| The former Yugoslavia's steady slip into civil war in the early 1990s caught the global community off guard, and by the time regional and multilateral institutions responded, it was too late. Yet, there was substantial evidence in the 1970s and 1980s of significant human and minority rights abuses by the Federal Government, particularly in hotspots such as Kosovo. These abuses were evident enough to suggest a break-up of the entire nation was inevitable or unavoidable.;This thesis argues that a conflict prevention strategy, particular to ethnic and minority rights issues, must be incorporated into the international political process. Intergovernmental organisations such as the United Nations must work with non-governmental organisations to develop a system which alerts them to potential ethnic hot spots. In order for this early warning system to work, crises must be detected and dealt with before they develop into disputes, violence, and war. The monitoring and analysis of human rights abuses should be used to help predict and prevent, through early-warning avenues, the outbreak of ethnic turmoil. |
