To Representatives of the Austrian National Council (Parliament) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

There is a great deal our countries have in common. Not the least is the preoccupation both our countries share about peace and security in the world today. That is why I am delighted to address this audience, at the joint invitation of the Austrian Parliament and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

For Canadians, our membership in the OSCE is an important element of our partnership with Europe. The OSCE symbolizes our hopes for Europe, a completely free Europe, free of dividing lines, where every region is headed for prosperity and stability.

These were the aspirations that led to the signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975. How pleased the visionaries of that era would be to see the results of their efforts: an OSCE dedicated to a Europe where every citizen can live in peace and dignity.

Our membership is another affirmation of the importance Canadians attach to reasoned dialogue and collective action as the means to international peace and human dignity.

The recent events in Kosovo and elsewhere in the Balkans have brought home to us the strength of the values which underpin our partnership with Europe. And they support our belief that humanitarian and human rights concerns are not just matters internal to a given state. They are fundamental to peace and security in this region and in the world. And we need institutions that can effectively protect and promote them.

In two hundred days, we turn over a thousand pages of world history.

During this period, Europe contributed extraordinary gifts to the civilized legacy of the world. European scientists created tools, European philosophers forged ideas, and European artists conceived treasures that make up the sinews and the spirit of much of the world today. Europeans have created societies based on democratic values and the rule of law, vigorous economic initiative and creative artistic imagination.

But Europe has also been the stage for some of the worst moments of humanity during this past millennium. The tens of millions of victims of war and genocide during this century alone are testimony to that reality.

Together, we have worked to build a new Europe on those ashes. And there has been so much success - NATO, the OSCE, the reconciliation of West and East. But the task is far from complete. Recent events in the Balkans certainly make that clear. The crisis we have passed through reminds us that democracy, tolerance and compassion cannot be taken for granted -- even in Europe. There are times when they must be defended.

Michael Ignatieff, a Canadian who has written extensively on the Balkans and who is the son of one of our great diplomats, put it well when he wrote that Kosovo was "a trial by fire of everything we believe...It [was] a fight to outlaw the use of ethnic cleansing, massacre and pillage as instruments of domestic policy by any state."

These are concerns that brought Canada into this action - as part of the NATO air attack force. They motivated our response to the plight of the refugees and internally displaced people. Canadians have accepted more than 6,000 Kosovars in Canada, and donated nearly $50 million for international humanitarian activities in the region. The same concerns will keep Canada engaged in the search for a true peace - through the presence of 1,300 peacekeepers and in any other way that we can make a positive difference.

The journey toward reconciliation and re-development in Kosovo, in the rest of Yugoslavia and in the Balkan region has begun. The first priority has been to bring an end to the cycle of violence and repression which has prevailed up to now. But it is only the beginning.

This journey has at its heart the safe return of all refugees and displaced persons -- whatever their ethnic or religious origin. It requires the implementation of a plan to ensure that they can live in peace and mutual respect with their neighbours.

This requires the deployment of civil and security personnel to guarantee the plan, including a strong civilian police force which will take on not only direct policing, but also training the police of the future. We will devote attention to democratization, to the organization of elections and to the creation of a strong civil society. We will work to de-mine the region. Special care will have to be taken to create a framework for the full protection of human rights, and particularly minority rights.

The OSCE will have an important role to play in the establishment of civil society in Kosovo. And Canada will work with it every step of the way.

Finally, the leadership of Yugoslavia will have to change. There can be no sustainable peace in the Balkans when indicted war criminals hold office. President Milosevic and other indicted Yugoslav leaders are entitled to a fair trial and I hope that they will seize that occasion to defend themselves, paving the way for a new leadership to take the helm. The people of Serbia - and all Yugoslavia - want and deserve help rebuilding their country. But that help can only come to Yugoslavia when it takes action to rejoin the family of modern, free and democratic nations.

Russia has played a crucial role in the diplomatic search for a solution in the Balkans -- another reminder that old antagonisms can be overcome on the way to new and productive relationships. Events in the Balkans have reinvigorated its relationship with Europe, and re-engaged Russia in the development of a European security architecture for the 21st century.

These will all have crucial relevance as we concentrate on the effort to rebuild the Balkan economy and to move away from ethnic hatred toward a future based on democratic values and respect for human rights.

And just as the world learned from the earlier calamities of this century, by building lasting structures such as the European Union, the United Nations, NATO and the OSCE, we must also learn from Kosovo.

Together, we must determine how existing structures can be renewed. We know that new thinking is required.

On the international stage, Canada and Norway - along with other countries - have been advancing the concept of human security. It places a new emphasis on the security of individuals.

Two initiatives in particular, the campaign to eliminate anti-personnel land mines and the creation of an International Criminal Court, have shown the power of the new approach. On the land mines campaign, in particular, Canada and Austria have worked closely together. And I am proud, deeply proud, of the work we have accomplished together with so many other countries. Not just in establishing the Ottawa Treaty, but in working to help remove those killing machines in countries around the world.

And the work of the International Criminal Court is another innovation that deserves support. Yesterday, I had the privilege to meet with Simon Wiesenthal. His brave struggle for more than half a century is one we can all learn from. So is the silence and inaction that too often - in too many countries, including Canada - met his dramatic and massive evidence. We have tried, in recent years, to correct that record in the hope that justice delayed is better than justice denied.

Today in Europe, and around the world, we have the opportunity to ensure that the mistakes that followed the Second World War are not repeated following the Balkan crisis. I am proud that it is a Canadian, Judge Louise Arbour, who has broken new ground and set a new standard in the prosecution of war criminals. The International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia is making it possible to bring justice to the perpetrators of the most sickening atrocities that this continent has seen since 1945. And by indicting a sitting Head of State, Madame Arbour and the Tribunal have shown that no one is above the law. And that the trappings of title and position cannot be a protection for those who commit crimes against humanity.

I hope these indictments will be acted on soon.

It was Victor Hugo who said: "No marching army is as great as an idea whose time has come."

I believe this is almost literally the case with the new focus on the security of individuals. There are no shortage of issues for this agenda: targeting civilians in war, gross violations of human rights, small arms, terrorism, organized crime, and many others. The question ought to be to what degree is the safety of people at risk? Clearly, with Kosovo, the case was made.

In December 1998, with Viktor Klima, in his role as Chair of the EU Council, Canada and the EU launched an international effort to promote attention to this human agenda. Our approach seeks to put more focus in foreign policy where it belongs - on people.

As UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said recently: in a world where globalization has placed so many limits on the scope of the actions that states can undertake, the "last right of States cannot and must not be the right to enslave, persecute and torture their own citizens".

This human approach seeks recognition -- by neighbours and the whole international community -- that these issues cannot long stay hidden. It seeks to focus international attention when it is still possible to improve a situation with dialogue and assistance, before they reach the boundary where action is inevitable.

Ladies and gentlemen, the focus on human security is an expression of the things that Canada, Austria and Europe share in common. It is a reflection of our common values. It is a lesson we have learned the hard way. It is a beacon of hope for our collective future.

And a worthy way to end one millennium, and begin another.