Dielli | The Sun

Albanian American Newspaper Devoted to the Intellectual and Cultural Advancement of the Albanians in America | Since 1909

The COVID-19 Peace Opportunity

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By David L. Phillips/

The current global pandemic provides a unique peace opportunity to move beyond conflict and focus on reconciliation. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for a cessation to armed conflict so the world can focus its struggle against “a common enemy, COVID-19” which doesn’t care “about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith.” The alternative to international cooperation, continued violence in war zones, will further overwhelm national health care systems, spreading sickness and misery.
There are some recent signs of progress. Libya’s warring factions agreed to a ceasefire. However, local warlords have delayed implementing the humanitarian pause. 
Germany sent excess medical equipment, including face masks, to France. Both countries have moved on from enmity that existed in the past.
Kurds in Iraq and Syria are taking steps to exchange information on the coronavirus, and help one another with diagnostics and treatment, despite being overwhelmed with their respective refugee and displacement crises.
Precedent exists for historic rivals to set aside their differences and work together to address natural disasters, not unlike the pandemic that is sweeping the world today.

Greece and Turkey were hit by earthquakes in the summer of 1999. In response, Greece deployed rescue teams, rescue dogs, and sent thousands of tents, mobile hospital units, ambulances, medicine, water, clothes, foods and blankets. The Greek Ministry of Health and the hospital in Thessaloniki set up centers to collect blood donations.

The Church of Greece raised funds for Turkish earthquake victims. When the Mayor of Athens visited the earthquake site, he was met on the tarmac by the Mayor of Istanbul.
When Greece was hit by an earthquake a few weeks later, Turkey reciprocated with aid. A Turkish military transport was the first to deliver life-saving equipment. Turks rushed to hospitals and community centers, giving blood to help victims in Greece. 
The earthquakes in Greece and Turkey changed mutual perceptions. Assistance from Greece was widely reported in Turkish media with headlines such as “Friendship Time”, “Friendly Hands in Black Days”, and “Help Flows in from Neighbors.”

Official confidence building measures ensued, lowering bilateral tensions. Earthquake diplomacy included economic cooperation, environmental protection, and cooperation on counter-terrorism.
In 2001, the Pakistani military delivered aid to India after the Gujarat earthquake, leading to the Agra Summit five months later. India reciprocated, providing aid to Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake.
In 2004, Aceh was inundated by a tsunami, affecting forces of both the Free Aceh Movement and Indonesia’s military. Led by Finland’s Martti Ahtisaari, negotiations were rejoined that ended the 29-year long conflict, which claimed 12,000 lives.
Guterres called for an immediate cease-fire in conflicts around the world to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. He said, “It is time to put armed conflict on lock-down and focus together on the true fight of our lives.” It was a call to action by the world’s leading diplomat for international cooperation dealing with man-made and natural disasters.
Appealing for a worldwide ceasefire is noble, but peacemaking and cooperation must start with specific steps. 
For example, Russia should stop its offensive against Idlib in northwestern Syria, where Russian war planes have been bombing hospitals and civilians. Refugees are vulnerable, especially when indigenous health care systems are destroyed.
Turkey should open its border with Armenia, enabling the transport of health equipment and services.
If Boko Haram suspended operations in Nigeria, health extension workers could access corona-affected communities in Muslim-majority Kaduna state.
US sanctions on Iran have exacerbated regional problems. Instead of maximum pressure, a helping hand managing the country’s corona crisis would go a long way to achieving US reform objectives.   
When the earth shakes or a disease strikes, human kind is defenseless. As events outside of our control, natural disasters and pandemics are humbling.
Armed conflict is a choice. Focusing resources on the COVID-19 pandemic would change how we perceive others.  Working together can not only advance well-being in regions affected by the coronavirus. A humanitarian pause would also benefit war-ravaged countries.  

*Mr. Phillips is Director of the Program on Peace-building and Human Rights at Columbia University. He is a former senior adviser to the State Department.


