversee a peaceful return of refugees to their homes. Over the course of three years, sufficient progress was made in overcoming obstacles to enable Brcko to be declared a neutral, demilitarized, multi-ethnic district of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
We hope participants will address issues such as freedom of movement, return of refugees and displaced persons, elections, rule of law (police, courts, penal system), re-establishment of multi-ethnic administration and democratic governance, demilitarization, economic revitalization, community building and reconciliation, the supervisory regime, and the status of Brcko vis-ŕ-vis entity and state interests.
CVs and proposals for a 20-minute paper should be mailed to Allison M. Frendak-Blume (afrendak@gmu.edu) by Friday, August 26, 2005. The proposal should be 250 words in length and clearly state the purpose and principal findings of the paper to be presented. We wish to publish the papers and would request final drafts by Friday, October 28, 2005.
Please visit our webpage for further information:
http://popp.gmu.edu
Allison M. Frendak-Blume, Ph.D.
Academic Director
Peace Operations Policy Program
School of Public Policy
George Mason University
3401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 3B1
Arlington, Virginia 22201
703.993.4983
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