Activities of Nirj DEVA related to 2008/2097(INI)
Reports (1)
REPORT Report on development perspectives for peace-building and nation building in post-conflict situations PDF (281 KB) DOC (176 KB)
Amendments (70)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Indent -1 (new)
Indent -1 (new)
- having regard to international law underpinning the Treaty of Westphalia, and the Montevideo Convention which defined the notion of the "State" and later President Woodrow Wilson's 14 points which defined "self determination" as a fundamental characteristic and prerequisite of a "State",
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Indent -1a (new)
Indent -1a (new)
- having regard to the 1907 Hague Regulations, the four Geneva Conventions from 1949 and their 1977 Additional Protocols;
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Indent -1b (new)
Indent -1b (new)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Indent -1c (new)
Indent -1c (new)
- having regard to all United Nations human rights conventions and the optional protocols thereto,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Indent -1d (new)
Indent -1d (new)
- having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the two optional protocols thereto,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Indent -1e (new)
Indent -1e (new)
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Indent -1f (new)
Indent -1f (new)
- having regard to the European Convention on Human Rights and the protocols thereto,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Indent 2a (new)
Indent 2a (new)
- having regard to UN peace keeping and peace making interventions in the Congo (1962), Namibia (1988), El Salvador (1992), Cambodia (1992), Somalia (1992), Yugoslavia - Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia (1992- 2002), Haiti (1994), Eastern Slavonia (1995- 1998), Kosovo (1999), Sierra Leone (1999), East Timor (1999), and US/UK led mission to Iraq and NATO ISAF led missions to Afghanistan (2001),
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas half of all countries that emerge from conflicts return to conflict within five years and 340 million of the world's extreme poor are estimated to live in fragile states, with the absence of hostilities not automatically leading to entrenched and lasting stability,
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Aa (new)
Recital Aa (new)
Aa. whereas the Roman Empire was the initial precursor to civic and legal administration in what became the European Member States,
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ab (new)
Recital Ab (new)
Ab. whereas the British, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Belgian, German and Portuguese Empires in their time with differing levels of success, competence and failure tried to create states in all parts of the world with functioning institutions such as a civil service, law courts, legal systems, police forces, educational and health systems, railway and transport systems, the rule of law and civic and municipal administrations,
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ac (new)
Recital Ac (new)
Ac. whereas the USA, once peopled by millions of poor illiterate immigrants from Europe, should be considered one of the most successful cases of development in recent history; whereas wealth was created by full implementation of property law and property rights, allowing people to convert basic assets - land, farms, forges and mining rights - to their full potential as investments, shareholdings, equity and debentures, mortgages and insurance, providing the tools to create surplus wealth,
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ad (new)
Recital Ad (new)
Ad. whereas formal property can be used as collateral to form a loan, as equity exchanged for investment, as an address for collecting debts, rates, taxes, as a locus point for the identification of individuals for commercial contracts, judicial judgements or civic purposes and as a terminal for receiving public utilities and services,
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ae (new)
Recital Ae (new)
Ae. whereas, because of a high level of education, property and commercial law and a residual administrative, legal, and civic capacity Germany and France after the Second World War could be redeveloped rapidly under the Marshall Plan, leading them later to form the European Union,
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Af (new)
Recital Af (new)
Af. whereas in the Congo in 1960 a lack of unity of UN command, over ambitious aims, attempts to establish democratic structures too early and a misrepresentation of the amount of time and resources it takes to build a state after conflict led to failure,
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ag (new)
Recital Ag (new)
Ag. whereas in Namibia in 1988 the UN operation benefited from the active assistance of the neighbouring states, a very important determinate in state building following war, resulting in a competent indigenous government,
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ah (new)
Recital Ah (new)
Ah. whereas El Salvador in 1992 was a successful positive benchmark UN operation, which for the first time tackled issues such as Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of former combatants, and early on successfully established the rule of law by addressing comprehensively all components of the justice system including police, judges, prosecutors, criminal codes, economic law and detention facilities in a holistic and interlocking way,
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ai (new)
Recital Ai (new)
Ai. whereas in Cambodia in 1992, the UN Commander stood up to the Khmer Rouge forces thereby enabling elections to take place possibly too early before the rule of law was properly established and thereby impeded the process of state building,