Venezuela intervention will backfire

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Photo: Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a UN Security Council meeting on the situation on Venezuela at United Nations headquarters, in New York, on April 10, 2019. Photo Credit: PETER FOLEY/EPA-EFE/REX

By David L. Phillips/*

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro deserves to be ousted for his corruption and economic mismanagement. However, the push for regime change must come from within. By alleging U.S. imperialism, Maduro has strengthened his position with hardliners, solidifying his base and hold on power.

President Donald Trump’s calls for regime change give Maduro a convenient excuse for his own failings. Maduro blames the United States for Venezuela’s ills. But Trump is not the cause of Venezuela’s problems. Maduro, the dictator, has run a once proud and prosperous country into the ground.

Though Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, its people have suffered a dramatic decline in living standards since Maduro became president. The International Monetary Fund estimates that Venezuela’s inflation rate will reach 10 million percent this year. Hyperinflation makes the Bolivar worthless. 

Following in the footsteps of former President Hugo Chávez, Maduro oversaw efforts to supersede the legislature, redraft a new constitution, and pack the court with more loyalists. Protests erupted when Maduro was sworn into a second term in January 2019. Trump blasts the fraudulent election as socialist power grab. Venezuela is experiencing food shortages, which have led to widespread malnutrition and increased infant mortality rates. The public health care system has collapsed. Electricity outages have led to lawlessness and a breakdown of social order. Today, more than 3 million people have fled Venezuela, seeking to escape the dire conditions. Front-line states are reeling from the refugee crisis.

Washington is pushing for regime change, ratcheting-up sanctions and embargoing the purchase of oil and gas. It also has banned the purchase of debt owed to the Venezuelan government, including accounts receivable from oil sales.

Trump bombastically demands that Maduro end “the repression and economic deprivation of the Venezuelan people.” Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have also heaped scorn on Maduro. Meanwhile, National Security Adviser John Bolton hints at military intervention.

The United States recognized Juan Guaidó, head of the National Assembly, as interim president on Jan. 23, 2019. To date, more than 50 countries, including Canada, and many Latin American and European countries have recognized him as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Only autocracies such as Turkey, Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua stand by Maduro.

Even Venezuelans who oppose Maduro believe the Trump administration is disingenuous in singling him out. They decry the double standard. Trump has a well-known affinity for strongmen. While criticizing Maduro, Trump commends Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan for doing “things the right way.” Trump says he “fell in love” with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. And Trump recently invited Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban, to a working meeting at the White House on May 13.

The bromance between Trump and Vladimir Putin is most perplexing. When they spoke on May 3, Putin assured Trump of Russia’s non-interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs; Trump accepted the assurance at face value. He maintains that Putin is “not looking to get involved in Venezuela, other than he’d like to see something positive happen.” Venezuela owes Russia money and oil. It recently initiated security cooperation with Russia, hosting MIG fighter jets. Putin thumbs his nose at the United States. Trump is either naïve, weak, or willfully ignorant of Putin’s manipulation and disinformation.

Distrust of the United States in Latin America is rooted in Washington’s imperial legacy. During the Cold War, the United States supported militaries who overthrew democratically elected governments in Brazil in the 1960s and Chile in the 1970s.  The CIA conducted covert activities in Guatemala and El Salvador into the 1990s. Trump’s racist depiction of Latinos, characterizing them as criminals and rapists, reinforces the negative stereotype of gringos.

The Trump administration’s heavy-handed criticism has entrenched Maduro in power. Guaidó’s suggestion that the United States intervene is a fool’s errand. A more subtle and nuanced approach would put pressure on Maduro without galvanizing popular support against American “imperialism.”

* David L. Phillips is director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. He served as a senior adviser and foreign affairs expert at the U.S. State Department under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

WHAT NOTRE-DAME MEANS TO ME

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by David L. Phillips/

Thursday, April 18, 2019/

Memory and continuity. Hope for a better world. Notre-Dame is not just an edifice. It is a symbol of our shared humanity, a sanctuary of dreams, a safe haven for our better angels. Restoring the fire damage must be accompanied by a pledge to heal the world.

