INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: The EU and Civil Society in the South Caucasus: a Common Effort to Build Sustainable Peace (dgo-online.org)

10 June 2010, Berlin, Germany

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 neighbours 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 organisations 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

The EU and Civil Society in the South Caucasus: a Common Effort to Build Sustainable Peace

Thursday, 10 June 2010

09:00 – 09:30 Arrival, Coffee

09:30 – 09:45 Opening remarks:
Carsten Lenk, Program Officer, Robert Bosch Stiftung
Gabriele Freitag, Executive Director, German Association for East European Studies (DGO), Berlin
George Zarubin, President, Eurasia Partnership Foundation

09:45 – 12:00 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?

• Political landscape and conflicts in the South Caucasus – general overview
• Dimensions of the EU’s engagement (incl. Eastern Partnership instruments, EaP Civil Society Forum)
• The EU’s role in conflict resolution initiatives (OSCE, UN, Council of Europe):
Is there any European example of peace-building and conflict transformation? How can it possibly impact the peace processes in the South Caucasus?

Short Introduction: Facts and Figures
Hans Gutbrod, Regional Director, Caucasus Research Resource Center, Tbilisi

Speakers:
Peter Semneby, European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Brussels
Giorgi Baramidze, Vice Prime Minister and State Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration, Tbilisi
Tabib Huseynov, Political Analyst, International Crisis Group Correspondent in Azerbaijan, Baku (tbc) Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan, Armenia Country Director, Eurasia Partnership Foundation, Yerevan

Moderator:
Dieter Boden, Ambassador (ret.); former Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Georgia; Member of the Board of Trustees, Eurasia Partnership Foundation, Berlin

12:30 – 14:00 Luncheon Address
Cornelia Pieper, Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Berlin

14:00 – 16:30 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?

• Civil society initiatives addressing conflict dimensions (towards their own governments; confidence building with breakaway territories; confidence building between South Caucasus states and/or with Russia, Turkey)
• Interaction between civil society and the EU – where to focus (incl. opportunities
provided by EaP, Civil Society Forum to raise issues to the EU level)

Speakers:
Farda Asadov, Director, Open Society Institute Azerbaijan, Baku
Walter Kaufmann, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Berlin
Giorgi Khutsishvili, Head of the International Center for Conflict Negotiations, Tbilisi
Amalya Kostanyan, Head of Transparency International in Armenia, Yerevan

Moderator:
Sabine Freizer, Europe Program Director, International Crisis Group, Brussels

16:30 Closing Remarks
George Zarubin, President, Eurasia Partnership Foundation,Tbilisi
Andreas Wittkowsky, German Association for East European Studies (DGO); Member of the Board, European Integration Strategy Association, Berlin

Programm & Anmeldung >>>

Dr. Gabriele Freitag -Geschäftsführerin-
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde e.V.
German Association for East European Studies
Schaperstr. 30
D-10719 Berlin
Tel.: +49(0)30 214 784 12
Fax: +49(0)30 214 784 14
Mail: info@dgo-online.org
Web: www.dgo-online.org

ANALYSIS: The EU-Turkey-Cyprus Triangle: "Time for Turkey to be Visionary in the South Caucasus", Sabine Freizer (crisisgroup.org)

back to "Solving the EU-Turkey-Cyprus Triangle"

15 May 2009

Optimism about the normalisation of Turkey-Armenia bilateral relations, so prevalent on 22 April when the two countries announced that they had agreed on a comprehensive framework for reconciliation, has suddenly faded. Normalisation would include opening of the Turkey-Armenia border, establishing diplomatic relations, and setting up of bilateral commissions to deal with multiple issues, including the historical dimension of their relations. It first seemed that these steps could be accomplished by Autumn 2009. Now they may be delayed for years.

more here >>>

PERSONALITY: Sabine Freizer is Caucasus Project Director of the International Crisis Group

Sabine Freizer is Caucasus Project Director of the International Crisis Group, based in Tbilisi. She was awarded a doctorate from the London School of Economics for research on peacebuilding and civil society, and has worked with the OSCE, the UNHCR, the European Commission and Britain’s department for international development on political and human-rights issues in the Balkans, the Caucasus and central Asia.

Recent articles

Nagorno-Karabakh: between vote and reality

Nagorno-Karabakh has followed Transdniestria and South Ossetia in holding an independence referendum. But democracy in these "non-recognised entities" is not so simple, reports Sabine Freizer of the International Crisis Group.

