Brussels, 19/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption (by 399 votes to 25 and 27 abstentions) of the report by British Conservative Nirj Deva on post-conflict reconstruction and development, the European Parliament supports the concept affirmed by the United Nations of the “duty to protect”. It also underlines the fact that the European Union and its member states are bound by this concept, and places emphasis on the fact that the “duty to protect” should be considered as a means to promote human security. It takes the view that the concept strengthens the responsibility of each government towards protecting its own citizens, underlining that the prime responsibility for the prevention of genocide, war crime, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity perpetrated against a population is incumbent upon the state itself.
The Parliament considers there are two phases in the consolidation of peace and the construction of the state: - the stabilisation phase when emphasis is placed on security, public law and order and the provision of basic services; and the second phase of state construction which relates to governance and the institutions that take this in hand. It expresses the following reservations, however: (a) the second phase cannot take place until the country is stabilised, given that the institutions created before stabilisation will reflect the nature of the conflict and not what the country needs for stable and lasting peace; (b) during the phase of building the state, it is important to make compromises in order to come into line with the norms and expectations of citizens of the nation in question and not with the ideals of parties intervening; (c) as the state's construction phase moves forward, the intervening parties transfer the institutions determined to the national authorities and it is possible that, at this stage, there are drawbacks. These must be accepted as long as they are not a fundamental problem for the country's progress. The Parliament highlights the need to strengthen civil-military coordination, considers that in post-conflict situations the transition from military to civil security must be carried out as rapidly as possible and that the international forces should be gradually completed and replaced by a national civil and regional police force that is professionally trained, ensuring high priority is given to equitable application of the rule of law and administrative procedures towards all categories involved in the conflict. It calls for promotion of human rights, through support to training of the armed forces and police in human rights (mainly campaigns for the defence of human rights and civil rights in favour of the sections of the population affected). It calls for a strengthened role to be given to personnel training establishments to train law enforcement forces and the military police in international norms for law and order, for the creation of a code of conduct for the security of personnel, which marks the dividing line between police and army, the creation of mediation offices for human rights and committees on human rights as well as the training in human rights of regional officials and authorities. It underlines that it is essential to continue to develop the military capabilities of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) so that the European Union and its member states are better able to contribute to the post-conflict stabilisation and development of societies. The Parliament underlines the importance of the security sector reform process (SSR) and of disarmament, demobilisation and reinsertion (DDR) as essential elements allowing assurance of long term peace and sustainable development. It invites the Council and the Commission to speed up implementation on the ground of the Community political framework for SSR and of the European support concept concerning DDR, so as to increase the relevance, consistency and effectiveness of activities conducted by the European Union in these fields.
The majority of victims in conflict situations are killed by small arms and light weapons (SALW). The Parliament therefore invites the Commission and Council to urgently follow up the decision taken by the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 20 May 2008 regarding Community competence in combating SALW proliferation by speeding up implementation of the European strategy against the accumulation and illegal trafficking of SALW and their munitions, and by strengthening planning of Community aid, in this case from the European Development Fund and the stability instrument, in order to dedicate them to SALW-related programmes on the ground. (O.J./transl.jl)