My first memory of Notre-Dame is as a small boy. I sat with my mother and sister on a stone pillar in the plaza facing the cathedral. Mom brought markers and a sketch pad. I was never a very good artist, but my drawing captured the glorious colors of Notre-Dame’s stained-glass façade, and the strength of saints at its main entrance.

Later in my young life, my parents showed me a stone right in front of Notre-Dame. The embedded stone, depicting a sun with seven rays, reads “Point Zero.” It represents the center of Paris, of civilization. “Des routes de Paris” – “The roads of Paris” is inscribed. Weathered by centuries, the stone is a reminder of life’s timeline, connecting past to present and future.

After my twin daughters were born, I took my family to Notre-Dame. We savored a crepe Suzette from a vendor adjacent to the cathedral’s back corner, overlooking Isle St. Louis. We lit a candle inside the church and silently said a prayer. I typically pray for world peace.

I showed the stone to my daughters and explained its significance. I told them the story of my first visit to Notre-Dame with my parents. Standing there with my daughters, the moment transcended generations. I shared memories with my girls; told them they’d visit that same spot with their children and urged them to remember our moment there together. We spoke about the importance of continuity.    

Notre-Dame is a national treasure of France. It is, however, an icon to which many human beings feel an emotional and spiritual connection. As a house of worship, Notre-Dame’s cross and statues remind us of Christian values, sacrificing for others inspired by love for human kind.

Notre-Dame is also a reminder of the ideals of the French revolution. “Liberte, egalite, fraternite” – liberty, equality, and fraternity – is the motto of France. They are also foundational principles of the Enlightenment and the modern human rights movement.

In my capacity as a human rights professional, I have occasionally testified in the French Senate and National Assembly. When U.S. leadership lapsed, France reminded us of right and wrong. Before the Iraq War, I recall the searing admonishment of France’s Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin at the United Nations: “War is always an acknowledgement of failure.” 

The fire at Notre-Dame comes at a critical moment in human history. International cooperation is under siege by President Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine, attacking shared institutions created after the Second World War. Trump’s hubris undermines U.S. interests and trans-Atlantic cooperation upon which the peace and prosperity of the 20th Century were based. We can barely survive four years of the Trump administration. Eight years would be fatal to our alliances and partnerships.

President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to rebuild Notre-Dame. France has the know-how and resources to restore its national treasure.  

However, it will take more than bricks and mortar to restore the principles represented by Notre-Dame. It will require leadership that sets aside personal and national self-interest in service of a greater good.    

From the ashes of the old tower, a new structure will emerge. I fervently hope that it will inspire our better angels, moving each of us to take action and help heal the world.

I learned humanitarian values from my parents and have made a point to share them with my children. Healing the world is a huge task and a generational endeavor.

David Phillips is Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights.

SMALL STEPS IN SYRIA

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By David L. PHILLIPS/

Every violent conflict reaches a moment of ripeness where peace is possible. Damascus and the Syrian Kurds are reaching that moment. The invitation for regime forces to enter Mambij marks a small step towards restoring Syrian sovereignty in territories previously outside of the government’s control. Alongside security arrangements, negotiations between Damascus and the Syrian Kurds should focus on power-sharing. Devolving power will lead to negotiations over a new constitution, establishing the rule of law, distributing governance responsibilities, and defining the relationship of individuals and groups to one another and the state.

Constitutional power-sharing can involve the vertical separation of powers, between Damascus and Syria’s regions. Syria could remain a unitary state, governed by a single unit, the central government, which exercises final authority. Power-sharing also includes the horizontal distribution of responsibilities to different branches of government — the executive, legislature and judiciary – in order to prevent the abuse of power by any one branch or individual. Such constitutional arrangements are most essential in societies with ethnic and sectarian divisions, or countries emerging from ethnic or religious conflict.

