The Canadian NATO Parliamentary
Association has the honour to present its REPORT on the Spring Session of the
NATO Parliamentary Assembly, held in Oslo, Norway, May 22-26, 2009. The
Canadian delegation was represented by Senator Raynell Andreychuk, Senator Jane
Cordy, Senator Joseph A. Day, Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, and Mr. Claude
Bachand, M.P.
Overview
Prior to the commencement of the official meetings the
Canadian delegation met with Ambassador Jillian Stirk and officials from the
Canadian Embassy in Oslo. Ambassador Stirk briefed the delegation on a variety
of issues relevant to the upcoming sessions as well as the role of Norway in
NATO and Norway’s particular concerns with respect to the issues that would be
discussed during the coming days.
The Spring Session was opened by the President of the
NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) Mr. John Tanner. Mr. Tanner noted that
NATO is a team with different strengths and weaknesses, but the most important
aspect of a team is that it works together despite the differences of
respective members. What is most important, according to Mr. Tanner, is that
Alliance members share the same values and they live up to their obligations
and commitments. He went on to argue that what the Alliance was fighting in
Afghanistan was a force that rejects “our principles.” He went on to argue that
tolerance of those who seek to undermine our common values is not a virtue, and
that Alliance members need to explain to their constituents why “we are in
Afghanistan.” He suggested that the NATO PA could play an important role in
that regard.
The Assembly was then addressed by Mr. Jens Stoltenburg,
Prime Minister of Norway. Mr. Stoltenburg spoke about the key security issues
facing NATO. These included the risks of nuclear proliferation (with a
specific emphasis on the North Korean nuclear program), disarmament and
Afghanistan. The Prime Minister also drew attention to recent developments in
the High North and to some of the conflicting aspiration and policies of the
main players in the region. He argued on behalf of the need for increased
cooperation among governments to manage the increasing human activity in the
region.
Next, delegates heard from Mr. Kai Eide, Special
Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Afghanistan and Head
of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Mr. Eide
stressed the positive developments in Afghanistan. He said that there has been
a breakthrough in regional cooperation in the past year. However, there are still
challenges to be addressed such as strengthening the Afghan Army, reducing
corruption and increasing aid effectiveness. The speaker noted that more
emphasis should be placed on capacity building. Mr. Eide’s presentation was
followed by a question and answer period.
The Assembly then heard from Mrs. Jozefina Topalli,
Speaker of the Parliament of Albania and Mr. Luka Bebić, Speaker of the
Parliament of Croatia. Mrs. Topalli argued that NATO’s Strasbourg Summit
represented Albania’s most significant event, besides its independence. Noting
that Albania’s dream of NATO membership had been fulfilled. Mr. Bebić
thanked the Assembly for its instrumental role in the timely ratification of
Croatia’s NATO accession.
After adoption of the report of the Treasurer, Senator
Pierre Claude Nolin, Members entered into a discussion with the Permanent
Members of the North Atlantic Council. Prior to a general discussion, Mr. Jaap
de Hoop Scheffer, Secretary General of NATO, addressed the Assembly. The
Secretary General noted that NATO’s forces were currently deployed in
Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq and the Mediterranean. In addition, the Alliance was
carrying out counter piracy operations off the Horn of Africa, thereby
demonstrating NATO’s flexibility.
He also went on to note that, politically, NATO has also
been very active. France had recently been reincorporated into NATO’s military
structure, and the Alliance has new members. These developments were
important, he suggested, because the Alliance is increasingly a forum for
political debate. However, the Secretary General also noted that this did not
mean that everything was going smoothly. The Alliance was facing three major
challenges: solidarity, institutional challenges, and challenges relating to
resources. These challenges could now be addressed in the new Strategic
Concept.
