The inability of the international community, and particularly the EU, to respond in a co-ordinated way to the devastating tragedy in Turkey must be addressed. So far over 100,000 people have died and more than 150,000 have been injured from earthquakes in the last decade alone and countless others have suffered other natural and man-made catastrophes. Within the EU the machinery to address such catastrophes did not exist until the passing into law of the Amsterdam Treaty in May this year.
The treaty gives the EU the right to avail of the Western European Union in carrying out what are called Petersberg Tasks, named after the German town in which they were formulated. These tasks include humanitarian aid, search and rescue, peacekeeping and peace enforcement, including tasks of combat forces in crisis management on a case-by-case basis. Much of the discussion on these tasks has centred on peace enforcement issues. However, a golden opportunity exists for the EU to now build an emergency response policy so that international humanitarian crises like the Turkish earthquake can be responded to in a planned and swift manner.
Ireland could give the lead in ensuring that priority is given to humanitarian and search and rescue tasks. To do so we would need a seachange in attitudes to our role in international affairs. We, in common with some other states, behaved as if the genocide in Bosnia was worthy of concern but not of committed action. As a neutral State we saw no role for us in actively ending the mass murder, and many commentators here were caustic in their judgment on those who did act.
As the horror of the Turkish earthquake unfolds the Virginia State Fire Service has a force of 70 helping to find victims but no Irish State personnel have been dispatched. If we are to influence EU attitudes to a co-ordinated response we might first of all get our own response worked out. Usually the State abdicates leadership in this area to our voluntary non-governmental organisations.
As the EU does not have a capacity of its own it relies on the WEU to implement its policy in the area of Petersberg Tasks. The WEU has 28 full, associate, observer and associate partner members, which makes its sphere of influence wider than the 15 existing EU members. This makes the WEU an even more attractive instrument for co-ordinated crises response.
To prepare for these tasks, Partnership for Peace (PfP) could play a crucial role. All WEU members, associates, observers and associate partners are involved in PfP, with the exception of Ireland, which is about to become involved. The genesis of PfP was heavily influenced by two factors:
1. The intense criticism of the failure of European states in general, and the EU and NATO in particular, to take effective peacekeeping action to prevent the escalation of the war in Bosnia;
2. The need to allow former Warsaw Pact states to participate in Western security co-operation and to facilitate this through democratic control of their defence forces.
Essentially then, PfP was created to fulfil the need to allow dialogue and co-operation between former adversaries and so to prevent the re-emergence of divisions on the political landscape of the new Europe. Among the objectives of PfP are the development of co-operative military relations with NATO for the purpose of joint planning and training exercises in order to strengthen its ability to undertake missions in the field of peace-keeping, search and rescue, humanitarian operations and other areas as may subsequently be agreed such as peace-making.
Clearly, a primary focus of the co-operation between PfP states is on international peacekeeping and the interchange and up dating of peacekeeping skills. This is the aspect of PfP which makes it fundamentally important to Ireland, and to which we can make a significant contribution.
Search and rescue and humanitarian tasks are also important to an island State vulnerable to maritime disaster, for example. Already the Air Corps and Naval Service co-operate with the RAF in such tasks. A trained and co-ordinated EU humanitarian search and rescue unit could develop this approach by having in place a multi-national force capable of assisting with disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, maritime rescues, tunnel tragedies, major fires or ground casualties caused by air disasters, not only in Europe but worldwide. Such a unit could be trained to operate in all weathers and on a 24-hour basis: it appears that some of the Turkish rescue attempts could not operate beyond daylight hours.
Those who make spurious claims about neutrality have so far, in Ireland, hijacked the debate on PfP membership and the evolving role of the EU in security issues. This despite Bosnia and Kosovo and EU inability to effect an end to the planned genocide. Security is as much about ensuring a safe water and food supply or minimising the effects of phenomena such as natural disasters, as it is about use of forces in combat.
The EU now can at least equip itself to deal with crises such as Turkey. The Turkish tragedy should act as a catalyst and the EU should move urgently to empower itself now to deal with this gaping humanitarian and search and rescue international need. Gay Mitchell TD is Fine Gael's Foreign Affairs spokesperson.
