A4-0174/96

Resolution on the Commission communication on humanitarian aid to the former Yugoslavia: prospects and guidelines (COM(95)0564 - C4-0535/95)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission communication (COM(95)0564 - C4-0535/95),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defence Policy and the opinions of the Committee on Budgets, the Committee on External Economic Relations and the Committee on Development and Cooperation (A4-0174/96),

A. whereas the peace established by the agreement of 12 November 1995 on Eastern Slavonia and by the Dayton accords of 21 November 1995 on Bosnia- Herzegovina has not yet been achieved, and everything must be done to bring about a lasting peace between the parties to the conflict,

B. whereas the implementation of the Dayton accords themselves is giving rise to a new wave of refugees from areas which have changed hands in addition to the existing 3.6 million refugees and displaced persons within the former Yugoslavia as a result of the war,

C. having regard also to the 850 000 persons who have taken refuge in a number of European countries, whose return must also in the majority of cases must be provided for,

D. aware that not all these refugees and displaced persons are able or willing to return to their homes,

E. whereas humanitarian aid to the peoples who have suffered as a result of the war is essential and should continue until the latter can secure their own livelihood,

F. whereas the main humanitarian aid effort during the war came from the European Union and its Member States and whereas those states also provided the majority of the UNPROFOR contingents,

G. whereas a large amount of humanitarian aid was provided by many international NGOs often operating in difficult conditions and without any coordination,

H. whereas the continuation of humanitarian aid must be carried on in connection with the implementation of the Reconstruction Plan, the two actions being strictly linked to each other,

1. Notes that the European Union accounts, financially, for the bulk of humanitarian aid for the former Yugoslavia and therefore has the grave responsibility of ensuring the correct use of these resources;

2. Expects the High Representative to take particular care to prevent these conditions of the Dayton accords from being circumvented by any mixing of reconstruction investments and humanitarian aid measures;

3. Stresses that, in providing humanitarian aid, the emphasis should be on emergency aid, such as food and clothing aid, medical supplies and aid to trauma victims, emergency repairs to homes, hospitals and essential utilities such as water, gas, electricity, transport and communications; considers that urgently required mine clearance can also be defined as humanitarian aid;

4. Notes that humanitarian aid is of a different character from reconstruction aid, because under the terms of the Dayton accords reconstruction aid is subject to political conditions; stresses therefore that, although excessive rigidity must be avoided, care should be taken to ensure that humanitarian aid is not used for projects which fall within the definition of reconstruction aid;

5. Urges that humanitarian aid not serve as an alternative to a political commitment by the European Union to the former Yugoslavia and that the European Union continue to discharge the responsibilities it should always have had towards that country; considers it particularly important that the European Union make commitments going beyond the end of the I-FOR mandate to ensure the safety of minorities throughout the territories of former Yugoslavia, to guarantee the protection of refugees who wish to return and the to allow the development of civil society;

6. Calls on the European Union to use its influence with all the former warring parties to ensure that they grant refugee status to all those expelled from their homes by the war;

7. Asks that careful efforts be made to ensure that the humanitarian aid reaches the suffering population and does not fill the pockets of so-called local authorities;

8. Considers that good cooperation between the European Union, the international community and the former warring parties in implementing humanitarian aid would make it possible to create the conditions for a positive, forward-looking dialogue between the former warring parties;

9. Stresses that the objective of humanitarian aid must, in the short term, be to ensure the survival of the people concerned in conditions of safety and dignity and that, in the medium term, reconstruction aid must permit them to regain some degree of self-sufficiency, particularly by the supply of seed, fertilizer and machinery which would permit the resumption of farming, and by assisting small and medium-sized businesses, re-establishing schools and hospitals and restoring the infrastructure; believes that humanitarian aid can, in this connection, provide a large measure of help in reactivating the local authorities, mobilizing resources available at local level and promoting programmes specifically aimed at soldiers returning en masse from the front in a state of discouragement;