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Aj (new)
Recital Aj (new)
Aj. whereas in Somalia in 1992 the UN forces, led by the US, were withdrawn too early leaving massively reduced troop numbers and few resources, establishing the ideal that it is best to go in with overwhelming force and stay as long as necessary to establish order and the rule of law,
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ak (new)
Recital Ak (new)
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Al (new)
Recital Al (new)
Al. whereas in Haiti in 1994 UN security Council mandated troops entered in overwhelming force, the Haitian military was abolished, a new civilian police was created, local and national elections held, new mayors, members of parliament and a prime minister were elected without creating the long term economic reforms which Haiti needed to become a self- sustaining and successful state,
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Am (new)
Recital Am (new)
Am. whereas in Eastern Slavonia in 1995 the UN demilitarised the area within 30 days, established a temporary police force, facilitated the return of refugees, ran the transitional civil administration, ensured the delivery of public services, organised elections and launched a programme of reconstruction and development; successes were due to unified military and civilian command structures, the support of the neighbouring states and an agreed final destination mapped out by the peace process,
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital An (new)
Recital An (new)
An. whereas in Kosovo in 1999 the UN created a single unified command to implement the civilian aspects of post- conflict reconstruction with efficient burden sharing between the agencies, involving a Special Representative of the Secretary General equipped with huge powers and clear mandates for the different agencies; though there was an insufficient ability to see through the war phase, not defining a final status until the Martti Ahtisaari plan in 2007,
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ao (new)
Recital Ao (new)
Ao. whereas in Sierra Leone in 1999 the UN peace building mission was hampered by a lack of support from the neighbouring states, and by the poor quality of the UN troops initially sent, later remedied by the UK, which saved the day; remembering the importance that peace building requires the most difficult kind of soldiering with high levels of discipline, good communication and strong leadership, especially in the junior command structures,
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ap (new)
Recital Ap (new)
Ap. whereas in East Timor in 1999, one of the UN's most successful interventions, the Australian led heavy weight UN peacekeeping force handed over authority to civilian administration in a little over two years; subsequent setbacks required further intervention and fine tuning as the new state institutions were developed,
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Aq (new)
Recital Aq (new)
Aq. whereas intervention requires detailed planning for sustainable development; such inputs into these plans are better coming from ministries of foreign affairs or development rather than ministries of defence of the intervening states; and that these plans should be based on worst case scenarios not best case scenarios,
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ar (new)
Recital Ar (new)
Ar. whereas the international community must at all times fight the battle for public opinion; a properly funded public relations campaign is essential to win the hearts and minds of the people, without which such interventions will be seen as hostile and inimical as in Afghanistan,
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the MDGs set out coherent and time bound targets for long term poverty eradication,; whereas by 2010, half of the world’s poorest people could be living in states that are experiencing, or at risk of, violent conflict1; whereas institution building as a means of avoiding a return to violence should take precedence over the MDG agenda,
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ba (new)
Recital Ba (new)
Ba. whereas the building of stable and enduring states requires the creation of a merit-based and accountable civil service free from political interference and corruption,
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas violent conflicts deter foreign investors, and substantially reducinges growth, 1 Safer World, Oxfam, IANSA report Oct 2007- Africa's Missing Billions. (according to a recent report1 armed conflict has been shown to shrink an African nation's economy by 15%); whilst a healthy private sector will eventually provide the basis for sustainable revenues for a legitimate government,
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ga (new)
Recital Ga (new)
Ga. whereas in the Philippines 57% of city dwellers and 67% of rural people live in housing which is not registered and outside the formal legal sector; whereas in Peru this is 57% of city and 81% of country dwellers; in Haiti 68 % of city dwellers and 91% of country dwellers; in Egypt, 92 % of city dwellers and 81% of country dwellers,
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Gb (new)
Recital Gb (new)
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ia (new)
Recital Ia (new)
Ia. whereas a sustainable well functioning state also requires a strong civil society to protect people from abuses of power, and a free press pushes against the actions of an over mighty executive,
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ib (new)
Recital Ib (new)
