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 The Balkans have been a centre of crisis for more than a decade. Armed conflicts have brought the people death, expulsion, destruction and untold suffering. But the efforts of the West and the NATO intervention so far have failed to bring stable peace. In order to create a forum for a critical discussion of the situation in Southeast Europe, the Symposium 2000 - Peace Perspectives for Southeast Europe - was organized. The Symposium 2000 at Basel University was planned as an interdisciplinary event. The complex issues were elucidated by lawyers, historians, geographers, ethnologists and political scientists. This enabled East and West European scholars and their American counterparts to exchange their somewhat divergent views. The papers covered a broad range of subjects, from the historical causes, the international legal aspects to the economic, sociocultural and ecological consequences of the hostilities. Special attention was devoted to the minorities, the NATO attack, the International War Crimes Tribunal, the responsibility of the West and the humanitarian aid to the war-torn areas. The symposium was intended to illustrate differing interpretations of the events of the past ten years, and to encourage the discussion between speakers and participants at the event. The Symposium 2000 - Peace Perspectives for Southeast Europe was held on the 29th and 30th of June 2000 under the patronage of Federal Councillor Joseph Deiss and the executive councils of the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft. |
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