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EU Constitution Risks Politicising Aid - NGOs - Global policy Forum EU Constitution Risks Politicising Aid
By Genevieve Butler
AlertNet
October 24, 2003Europe’s new constitution could turn humanitarian aid into a political tool, the European Union’s top aid official said, urging ministers to rethink a draft treaty that blurs the boundaries between relief work and foreign policy. Poul Nielson, the European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, said a draft constitutional treaty to be discussed in Brussels later this month risked politicising aid and could put relief workers in harm’s way by linking humanitarian assistance with security. “The word neutrality is not clearly included, and the indirect reference to foreign policy, and in general the way things are placed in the text, is a problem,” Nielson told AlertNet. While NGOs welcome the draft as the first EU treaty to include specific provisions for humanitarian aid, they worry it could compromise the independence of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), the bloc’s aid-implementing body. With an annual budget of 500 million euros ($590 million), the European Union is the world’s biggest provider of short-term humanitarian aid. Nielson said aid and politics should be kept at arm’s length.
“It is tempting for foreign ministers here and there to grab humanitarian aid as a nice thing to be identified with, and it is a temptation also for them to use it as a high-profile element in political circumstances and to use it as a tool in crisis management,” Nielson said. He also expressed concern that the constitution’s policies on security and defence could allow the military to carry out humanitarian and evacuation missions. They could also enlist humanitarian aid in the “fight against terrorism”. “In Afghanistan, American and British soldiers in civilian clothes, but armed, have been delivering humanitarian assistance in villages at the same time they were gathering intelligence, thereby endangering others who are genuine humanitarian workers,” he said. “We see attacks on international and local Afghan humanitarian workers, which I’m sorry to say are very much like what we have been warning could happen.” Nielson said there should be “no link whatsoever” between humanitarian aid and efforts to combat extremist groups such as al Qaeda. “We carry out humanitarian assistance because there is a need, full stop,” he said.PROBLEMS BAKED IN
Neilson urged member states to redraft the treaty's articles on humanitarian aid. “Amending and correcting the draft proposal is one obvious thing that could clarify this,” he said. “Before they concluded, I gave them (the drafters of the constitution) all the changes they ought to make in order to avoid having these problems baked into the draft constitution. “They didn’t do this. Now it is up to the member states to do that repair work.” EU foreign affairs ministers will get a chance to discuss the humanitarian aid section of the draft when they meet in Brussels on 27 October. Italy, which holds the rotating EU presidency, aims to reach an agreement on the constitution at the next formal European Council meeting in Brussels in early December. VOICE, a network of 90 European NGOs, said the stakes would be high at the October meeting. “The constitution could change the way humanitarian aid is conducted, under which criteria and by whom,” VOICE Director Kathrin Schick said. “The linkage of politics and military and security tasks and objectives are now suddenly very close to humanitarian aid. When you use humanitarian aid inside that framework the nature of aid changes.”
NGOs also oppose the treaty’s creation of a European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps, aimed at involving young Europeans in aid delivery. Although the constitution has yet to be agreed, the European Parliament has already earmarked funding for the project. Dominic Crowley, head of Concern Worldwide’s emergencies unit, said the volunteer corps would undermine efforts to professionalise humanitarian intervention. Those efforts include improving training and support and sharpening strategy. “The constitution seems to stand all that on its head,” Crowley said. “It seems to say, ‘Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but we’re also going to bring in young, inexperienced volunteers.’ “It just seems so contrary to the drive and direction of the humanitarian community, that you just have to wonder why it is being done at this time and what is the expected outcome.” The EU’s Nielson called the idea of a volunteer corps “somewhat romantic and ill-advised”. “We have the implementing organisations we need and we have a nice, well organised working relationship between U.N. agencies and NGOs who take full responsibility for their actions,” he said. “This balance is good and should not be upset by a corps created by us, which would not fit into this well established and functioning system.”STRATEGIC INTERESTS
VOICE worries that funding under the constitution could be directed to areas of geopolitical and strategic interest to the EU, rather than to the “forgotten crises” that ECHO is currently focusing on, such as conflict in Sudan and peace-building in Somalia. “Up until now ECHO has been perceived as neutral and independent and regarded as doing a good job,” Crowley said. “By absorbing ECHO into foreign affairs and external relations, you potentially could be losing that neutrality. “It is so unclear. The anxiety that exists is that instead of using funding for humanitarian intervention by NGOs and the U.N., it could be used for what the military describe as their own humanitarian intervention.” But Nielson said ECHO’s autonomy would not be jeopardised. “We agreed to keep ECHO the way it is and stress the need for respecting the special character of this work,” he said. “ECHO’s track record is credible and we intend to keep it like that.” The draft constitution provides that humanitarian aid operations will comply with international humanitarian law, particularly the principles of impartiality and non-discrimination, but omits specific mention of the principle of neutrality. Nielson said it was not too late to clarify the problems posed by the text, and safeguard respect for humanitarian principles. “We have to continue arguing and never tire on this point,” he said. “There is a whole international community out there working with this professionally. For us as a main funder, we need to be correctly positioned in that international discussion.”
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