Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-13-Speech-2-433"
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"en.20071113.38.2-433"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I will try not to repeat the excellent points the Commissioner has just made.
As regards the use of military resources – and the Commissioner was very clear on this – military resources, especially logistical resources – I am of course thinking of helicopters that that can be crucial in a front-line intervention in a natural disaster – can only be used as a last resort and within the framework of a mandate, so that their use is extremely clearly defined. There is always the risk that they are party to the conflict or considered to be party to an armed conflict, and it is thus important to look at this in great detail. The same applies to civil protection: here, too, we hope that the use of civil protection assets will always be an exception and take place within the boundaries of a clear framework to ensure that the humanitarian effort does not become blurred by the intervention of actors who are not directly front-line actors.
Here in the European Parliament we obviously support the reforms within the UN, with one stipulation, Commissioner. We hope that the funds to be allocated to the CERF are additional funds. There is no reason why our institutions should be deprived of the ability to be a driving force through the ECHO Directorate-General in particular. If the Member States or other donors want to contribute to the United Nations funds for front-line intervention, that must not be to the detriment of what is already being done and should be over and above this.
Another aspect that is very important to us is food aid. It has naturally been incorporated in the humanitarian aid framework, but we wanted to emphasise that it can sometimes have a harmful impact by disrupting local markets. When food aid is offered but not properly thought out, it can violate the
principle: ‘do not harm’. It is important to learn from the example of other countries that are very well-known for this in their humanitarian actions so as not to make the same mistakes.
Finally, I want to talk about the responsibility to protect. What the Commissioner said was extremely important and we fully support your comments on the right of interference and the need to stop and think, and on complete respect for the humanitarian effort, which should possibly result in consideration of sanctions at EU level. We have at last secured our representative and thank you for pointing that out.
We simply want this consensus report to incorporate not just a set of principles but also a roadmap with which we will have – and this has been agreed – an annual meeting so that Parliament, too, can play a full role.
We are evolving in a completely new landscape. Insofar as the Constitution had provided for it and the simplified Treaty will incorporate it, we are going to put together a full Union policy, the humanitarian aid policy, and, as the Commissioner stated, we are the world’s largest source of aid.
It in this landscape that this report must be examined. It is not just a response to a Commission communication; it is a working document on the consensus achieved with my colleagues. For the first time the three institutions are going to publish a joint document. It is the first time since the adoption of the Regulation on humanitarian aid in 1996. It was time for a well thought-out text that provides a general political declaration on humanitarian aid for our three institutions.
I would like to emphasise the excellent collaboration involved in this discussion, both in the Committee on Development, where my report was unanimously adopted, and with the European Commission and the Portuguese Presidency.
I would also like to emphasise that the Members of this House supported 12 specific points, plus a budgetary point. I would like to outline them here in order to explain, first of all, the extent to which we support them and why, and in particular to say that these points were incorporated in the consensus and that the European Parliament was pleased with all of the points it requested.
As regards the first point, closely linked to the previous topic of natural disasters, we wanted to see a new definition of humanitarian action because of course there are armed conflicts that, by their very nature, cannot necessarily be predicted and there are disasters that, paradoxically, are starting to become predictable, as a result of climate change in particular. We know that in some countries there are going to be disasters, even if we do not know when exactly: the floods in South-East Asia are one example. We thus hope that the boundaries of humanitarian action can be put in place much earlier, with training of personnel and pre-positioning. Then, at a later stage, we can clearly see the grey area that can exist between what is still part of the humanitarian effort but is already becoming reconstruction and will eventually become development assistance.
We were very firm in our belief that these boundaries should be extended, and this would have budgetary implications, which I will discuss later. Another important element of these boundaries, as far as Parliament is concerned, are the forgotten crises, which are forgotten in the minds of the public, but not forgotten by those who live in the midst of them. For example, in Colombia there are almost as many displaced people as there are in Darfur, and that is something that warrants our attention.
The second point is of course the definition of humanitarian aid and its principles, which were reiterated by the Commissioner: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, independence. The consensus defines these principles for action, on which our institution’s humanitarian action is based.
Finally, we highlighted the most vulnerable groups, with specific reference to women, gender and the specific role women play in the field of humanitarian action. We also wanted to emphasise the role of local actors and civil society. I will come back to this topic when discussing food aid."@en1
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"primo non nocere"1
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