10. Stresses the urgency of disarming local militias and paramilitary groups and of a mine-clearing operation to permit the resumption of normal life in Bosnia-Herzegovina; welcomes the work already accomplished by UNPROFOR and by I-FOR in this area; considers it acceptable that mine clearance which is urgently needed should be funded partly from humanitarian aid resources;

11. Stresses that humanitarian aid must be geared primarily towards the emergency aid phase, and that reconstruction aid should focus on re- establishing the physical infrastructure to permit the return of displaced persons, with priority being given to the prompt return of qualified people so that social and economic activity can be resumed as soon as possible;

12. Considers that only if the Dayton accords are consistently implemented, i.e. if freedom of movement is established and refugees return to their homes within the region, will the rapid repatriation of refugees from western countries be possible;

13. Considers that the European Union's humanitarian aid should make a positive contribution to the return of refugees and displaced persons to their region of origin; notes however that many difficulties still remain to be overcome to enable refugees to return to areas where they constitute a cultural minority and that their return must be carried out in proper consultation with UNHCR, which means that it should not be overhasty; calls on the Union not to cooperate unnecessarily in any further ethnic segregation and above all to work to promote the security and protection of the multicultural communities;

14. Calls on the Member States of the European Union who have generously taken in refugees from the former Yugoslavia to implement a gradual plan for their return in such a way as to avoid forcing them back, and thereby aggravating the situation on the ground and most of all so as to take account of the wishes of the people concerned, often mixed couples who no longer wish to settle in states whose multi-ethnic character is much less marked than before;

15. Calls for humanitarian aid to be used to fund programmes in the fields of health, medicine and surgery and calls on medical staff to return and calls on international medical organizations to send assistance so as to permit the health services and hospitals disrupted by the war to resume working; stresses the need to set up programmes to aid those handicapped by war wounds and to provide them with prostheses to enable them to resume working life as far as possible;

16. Stresses the importance of immediate and coordinated actions relating to transparency and information concerning disappeared persons;

17. Notes that 27 000 people are registered as missing and that they must be found or their graves located; considers that the Union should assist in financing these investigations and the necessary identifications so that families can be certain as to the fate of their close relatives, partly because otherwise it will be almost impossible for them to make a fresh start;

18. Calls for an independent inquiry to be set up forthwith, concerned specifically with the events surrounding the fall of Srebrenica and the people who have disappeared from that region;

19. Considers that war criminals who have committed murder, rape and other crimes must be traced and surrendered to the Tribunal in The Hague; stresses that it is impossible for people to live in an area where murderers and rapists are still at large and that it is not acceptable that refugees should be unable to return for this reason;

20. Stresses the need for psychological support and rehabilitation programmes for those who have been victims of ethnic cleansing and emphasizes that it is essential for all the peoples of the former Yugoslavia to engage in collective soul-searching, with a view to creating the conditions for a lasting peace in people's minds; stresses in this connection the expiatory role of the International Tribunal for War Crimes in the former Yugoslavia and the obligation for all the governments of the States that originated from former Yugoslavia to collaborate with it and seizing and delivering to it war criminals;

21. Considers that humanitarian aid should also take account of war orphans, single-parent families and women who have been victims of violence, in view of these people's need for social aid programmes and psychological support and education;

22. Calls for extra attention to be devoted to the approximately 300 000 military personnel who are to be demobilized, including many young people in the various republics of the former Yugoslavia, and stresses that young people in particular will require psychological rehabilitation and a good deal of education to prepare them to play a normal rôle in the multicultural society which needs to be established; calls for these young people to be involved in the process of building that society;

23. Stresses the vital role which the NGOs have played and are still playing in managing humanitarian aid, and calls for their action to be coordinated in order to maximise the effectiveness of humanitarian programmes; notes that many NGO workers are working very long hours under very difficult conditions, and calls on the Commission to make arrangements together with the NGOs for temporary replacement when it is necessary;

24. Calls on the Commission to support the establishment in Bosnia-Herzegovina of NGOs reflecting the existence of the three ethnic communities there, in order to permit the revival of a multi-ethnic society based on tolerance and European humanist values;

25. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and the parliaments of the states once part of former Yugoslavia and the UN High Representative.