Federalism is also an alternative. In federal states, sovereignty is shared between the central government and subnational units. Citizens have rights secured by both the central government and sub-national authority. The central government typically retains powers regarding border security, foreign policy, and fiscal affairs. States constituting the federation have an existence and functions that cannot be unilaterally changed by the central government.
Devolution is a key component of federalism, addressing ethnic conflicts – center-periphery, majority-minority, or powerful-powerless. Cultural or regional autonomy is also a form of devolution.

Constitutional arrangements providing devolution can preserve both the identity of an aggrieved group, as well as the existing state structure. Devolution can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. Symmetrical devolution allocates the same powers to all sub-national units. In asymmetrical devolutionary arrangements, regions vary in their power and status.

Constitutions typically include a bill of rights, which enshrine individual and human rights. In conflict situations, special measures may be needed to uphold group and national rights where the over-riding issues are equality, non-discrimination and protection and promotion of group or minority rights. The principles of non-discrimination and equality are established in the UN Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Syria’s political transition will require special governance, cultural and economic arrangements. Syrians will demand local government, which gives voice to their concerns and institutionalizes their representation to uphold local interests. The goal is to make sure that all persons, both minorities and the majority, can participate effectively in decisions on the national and regional level. These include, for example, the right to establish local police and security, which reflects the ethnicity of communities they serve.

Cultural rights are important in the areas of language, education, religion, and cultural symbols. Local control over education and media are especially vital.
Power-sharing must also encompass economic activities such as the development of natural resources, levying taxes and generating revenue, as well as trade, employment, and ownership of land. Control over economic affairs may be the responsibility of the central government, local authorities, or jointly handled by both.

A peace dividend must benefit the entire society. International donors should provide ample humanitarian and reconstruction funds, linked to milestones in peace implementation. Peace-building initiatives should include security sector reform in parallel to the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of armed groups.

Syria has become a proxy fight between external powers. The peace agreement must envision a process for restoring Syria’s sovereignty, gradually phasing out the presence of foreign forces. Limiting Turkey’s influence is a good place to start. The Astana process has become a vehicle for dividing the spoils of war, rather than a genuine push for peace.

Signing a peace agreement occurs on a specific date. Whereas peace-building is a process that occurs over time. The deployment to Manbij opens a window for re-establishing Syria’s sovereignty and initiating negotiations between Damascus and the Kurds, enshrining the principles of power-sharing, laying the ground for Syria’s future constitution, and limiting the role of external actors who pursue their national interests to the detriment of Syrians.

While external stakeholders will try to influence political dialogue, local actors are paramount. A modus vivendi between Damascus and the Syrian Kurds would stabilize the North and East Syria. It could also kick-start negotiations in other parts of the country. For sure, negotiations will be a slow and painstaking process. But political dialogue cannot wait for a nationwide cessation of hostilities.

Mr. Phillips is the Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. He served as a senior adviser and foreign affairs expert working for the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau of the State Department under President George W. Bush.

Refugees and Migration: Responding to a Global Humanitarian Crisis

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-Conference Remarks, David L. Phillips/
Boston College, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences/
October 26, 2018/

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Photo:Moises Castillo/AP- The Trump administration has adopted a policy towards refugees that undermines America’s historic role as a sanctuary to those fleeing persecution. Its policy on migration is discriminatory and politicized. Trump’s approach discredits American values, undermining the United States as a “shining city on a hill” – a beacon for freedom-loving people everywhere.
It is also a departure from US policy. The United States Refugee Act of 1980 was created to provide a permanent and systematic procedure for the admission to the US of refugees on humanitarian grounds, and to provide provisions for the effective resettlement and absorption of those refugees who are admitted.

The US commitment to refugees was reaffirmed by President Ronald Reagan in 1980 who vowed to “continue America’s tradition as a land that welcomes peoples from other countries” and to “continue to share in the responsibility of welcoming and resettling those who flee oppression.”

Trump has systematically scorned this tradition, hurting people and discrediting America in the eyes of the world. According to the Department of Homeland Security: “What we’re trying to do is make it a fair system, secure the borders, put Americans first and reform it in a way that keeps America safe.”