Armenia's emptying democracy

Armenia’s constitutional referendum reveals a flawed political system ruling over disaffected citizens whose faith in western-sponsored democracy is being sorely tested, reports Sabine Freizer in Yerevan.

Azerbaijan's unfinished election

Ilham Aliev’s ruling party declared victory before the votes were counted, but the opposition can still challenge some of its fraudulent results, reports the International Crisis Group’s Sabine Freizer in Baku.

Midnight in Tashkent

A surge of anti-state violence in Uzbekistan suggests that the policies of the autocratic Tashkent regime and the attitude of its international sponsors are alike in urgent need of reform.

The pillars of Georgia's political transition

After the “rose revolution”, how will Georgia’s leaders cope with their difficult legacy – endemic corruption, internal schisms, geopolitical pressures? An experienced political analyst recently in Tbilisi maps the strategic options facing the south Caucasian state’s new president, Mikhail Saakashvili.

The Dynamics of Change in the South Caucasus: The Case of Armenia ...

Sabine Freizer

Europe Program Director
Brussels, Belgium

Crisis Group role:

Sabine Freizer is the Brussels-based Director of the Europe Program. She started with Crisis Group as Caucasus Project Director in July 2004. As Europe Program Director, Sabine Freizer oversees projects covering the Caucasus, Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey. She has a PhD from the London School of Economics, and a Masters from the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium) which she obtained as a Fulbright Scholar.

Areas of expertise:

• Balkans
• Caucasus
• Turkey
• Moldova
• Civil society and conflict prevention

Professional background:

• Caucasus Project Director (Tbilisi-based), International Crisis Group, 2004-2007
• Political Officer, OSCE Election Observation Missions Azerbaijan and Georgia, 2003-2004
• Human Dimensions/Legal Expert, OSCE Central Asia Liaison Office, Tashkent, 1999-2000
• Civil Society Coordinator, OSCE Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 1996-1998

Publications and media:

Solving the EU-Turkey-Cyprus Triangle, regular analysis and commentary

• Kosovo: "Eyes on the Ball", Transitions Online, 14 October 2008
• "EU:n tarkkailijoiden päästävä myös kiistellyille alueille", Helsingen Sanomat, 10 October 2008
• "A Mission for All of Georgia", EU Observer, 7 October 2008
• "Reassuring Kosovo's Serbs", The Guardian, 20 March 2008
• "Combustible Caucasus", The Wall Street Journal, 13 March 2008
• "Nagorno-Karabakh – A Frozen Conflict That Could Boil Over", European Voice, 31 January 2008
• Nagorno-Karabakh: "Putting the Freeze on a Frozen Conflict",The Boston Globe, 25 December 2007
• "Kosovo's appointment in Samara", EU Observer, 16 May 2007
• "Why Kosovo's Independence is Necessary", IslamOnline.net, 14 May 2007
• "The EU’s Inexcusable Pardon for Serbia", with Andrew Stroehlein, European Voice, 29 March 2007
• "Nagorno-Karabakh: Between Vote and Reality", openDemocracy.net, 14 December 2006
• Interviews with local and international media outlets, including BBC, Deutsche Welle, RFL, AFP, among others

Languages:

• English (native)
• French (native)

Click here for a high-resolution photo of Sabine Freizer.

Click here for a one-page PDF document of this information with contact details.

JOB: ICG Caucasus Project Director

The International Crisis Group is looking for a Caucasus Project Director to be based in Tbilisi. We would like the person to have an extensive knowledge of Eurasia, at least seven years relevant experience, excellent English writing abilities, and knowledge of local languages or Russian. More information is available on our web site www.crisisgroup.org.

If you know anyone who has these qualifications and might be interested in the post can you please forward this message to them or ask them to submit to me a motivation letter, CV and ideas for 1-2 future ICG reports, as soon as possible? Thank you very much for your assistance in filling this position. I hope that we will find an excellent director who will also serve as a valuable colleague in the field.

Sincere best wishes, Sabine

Dr. Sabine Freizer
Director, Europe Program
International Crisis Group
149 Avenue Louise - Level 24, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 2 536 0066; 0484 368 375 (m)
Crisisgroup email: sfreizer@crisisgroup.org
Website: www.crisisgroup.org

Crisis Group - the international conflict prevention organisation