Ib. whereas states in situations of fragility must be encouraged to allow NGOs to operate free from unduly bureaucratic registration laws and processes which hinder the development of a truly effective civil society,
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ic (new)
Recital Ic (new)
Ic. whereas the average developing country hosts 260 visits from donors a year and in 2006, across all developing countries, donors directed 70,000 aid transactions and the average project size was only $1.7 million,
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ka (new)
Recital Ka (new)
Ka. whereas creating identity and loyalty to the new state is a process, coming from such obtuse connections as winning an international football match or an international prize, such loyalty should be earned by the state’s fullest recognition of the dignity of the human person, and the public institutions which uphold this dignity in an authentic and meaningful way,
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1a (new)
Paragraph 1a (new)
1a. Demands the implementation of then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s declaration: “state sovereignty implies responsibility and the primary responsibility for the protection of its people lies with the state itself; where a population is suffering serious harm as a result of internal war, insurgency, or state failure, and the state in question is unwilling or unable to halt or avert it, the principle of non-intervention yields to the international Responsibility to Protect”;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1b (new)
Paragraph 1b (new)
1b. Believes that there are two phases of peace building and state building: the stabilisation phase where the emphasis is on security, law and order and provision of basic services; and the second phase of state building which focuses on governance and the institutions which will deliver it; with the proviso that: a) the second phase should not take place until the country is stabilised, as institutions created before stabilisation will reflect the character of the conflict and not what the country needs for a stable and enduring peace, b) in the state building phase it is important to compromise to conform to the norms and expectations of the citizens of the nation concerned and not the ideals of the interveners, c) as the state building phase progresses interveners will need to hand over individual institutions to the domestic authorities; it is at this time potential set- backs can occur and need to be accepted, provided they are not fundamental to the progress that the country is making;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1c (new)
Paragraph 1c (new)
1c. Calls for the full implementation of the Stability, Development and Human Rights Instruments to enable funding for conflict prevention activities; developing mechanisms to provide early warning signs of failing states by looking at possible predictors or indicators of civil violence such as: historic divisions, ethnic and tribal grievances, environmental factors such as drought or economic conflicts; remembering that prevention is always better than cure;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1d (new)
Paragraph 1d (new)
1d. Calls for the creation of a database of a highly trained corps of UN peacekeeping officers and senior NCOs able to take charge and train troops at short notice; with such a corps being drawn from UN Member States with a proven record of success in peace keeping operations;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Takes the view that in post-conflict situations the transition from military to civilian security must take place as soon as is practicable and that civilian indigenous policeinternational forces should be gradually supplemented and eventually replace international forcesreplaced by a national and regional civilian police force, professionally trained; ensuring a high priority is given to an even-handed application of the rule of law and administrative procedures to all groups involved in the conflict;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3a (new)
Paragraph 3a (new)
3a. Calls for the promotion of human rights, by supporting human rights training for the army and police (including human and civil rights campaigns for effected segments of the population); the empowerment of staff colleges on international standards of policing and military police; the creation of a code of conduct for security personnel, delineating areas of responsibility between the police and army, the creation of offices of human rights ombudsmen and human rights commissions as well as human rights training for district authorities and civil servants;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4a (new)
Paragraph 4a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission and the Council to implement the European Strategy to Combat Illicit Accumulation and Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and their ammunition; focusing on augmenting security and stockpile management, surplus destruction, marking and tracing, and strengthening export and border controls and control brokering activities within both the post-conflict state itself and the states in the immediate vicinity;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4b(new)
Paragraph 4b(new)