The need for care and compassion could not be greater. Today, 69 million people are displaced by violent conflict. In callous response, however, the Trump administration has erected a visible and invisible wall that keeps people out and kicks people out through a series of executive orders and procedural moves.

When Trump came into office, the US cap for refugee admissions was 110,000 persons. His first year, Trump reduced the cap to 50,000, before cutting it further to 45,000. The administration announced a further reduction of 30,000 for 2019.

In practice, the numbers are even lower. Nine months after Trump became president, the US had resettled just 14,887 refugees. As of September, just 60 refugees from Syria had been allowed into the United States in 2018.

In a display of populist demagoguery, Trump announced “extreme vetting.” The US always applied a strict security review to refugee applicants, typically took several years to complete.

Trump says the cutback in refugees was needed because of a backlog of 800,000 asylum seekers. In the past, asylum seekers and refugees were treated as two separate categories of people fleeing conflict and persecution. Under international law, countries are obligated to have a procedure in place for reviewing the applications of asylum seekers.

The Trump administration has dramatically increased “law enforcement” to deter people from coming to the US. Since Trump came into office, there has been a sharp rise in the arrests of undocumented immigrants. Families have been separated to deter them from coming. US border officials regularly deny access to the US asylum process, in violation of US law, to migrants who express a fear of returning home or who request asylum.

The Department of Justice has instituted a “zero tolerance” policy for illegal entry. It prosecutes 100% of these cases, including those of asylum-seekers. It is now also government policy to separate children from their parents at the border.

It is nearly impossible for those who have no legal recourse in their home countries, and who are fleeing domestic abuse or gang violence, to secure asylum in the United States or even to make an asylum claim and avoid expedited removal.

The so-called caravan of Hondurans, which Trump says is made up of gang members and Middle Easterners, actually includes mostly of women and children with a well-founded fear of prosecution is their home countries.

The US has adopted other discriminatory administrative measures. The Trump administration eliminated the Central American Minors program, which allowed refugee children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to enter the US to join their parents, who are in the country legally.

It terminated temporary protected status for 200,000 El Salvadorans, 57,000 Hondurans, 50,000 Haitians, and smaller numbers of Nicaraguans, Sudanese and Nepalese.

It ended Deferred Enforced Departure (deferral of removal) for 4,000 Liberians who fled to the United States more than 20 years ago.

US migrant policy is also discriminatory, with executive orders and new administrative regulations affecting how the US welcomes and evaluates immigrants.

The State Department moved to formally require all applicants for visas and legal residency in the US to submit five years of phone records and social media history.

The Commerce Department will add a question inquiring about citizenship to the 2020 Census, a move that will lead to the undercounting of immigrant communities.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it would no longer release pregnant immigrants from detention, paving the way for more pregnant women to be held in lengthy custody awaiting immigration proceedings.

The Justice Department settled a lawsuit with West Palm Beach over sanctuary city policies, requiring that local officials cooperate more fully with federal immigration authorities.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions asserts he could single-handedly overrule requests by an immigrant to pause deportation proceedings until an immigrant is done pursuing legitimate claims to stay in the US.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has new rules tightening the ability of employers to secure high-skilled visas for foreign workers.

Trump vows to build border wall, using military resources if Congress does not appropriate the funds.

My great-grandparents came to the United States in 1898 as refugees from Minsk. Their shtetl was burned to the ground and they were forced to flee the pogroms. They settled in the lower east side of Manhattan. My great-grandmother sewed shirts that my great-grandfather sold them off the back of a pushcart. They built a business that became the largest shirt-maker in America.

They felt joy seeing the Statue of Liberty and being welcomed at Ellis Island. They would be ashamed by Trump’s America, which treats refugees as scum and migrants as criminals.

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David L. Phillips is Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. He is an Overseer of the International Rescue Committee, America’s largest non-sectarian aid agency. His father founded the American Jewish World Service. This article was adapted from remarks delivered at Boston College conference on refugees and migration.