According to the Secretary General, the new Strategic
Concept will need to describe the new strategic environment, it must provide a
new understanding of what constitutes a threat, and it must reconfirm the
consolidation of Europe. Finally, the new Strategic Concept needs to address
NATO’s relationship with Russia. He concluded by saying that the input of
NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly was important because of the collective expertise
of this body.
During the Session, one of the major topics discussed by
the Political Committee was NATO’s relations with Russia. Senator Raynell
Andreychuk (Canada) presented a report entitled “Resettling Relations with
Russia”. Andreychuk argued that NATO needed to explore venues to engage Russia
constructively and that it should use all platforms at its disposal. The
report identified points of convergence that could serve as the basis for a
reinvigorated dialogue with Moscow. Further, it examined Russia’s strategic
priorities and domestic challenges, its strategic priorities and domestic
challenges, and proposed areas upon which to build a mutually beneficial
partnership. Senator Andreychuk went on to argue that a successful NATO
–Russia partnership was essential for tackling a host of contemporary security
challenges, including instability in Afghanistan and Central Asia, terrorism,
piracy, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and arms control.
In Afghanistan, she argued, Russia could facilitate the
provision of supplies to NATO’s International Assistance Force (ISAF) through
the expansion of over flight rights and the accommodation of military materiel
transit routes. Andreychuk concluded, with the proviso that closer NATO-Russia
cooperation not be directed against anyone nor come at the expense of any NATO
member or Partner country.
One of the more poignant presentations was that of
Major-General Patrick Cammaert (Retired) of the Netherlands who spoke on the
problem of violence against women and girls during conflict situations. The
presentation was given during a meeting on gender-specific issues organized by
the Norwegian Delegation. Cammaert argued that “advancing women in our armed
forces and speaking of the sexual violence suffered by the civil population is
not just a gender-specific issue; it is a crucial security issue, which must be
treated as a matter of extreme urgency having regard to the extent of the
phenomenon.” In his view, “the scale and brutality with which women and girls
are treated during armed conflicts are beyond imagination, and fall within the
scope of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” All participants were in
agreement that it was essential for the international community to join forces
and take action to protect the civil population. The recent Afghan law on the
family signed, by President Karzai, was noted during the discussion as one more
example of the lack of serious treatment of the problem. Many Parliamentarians
expressed their indignation regarding the weak response by the international
community to this matter. It was not the role of the Alliance, and indeed,
contrary to its principles, to tolerate any form of peace that was detrimental
to the “real” and “absolute” security of women.
During its deliberations the Defence and Security
Committee was briefed by Espen Barth Eide, State Secretary, Norwegian Defence
Ministry, on Norway’s Security Outlook – Strengthening the Relevance of NATO.
Espen Barth Eide reviewed the outcome of the NATO summit from the Norwegian
point of view, as well as the evolving strategic context NATO must adapt to.
He outlined Norwegian proposals on strengthening the relevance of NATO, both at
“home” and “away” and its approach to the high north. Finally, he outlined
Norwegian views on the ongoing NATO involvement in Afghanistan. Eide suggested
that NATO would continue to be the cornerstone of Norwegian security, and the
primary multilateral security forum for dialogue between the U.S., Canada, and
Europe. He further suggested that NATO should focus both on the challenges
facing it at strategic distances and on those confronting the Alliance closer
to home.
Eide suggested that there was a need to readdress the
broad set of issues pertaining to NATO’s tasks and responsibilities closer to
home. The situation in the High North is at the top of the Norwegian
government’s policy agenda. Norway, he noted, wants to ensure that NATO also
increases its focus on this issue. In doing so, it must also be willing to
take the concerns of Russia into account and find some means of cooperation.
The Committee also heard from Ambassador Gentilini, NATO
senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan. On a positive note he suggested
that life in Kabul was dominated by politics rather than security concerns. He
also went on to suggest that one of the most important priorities was to
properly resource the existing long-term Afghan based strategy. Of particular
importance here was support and training for the Afghan national police.
After discussion, the Committee went on to consider its
various draft reports.
The Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security heard
from Elisabeth Rasmusson, Secretary General Norwegian Refugee Council on
Civil-Military Relations in Conflict Areas. Rasmusson argued that Afghanistan
provides velar evidence of the need for an undisputed division of labor between
military and humanitarian actors in conflict situations while the military
focuses on security stabilization and counter insurgency efforts, humanitarian
actors undertake their activities following four main principles: humanity,
neutrality, impartiality, and independence. Humanitarian organizations need to
act and be perceived as neutral by local authorities and populations to be able
to perform their work.
The Committee also heard from Jean-Francois Bureau,
Assistant Secretary General Public Diplomacy Division NATO. Mr. Bureau spoke
on the subject of “public diplomacy and the younger generation.” He reminded
members that, at the Bucharest Summit, NATO Heads of State and Government had
tasked NATO to foster public support and understanding of NATO operations
through timely, accurate, responsive and interactive communication.
Thereafter, the Committee went on to the consideration of its various draft
reports.
The Science and Technology Committee began with the
consideration of the draft Special Report: Climate Change and National
Security. The report was presented by Senator Pierre Claude Nolin (Canada),
who started his introductory remarks by warning that the world is likely to get
warmer by at least four degrees Celsius within the next century. He also went
on to note that scientists warn of the possibility of an abrupt climate change
due to the weakening of the oceanic current circulation or release of enormous
volumes of methane gas from thawing permafrost. This could cause crisis and
conflicts involving food and water, more extreme weather events, and the spread
of tropical diseases. The Rapporteur stressed the responsibility of the NATO
PA in ensuring that the political will needed to address climate challenge will
hold steady.
The Committee also heard from Erik Solheim, Minister of
the Environment and International Development of Norway, who argued that there
is general agreement that climate change will be a major security challenge in
the future. And from Dr. William Potter, Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar Professor
of Nonproliferation Studies and Director of the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies, Monetary Institute of International Studies. Dr.
Potter addressed the issue of “The State of the Nonproliferation Regime. In
his comments he noted that despite the fatalistic forecasts about proliferation
cascades, the pace of proliferation remains much less than anticipated.
Finally, members were given a presentation by Mr. Neil
Davis, Defence Analytical Service and Advice, UK Ministry of Defence. He spoke
on the subject of “meeting the challenges of limitations in defence budgets and
escalating costs through collaboration and cooperation.”
The Economics and Security Committee heard from Josette
Sheeran, Executive Director, United Nations World Food Program (WFP), on the
Food Security Nexus: Addressing the Security Aspects of Food-Related Crisis
and Emergencies. Ms. Sheeran pointed to several NATO operations in which
feeding hungry communities has been integral to ensuring that security crises
do not evolve into humanitarian catastrophes. NATO assistance to refugees in
Kosovo helped contain violence and instability in the 1990s. Today, Alliance support
to Afghanistan helps sustain WFP School feeding programs in 6,000 schools,
reaching 2.2 million school children. Ms. Sheeran further explored the
humanitarian and political fallout from the previous year’s food price spike,
which triggered riots in over 30 countries and cut in half the WFP’s capacity
to distribute food.
The Committee also heard from Professor Dag Harald
Claes, Department of Political Science University of Oslo on the subject of
Global Energy Market Trends – Heyday or Doomsday? Professor Claes examined the
recent spike in oil prices and particularly the $120 a barrel price increase
2003 and 2004. He noted that the market price was unrelated to demand shifts.
It was rather a consequence of politically induced market distortions related
to conflict and cartel behavior. Thus, the volatility of oil prices had very
little to do with the real oil reserve base. Oil production costs are a much
more reliable marker for reserve shortages. Claes argued that, disregarding
recent market distortions, the past twenty years had seen a steady decline in
production costs for oil.
Respectfully
submitted,
Mr. Claude Bachand, M.P.
Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association (NATO PA)