4b. Requests that multilateral and regional financial institutions take measures, where appropriate, to establish SALW programmes in the framework of reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in post-conflict areas and in efforts to consolidate governance issues, to strengthen legislation and to improve the operational capacity of law enforcement agencies regarding SALW;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) must be a high priority while ensuring them a viable livelihood, in particular by providing functional health and education services (including literacy campaigns for women) and job opportunities, and that it must take place by means of inter-group dialogue, peace education, international accompaniment, prejudice reduction and diversity training, ex-combatant- community engagement, processes for handling land claims and trauma healing; providing the ethnic or religious profile is compatible, IDPs should be spread across the country and resettled in their original villages or towns and not concentrated in large groups which can lead to conflict and violence;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6a (new)
Paragraph 6a (new)
6a. Calls for the effective implementation of the Commission's proposal for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) of former combatants; including the reintegration of combatants into civil society by the provision of food, tents, blankets, medical support and civilian clothes; the transportation of ex-soldiers to their community of origin or destination of choice; support retirement programmes for political or military officers, re- housing of ex-soldiers, and salary support schemes; civic education classes for ex- soldiers and psychological regeneration programmes for ex-combatants with specific allocation of additional resources for employment schemes and job creation programmes;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Observes that interim institutional structures may have to retainStresses that features of the previous conflict (for example, ethnic quotas); stresses that allowing thesehould not be allowed to become entrenched in long term institutional structures should be avoided so that the divisions of war do not forge a divided society;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Believes that lostate legitimacy caln ownership of the peace building process isnly be built through good and essential tool for lasting institution buildingffective governance; stresses that institutions, electoral processes, voter registration and electoral rolls, voter identification and anti- corruption mechanisms must be as transparent and accountable as possible, as they are a prerequisite for defending the rule of law, human rights, democratic institutions, and the dignity of the population as well as for economic development, investment and trade;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8a (new)
Paragraph 8a (new)
8a. Considers such concepts as the rule of law; sound money, a free market, an efficient, competent civil service, independent judiciary, legislative and executive branches free from corruption, to comprise the apparatus through which individuals and communities, through their industry and initiative, can truly increase the wealth of their nations;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8b (new)
Paragraph 8b (new)
8b. Calls for the creation of one-stop-shop boards of investment to foster priority sectors where foreign direct investment (FDI) can be attracted, creating jobs outside of the traditional agricultural sectors by supporting the development of liberal investment codes and tax-free industrial zones;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8c (new)
Paragraph 8c (new)
8c. Calls on the Commission to create a deregulation unit which can advise countries emerging from conflict on how to structure their economic infrastructure to remove bureaucratic controls which stop or delay the creation of small businesses, the opening of bank accounts, the registration of land and companies; the deceleration of venture capitals being applied where possible and tax incentives for enterprise formation should be applied particularly through budget support programmes;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8d (new)
Paragraph 8d (new)
8d. Strongly believes that local ownership of EU development cooperation can be strengthened through involvement of national parliaments, including mutual interaction and capacity building between the EU parliament and parliaments of partner countries; including ICT support systems, technology capacities to create state of the art voter roles, the provision of ID cards where birth registrations and other citizenship supporting documents are unavailable;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Underlines that societies are best built from "the bottom upwards"; therefore support to local communities, families, civil society organisations, micro-credit organisations and local networks are preconditions for any successful development policy; recognising the leading role women can play in this area;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Stresses that a high priority should be to establish and improve Land Registries, provide the resources for mapping and registration of land and intellectual property, and for courts to enforce property and commercial law and to facilitate land restitution regardless of gender;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10a (new)
Paragraph 10a (new)
10a. Calls on the Commission to ensure the availability of the latest drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for peoples affected by civil conflict as part of its Development priorities, whilst at the same time respecting the TRIPS provisions, without which pharmaceutical R&D would collapse;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10b (new)
Paragraph 10b (new)
