Balkans 2010: Independent Task Force Report

After more than a decade of extensive involvement to stop atrocities, mediate agreements, and create conditions for sustainable peace, the international community is looking to wind down its commitment in the Balkans. The Center for Preventive Action, a conflict prevention initiative of the Council on Foreign Relations, formed a high-level independent task force to develop tangible and practical recommendations focused on specific actions that will use the international community’s resources wisely to implement targeted western interests. This report emphasizes measures to end ethnic violence, guarantee security for all communities, and allow persons displaced by conflict to return to their homes. It also offers concrete proposals to achieve a sound institutional and legal basis for the development of free market economies and regional economic integration. If followed, these actions will put the Balkan states on the path toward integration with Europe and allow the international community to reduce its presence in an orderly fashion by 2010.