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L to R: Former Prime Minister Ilir Meta (Albania); President Alfred Moisiu
(Albania); Under Secretary General Günther Altenburg (NATO); and
Minister of Defense Pandeli Majko (Albania).
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A review of the Albanian experience in reducing the surplus weapons, the challenges other countries of the region face in addressing the security sector reforms and disposal of such weapons, as well as the role of the press and civil society in this endeavor, were the topics of a NATO Partnership for Peace Trust Fund workshop in Tirana, Albania, September 26 and 27. The President of Albania, H.E. Alfred Moisiu, Minister of Defense, H.E. Pandeli Majko, and Ambassador Günther Altenburg, NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Military Security opened the NATO Partnership for Peace Trust Fund workshop.
"TRUST, Together Reducing Surplus Tools of War: PfP Trust Fund Projects: Focus on South East Europe" was developed by The Fund for Peace (FfP) of Washington DC and its Albanian NGO partner, The Institute for Peace, Development and Integration. FfP Executive Vice President Anne Bader chaired the event with IPDI Executive Director Edmond Haxhinasto. Former Prime Minister Ilir Meta and President of the IPDI Board of Directors was a keynote speaker. Other keynote speakers were US Chargé d'Affaires (Tirana), Stephen Zate; Head of NAMSA, Major General Karl Heinz Munzner; FfP Board of Trustee Chair Richard Winfield; Head of PfP Trust Fund and Cooperation Programmes Section, NATO, Susan Pond and FfP Board Member Lt. Gen. Nicholas B .Kehoe (USAF ret.).
The 2004 TRUST program: "PfP Trust Fund Projects: Focus on South East Europe" replicates the communications strategy developed by The Fund for Peace for the NATO Partnership for Peace Trust Fund proposal to destroy 1.5 million small arms and 133,000 tons of ammunition in Ukraine. In addition to workshops in Tirana and Belgrade, The Fund for Peace has created a new TRUST website at NATO to encourage the submission of frequent news, human interest stories and opinions linking civil society with the multilateral centers of power. The website, launched at the Tirana workshop will be located at NATO upon completion is currently at the following link:
http://www.fundforpeace.org/trust.
It features a photo of President Boris Tadic and IPDI President former Prime Minister Ilir Meta at the National Press Club in Washington DC in July between their press conferences.
More than 30 communications, disarmament experts and decision makers from NATO, the United States, Canada, the UN, the US National Guard, the World Bank and the OSCE engaged a similar number of journalists and non governmental organizations from Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia, Kosovo and some NATO member nations on the importance of the destruction of surplus stocks of land mines, grenades and small arms and light weapons. The event as well as a pre-workshop tour for participants of Mjekes, Elbasan, the Albanian weapons destruction site, will be the subject of a new NATO film to promote this TRUST program.
The workshop recommendations include creation of regional media networks, and collaborative activities by participating international organizations will be expanded at the next workshop in Belgrade in late winter. Some specific suggestions by workshop attendees follow:
- Since communication is about listening, a series of surveys and polls should be conducted among all the stakeholders in the process of disarmament, including journalists and grassroots organizations. NATO should listen for policy and move from awareness to dialogue.
- Private companies might be persuaded to invest in the Partnership for Peace, notably the defense industry. This concept is somewhat modeled on "polluter pays."
- A twofold approach can be taken on the issue, one relating to the public and the other to the government. The public can be engaged in issues of arms in civilian hands, and the government in those relating to surplus stocks of weapons in government hands.
- A mechanism for improving cooperation between media centers is requested, including a possible spur to a joint project on disarmament, preliminary information for which can be given at the workshop to be held in Belgrade.
- The media need to look at policy in terms of legal reform and access to information.
- Networking among individual journalists, as well as publications and media institutes, needs to be developed. This can be done through the website or by helping media institutes create conducive structures.
- Because websites are widely available, one of the goals of the TRUST website should be education. Including links to definitions, international mechanisms, and other relevant materials would help the site to fulfill this role.
- The web page should work in such a way that people are enabled to contribute both to NATO and to each other; for example, NGOs would be able to contribute articles to media institutes.
- The website can also have links and information on disarmament, so that journalists can use information to present official reports (rather than articles) to the government before disarmament begins. The reports could then be posted on the website as well.
- Coordination between stakeholders in the region should be facilitated and improved. They should be enabled to communicate and understand the exact nature of the problem of unsafe surplus before acting.
- Be careful to keep non-members of the Partnership for Peace from becoming alienated through the belief that this work is exclusively aimed at member countries.
- A miniature trust fund can encourage local initiatives to keep the issue of disarmament in the public eye through a competitive grant system
- Journalists would like the organizers to help facilitate the sharing of media equipment at workshops.
Anne C. Bader
Executive Vice President
The Fund for Peace
Project Director
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