10th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement

10th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement
10th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement
Host country	Indonesia
Date	1–6 September 1992
Venue(s)	Jakarta Convention Center
Cities	Jakarta
Chair	Suharto; (President of Indonesia)
Follows	9th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (Belgrade, Yugoslavia)
Precedes	11th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (Cartagena Colombia)

10th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement on 1–6 September 1992 in Jakarta, Indonesia was the conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement.^[1] Around 100 delegations, including some 60 heads of State or government, participated in the Summit in Jakarta.^[2]

The end of the Cold War and the subsequent violent breakup of Yugoslavia, one of the founding and core members, seemed to bring into question the very existence of the Movement, yet it was preserved during the times of crisis by the politically pragmatic chairmanship of Indonesia.^[3] The Summit concluded that the NAM would create a special panel of economists and experts to investigate appropriate options for debt relief needed by many member needed by many member states.^[4]

Brunei Darussalam joined the Movement at the Jakarta Conference.^[5] Alongside Brunei, Myanmar (left the NAM in 1979^[6]), the Philippines and Uzbekistan also joined the movement, Cambodia had returned as the country was now governed by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia while Argentina left the movement bringing the list of members to 108 countries in total.^[2] Thailand as well as newly independent Armenia and Croatia were granted observer status for the first time (in total there was 8 observers), Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia were granted guest status for the first time (in total there were 18 States and 13 organizations with that status).^[2] Requests by Kyrgyzstan and FYR Macedonia were referred for further consideration.^[2]

Background

The Non-Aligned Movement began with what was called the Asia-Africa Conference held on April 18-24, 1955. This conference was known as the Bandung Conference. This conference was attended by delegates from twenty-nine governments, mostly from Asia – because most African countries were still under colonial control at this time.

The Bandung Conference was convened to discuss peace and the role developing countries in the face of the raging cold war, as well as economic development and the decolonization of countries under colonial occupation. In other words, Bandung was convened out of a desire by the convening countries not to be involved in the East-West ideological confrontation of the Cold War, but rather to focus on national independence struggles and their economic development.

Indonesia itself has a principle of non-aligned movement inspired by the speech of Mohammad Hatta, the first Vice President and the fourth Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, in 1948 entitled "Rowing Between Two Rocks" as a newly born country, Indonesia at that time had to navigate an unfriendly environment due to the Cold War, when two blocks, the United States and the Soviet Union, competed for influence in the region.^[7] Therefore, Indonesia has a principle of non-alignment and without reducing the national interests that are being fought for.

In 1961, based on the principles agreed at the Bandung Conference, the Non-Aligned Movement was officially established at the First Summit held on September 1–6, 1961 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Twenty-five countries. At the conference expressed concern over tensions in the international arena, especially relations between the two superpowers. The conference participants hoped that the superpowers would refrain from using military means to resolve their differences and stated that they did not want to side with either superpower. Non-aligned countries were willing to cooperate with any country to achieve world peace. It was sponsored by Yugoslavia President Josip Broz Tito, India Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Ghana President Kwame Nkrumah, Indonesia President Sukarno, and Egypt President Gamal Abdel Nasser.^[8]

Since has its founding, in line with the principles of the United Nations Charter, NAM has been instrumental in championing international peace and security. Its Members have been a strong voice in the calls for: nuclear disarmament and the establishment of nuclear free zones; condemning and fighting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations; and supporting United Nations' efforts towards peacekeeping and peacebuilding.^[9]

Participants

The following states participated at the Summit in Jakarta;

Member states

Issues on Agenda

Yugoslav Crisis

At the time of the Breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was at the end of its 1989–1992 chairmanship of the movement and was about to transfer its chairmanship to Indonesia. The Yugoslav crisis created logistical and legal issues in the smooth transfer to Indonesian chairmanship. At the time of the September 1–6, 1992 conference in Jakarta, the Yugoslav Wars had begun. Former Yugoslav republics of Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina joined the United Nations as new member states while UN imposed sanctions against Yugoslavia. New Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (consisting of Serbia and Montenegro) claimed to be the sole legal successor of the Socialist Yugoslavia (which had been rejected in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 777 a couple of days following the conference). Non-Aligned Movement movement was unable to influence developments in Yugoslavia in any significant way and was mostly responding to them.^[2]

The Yugoslav Crisis created an unprecedented situation in which the chairperson of the movement (Dobrica Ćosić who was in London at the time) was absent from the conference to transfer the chairmanship to Indonesia.^[6] The Yugoslav delegation, without any clear instructions from Belgrade, was led by Montenegrin diplomat Branko Lukovac.^[6] The delegation agreed that the new post-Yugoslav states could participate in the meeting with the status of observers despite the fact that Belgrade did not recognize them at the time.^[6] In the partially chaotic circumstances, the Yugoslav delegation (de facto Serbian and Montenegrin delegation) managed to achieve results which the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Amr Moussa, described as good for Yugoslavia and better than what should be expected from the United Nations.^[6] The movement decided not to expel Yugoslavia from the movement. Instead, to leave the Yugoslav nametag and the empty chair, which was kept until the beginning of the XXI century when, after the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dropped its claim on sole succession of the Socialist Yugoslavia.^[6] The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was not to be invited to conferences except if Yugoslav issues were discussed.^[6]

References

^ "10th Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement" (PDF). World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues. James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. 1992.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Syatauw, J.J.G. (1994). "The Non-Aligned Movement at the Crossroads—The Jakarta Summit Adapting to the Post-Cold War Era". Asian Yearbook of International Law: 129–162. doi:10.1163/9789004400627_009. ISBN 9780792327080.
^ Schiavone, Giuseppe (2008). International Organizations: A dictionary and directory (Seventh ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-230-57322-2.
^ "Non-Aligned Movement Decides It Is Still Relevant". The New York Times. 7 September 1992. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
^ "The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Brunei). n.d. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Jakovina, Tvrtko (2011). Treća strana Hladnog rata. Fraktura. ISBN 978-953-266-203-0.
^ "Rowing between two rocks: Principles of Indonesian international relations since the Cold War". Retrieved 6 July 2023.
^ "Non-Aligned Movement | Definition, Mission, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
^ "History Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)". Retrieved 6 July 2023.