The 4th Meeting of the Hague Rule of Law Meeting (Brief Report)

The meeting discussed the topic of Civil-Military Cooperation in Building the Rule of Law focusing on Afghanistan as a case study. Many members of the HRoLN participated in this annual meeting, alongside (guest) experts who were invited to attend this particular meeting due to their relevant experience and expertise. Altogether, the meeting was attended by approximately 60 persons, reflecting a good balance between academics and practitioners, as well as between the civilian and the military sides of the concerned cooperation. The meeting featured approximately fifteen presentations in four sessions, with the participants actively engaging in discussion subsequent to the various expert presentations.

A report on this meeting is currently being drafted and will be made available as soon as it has been finalised. For the time being it can be said that while the speakers and participants expressed a variety of views on the topics at hand, the first and foremost observation is that none of the participants advocated any of the extreme views, i.e. that the military should never engage in activities aimed at building the rule of law, or, on the other hand, that it should always take part in such activities or focus its attention on them. In other words, while some participants favoured civil-military cooperation in building the rule of law more than others, there seemed to have been a clear consensus that, under certain circumstances, foreign forces deployed in (post)conflict situations can – and at times should – engage in (re)building the rule of law in the concerned state and should cooperate with civilian actors to achieve this end. This leaves us with the task – in itself certainly a challenging one – of how to strike the right balance between the (potentially) conflicting considerations. This can be attempted by asking a threefold question:

-    When?
 (In terms of the chronology of the conflict or its aftermath: Is civil-military in building the rule of law advisable, or even necessary?)

-    What?
(In which kinds of rule of law activities should the military become involved and cooperate to this end with civilian actors?)

-    How?
(How can civil-military cooperation or relation (in building the rule of law) be most efficiently and usefully coordinated?)
These questions will be dealt with in the meeting’s final report.

For more information, please contact Morly Frishman, at morly.frishman@hiil.org.