10b. Calls on the Commission to always and everywhere uphold the moral principle of intellectual property rights; the importance of which cannot be overstated with regards to the embryonic market economies of nations arising out of civil conflict; as the free market is squarely founded on confidence that one’s ‘property’ will not be confiscated by those with the power to take;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Observes that natural resources such as oil and diamonds can drive countries back to the conflict cycle; recognising the achievements of the Kimberley Process and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and Forest, Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) calls for ithem to be strengthened and more effectively enforced;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Considers that justice for victims of conflict is essential and that national courts are better placed than international war crime tribunals to ensure ownership of national judicial processes and punishment of perpetrators; takes the view that judicial reform may be required so as to implement properly the rule of law and ensure transparency;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12a (new)
Paragraph 12a (new)
12a. Calls for the strengthening of judicial systems by training judges, general prosecutors, conferences on judicial reform, independent systems for judicial appointments, proper remuneration of judicial personnel, provision of equipment for the courts, improved court administration, record keeping, budget and personnel management and acquisition of modern technology including computers for case tracking;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12b (new)
Paragraph 12b (new)
12b. Calls for legal aid for vulnerable groups, ethnic minorities, landless peasants and other marginalised groups, and paralegal training to increase access to the judicial system provided by experienced NGOs;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Considers that everySerious effort must be made to prosecute the perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence, ensuring that all victims, particularly women and girls, have equal 1 UNSCR 1820 (2008) on Sexual Violence against Civilians in Conflict. protectioprotection under the law and equal access to justice1; given the situation of disadvantage that women uander the law and equal children in many societies have in access toing justice1, special arrangements should be made whenever necessary;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16a (new)
Paragraph 16a (new)
16a. Calls for the establishment of standing Peace Commissions that includes influential members of all contending parties so as to pre-empt eruptions of large scale violence;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Believes that relevant civil society organisations can be used as a forum for dialogue among conflicting groups when twinned with training in conflict resolution and peace education; supports the creation of opportunities for dialogues by arranging national conferences, round table discussions between contending parties, small group contact meetings at grass roots level, mediation training for local NGOs and community elders, and leaders of traditional institutions;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17a (new)
Paragraph 17a (new)
17a. Calls on Member States in pursuing development projects to first appoint a lead partner from among themselves to streamline reporting mechanisms (even if the funds for the project come from a different Member State) to achieve donor coordination and coherence; including the establishment of accounting standards for disclosure requirements in respect of national parliaments, local authorities and international organisations;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17b (new)
Paragraph 17b (new)
17b. Calls for the creation of a national audit office and a surveyor general's office to create a ‘Domesday Book’, using modern technology including satellite imagery (as happened in Bandaceh following the Tsunami), to take a national census of the population, buildings, homes, livestock, arable land water systems and water sources infrastructure for each town and village creating a sustainable national development plan;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Stresses the need for a conflict sensitive approach and full conflict analysis when designing development programmes on the basis of the ownership of the partner country, in order to improve their efficiency and take into account the dynamics of a conflict; considers that the introduction of benchmarks is a useful tool in the evaluation of the impact of development cooperation actions;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19a (new)
Paragraph 19a (new)
19a. Calls for the conflict zone’s neighbouring states to be actively involved in the plan for post-conflict development and reconstruction, together with the international community;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21a (new)
Paragraph 21a (new)
21a. Considers that, in order to effectively address the challenge of post-conflict transition, interventions must be timely, flexible, and predictable;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Considers it crucial that the EU direct resources to building necessary capacities including internal audit offices reporting to national parliaments, so that they are empowered to monitor EUStresses that the Commission has a legal obligation to support efforts of partner countries to develop democratic domestic accountability capacities (parliamentary control and audit capacities) where Community assistance is delivered via budgetary support, particularly in post conflict countries where conflict s; urges the Commission to fulfil this obligation in a more robust and consistent manner; stresses that empowered parliamentary control enstitivity to EC programming is highes and audit institutions are a major factor for achieving a sustainable impact of the EU Budget support;