MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
14 November 2005
by Eoin Ryan
on behalf of Union for Europe of the Nations group
on Access to humanitarian aid in Kashmir
B6-0607/2005
European parliament resolution on access to humanitarian aid in Kashmir
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its resolution on Jammu and Kashmir of 16 March 2000;
- having regard to the Commission Communication "Europe and Asia: a strategic framework for enhanced partnership" (COM(2001)0469) and the consistent emphasis it attaches throughout to the importance of the EU's relations with Asia;
- having regard to Declaration of the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Summit of 12 and 13 November 2005
- having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the strong earthquake of magnitude 7.5 has occurred in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan and Kashmir on October 8 causing massive destruction to houses, public buildings and communication network;
B. whereas about 80.000 people were killed both on the Pakistani and the Indian side, about 130.000 people have been injured, and about 3 million people were left homeless as a result of the earthquake;
C. whereas there are more than two dozen villages, the majority of which are close to the Line of Control, the hard-hit district of Kupwara, which no rescue or relief team could reach for a long time after the quake; some roads were cleared to let people down out of the hills (from the isolated Neelum Valley, north of Muzaffarabad) only one month after;
D. whereas many thousands of homeless people in the Jammu and Kashmir areas still have no suitable shelter appropriate for the Himalayan winter weather conditions;
E. whereas many of the temporary camps have been erected on flood plains with inadequate water and sanitation facilities, and more that 1 million of people are without adequate food, there is a serious diarrhoea epidemic, including many cases of dysentery and growing fears of a cholera outbreak in the camps;
F. whereas it has been warned by UN officials that the region could face a ''second massive wave of death'' within a few weeks;
G. whereas the EU and its Member States have pledged over EUR 200 million and Member States have contributed by providing helicopters, aircraft and engineers to the relief effort carried out by the Pakistani authorities and the international community;
1. Expresses its condolences and sympathy to the people and governments of the affected countries, as well as to all the families of victims of the disaster;
2. Is concerned by the fact that thousands of survivors and victims of the earthquake are left without any aid and are still homeless and many of them could die from disease in squalid temporary camps, as well as from hunger and harsh weather when the Himalayan snows will start falling;
3. Is seriously worried about the fact that international relief efforts for the homeless are desperately under-funded and, according to the reports of some NGOs activists, international humanitarian aid still has not reached many earthquake survivors in Pakistan; the aid workers are facing serious logistical problems and there is an urgent need for more helicopters in order to access isolated villages and victims of the earthquake, as well as winterized shelter, sanitation facilities, medical care, water and food;
4. Welcomes the joint relief effort by the Government of Pakistan and the international community, including the assistance from EU Member States and NATO; also welcomes the Commission's decision to allocate EUR 13 million through ECHO, 40 million via emergency reserve and 20 million for deployment to address the most urgent humanitarian needs;
5. Fully supports requests for immediate funding of emergency aid and urges all donors (Commission, the Member States and the rest of international community) to pledge more funds (USD 550 million are requested by the UN) and to contribute to without any delay as well as to provide more aid - and more helicopters first of all - to help the relief operations;
6. Emphasizes repeatedly that the EU have a duty to get help as quickly as possible to the people who suffer as a result of terrible natural disasters and Europe’s solidarity with the countries and people who have been struck by this tragedy should be concretely reflected in decisions to release humanitarian funds;
7. Evaluates positively the agreement reach among seven South Asian nations during he South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit on 13 November in the Bangladeshi capital regarding the disaster management to set up a disaster preparedness centre in the Indian capital New Delhi to help the region better handle calamities like tsunamis, earthquakes and floods;
8. Welcomes the agreement between Governments of India and Pakistan to open five crossing points on 7 November 2005 on the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir and emphasizes that the opening of crossing points is of vital importance to the people of Kashmir and the relief operations;
9. Urges Indian and Pakistan authorities to work together more closely to facilitate the work of humanitarian organisations in distributing aid by making every possible effort to secure access to aid for all those people in need, whatever their political beliefs, ethnicity or religion is;
10. Underlines that international and regional emergency responses to natural disasters, such the earthquake in Kashmir, should be better coordinated and recent failures of rapid and efficient reaction has highlighted the need for faster relief and improved coordination of rescue efforts;
11. Emphasizes that under no circumstances should any division or double standards based on ethnic and cultural grounds be made regarding the victims of the quake and that a provision of rapid and efficient humanitarian assistance and best possible relief in the quake-affected parts of Kashmir should be a clear priority for the activities of all local and regional NGOs of the area concerned;
12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Governments and Parliaments of India and Pakistan, and the UN Secretary-General.