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A body consisting of representatives of two states designed to keep under review some issue that is a more or less permanent feature of their relationship. Often quite large in membership and provided with a co-chair by each side, the joint commission usually meets on a regular basis although the interval between meetings may be a year or even more.
A body established to oversee the implementation of an agreement, especially one produced by a diplomatic breakthrough on a narrow front between still-hostile parties. Joint commissions of this sort are composed preponderantly of specialist representatives of the parties concerned and may include a neutral element as well. If the disputed issue concerned armed personnel, the ameliorative body might be called a joint military commission or committee. Now an important, though surprisingly unremarked, feature of diplomacy, such bodies (like peacekeeping operations of a traditional kind) are evidence that the world has taken to heart the wisdom contained in the following ricordo of Guicciardini: ‘it is not enough to begin things, give them their direction, and get them moving; you must also follow them up and stay with them until the end.’ The joint commission created under the Angola/Namibia accords of December 1988 played a critical role in keeping them on course after the renewal of fighting in northern Namibia early in the following year. See also eminent persons group; international organization. |
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