Post-Conflict Peace-Building: Establishment of the Human Rights Ombudsman
In the post Cold War period, armed conflict continues to proliferate. Inter-state conflict, however, is the exception. Civil conflict — based on ethnic, religious, political and other differences — is common.1 War-torn societies suffer from a variety of domestic weaknesses, including state institutions that are flawed or have been destroyed, human rights abuses and breakdown in the rule of law. After the conflict ends, reconstruction of state and societal sectors needs to occur to prevent the state from slipping back into armed conflict. The concept of post-conflict peace-building developed in the 1990s, often associated with internationally-brokered peace agreements.2
From Danzig to East Timor and Beyond: The Role of International Territorial Administration
The United Nations is currently engaged in one of its most ambitious roles ever: the administration of two territories—Kosovo and East Timor. Attention has focused on the challenges raised by the performance of this role, such as international officials' need for new skills and experience. It has also focused on the problems caused by the context of administration, in which local governmental institutions must be constructed or reconstructed before they can be administered. However, a more profound question needs to be asked as well: why is the United Nations there at all? This piece analyzes the official reasons put forward to explain the deployment of international organizations in the administration of territory. It challenges the popular idea that the Kosovo and East Timor projects are unique. Actually, the involvement of international organizations in varying degrees of territorial administration has a long history, stretching back to the start of the League of Nations. Moreover, it includes at least three further current examples: the administration of camps housing refugees and internally displaced persons by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); the operation of material assistance programs by international organizations in various territories; and the conduct of governmental activities by the Office of the High Representative of the International Community (OHR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I argue that the current projects are the latest manifestations of a policy institution that is used to serve two purposes rooted in certain ideas of international law. Valuable lessons for current and future projects can be learned from the way this institution has served these purposes in the past. The piece begins by briefly establishing how the international administration projects operate. Drawing on historical precedents, I then analyze the official justifications put forward for the projects, establishing what purposes the projects are supposedly set up to serve. I argue that these projects are framed in terms of a response to two problems, each related to administration in the territory concerned. In the first place, they attempt to address a perceived "sovereignty problem" regarding the identity of those local actors exercising administrative control. In the second place, they attempt to address a perceived "governance problem" regarding the conduct of governance by local actors. After a detailed analysis of the different circumstances in which these purposes have been invoked in relation to the institution, the relationship between the institution and three other international policy institutions is explained. This study focuses on international organizations, as such actors are understood in international law. As regards the administration of post-1945 Germany and Austria, I include the Allies within this definition, since the conventional view is that, although in certain respects control was divided between the individual members of the
Evaluation of Quantum II microbiology system for identification of gram-negative bacteria of veterinary origin
The ability of a rapid, semiautomated bacterial identification system, the Quantum II microbiology system (Abbott Laboratories, Irving, Tex.), to accurately identify gram-negative bacteria from veterinary sources was evaluated. A total of 378 isolates were tested, including 298 organisms in the family Enterobacteriaceae and strains representing Acinetobacter sp., Aeromonas sp., Flavobacterium sp., Pasteurella multocida, Plesiomonas sp., and Pseudomonas spp. Of these isolates, 333 (88.1%) were correctly identified, 20 (5.3%) were not identified, 10 (2.6%) were incorrectly identified at the genus level, and 15 (4.0%) were incorrectly identified at the species level. The Quantum II system correctly identified 268 (89.9%) of the isolates of Enterobacteriaceae and 65 (81.3%) of the nonenteric isolates. P. multocida was not identified correctly, and some nonenteric gram-negative bacteria of clinical significance in veterinary medicine are not included in the data base. The Quantum II system provided an accurate identification system for isolates of Enterobacteriaceae but had limited usefulness for the identification of other gram-negative bacteria of clinical significance in veterinary medicine.