MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the persecution of Christians around the world, in relation to the killing of students in Kenya by Islamic terror group Al-Shabaab
27.4.2015 - (2015/2661(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 123(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Lidia Senra Rodríguez, Javier Couso Permuy, Malin Björk, Paloma López Bermejo, Marina Albiol Guzmán, Ángela Vallina, Sabine Lösing, Neoklis Sylikiotis, Takis Hadjigeorgiou, Inês Cristina Zuber on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group
B8‑0385/2015
European Parliament resolution on the persecution of Christians around the world, in relation to the killing of students in Kenya by Islamic terror group Al-Shabaab
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the Joint Africa-EU Strategy adopted in 2007,
– having regard to the Roadmap for EU-Africa cooperation (2014-2017 ), adopted at the Fourth EU-Africa Summit in April 2014,
– having regard to the first EU Pan-African Programme for the period 2014-2020,
– having regard to the seventh annual meeting between the African Union Commission and the European Commission which took place in Brussels on 22 April,
– having regard to the statements of Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on al-Shabaab attacks in Kenya, in particular those of 3 April 2015, 23 November and 5 May 2014,
– having regard to the statements made by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon on al-Shabaab attacks, in particular those of 2 April 2015, 2 December, 22 November, 4 June 2014 and 21 September 2013,
– having regard to the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, in particular to the UN Security Council Resolution 733/1992 establishing an arms embargo on Somalia which has been reaffirmed by several UNSC Resolutions, as the latest 2182/2014,
– having regard to the statement by the African Union Special Representative for Somalia and Head of AMISOM of 2 April 2015,
– having regard to the conclusions of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on counter-terrorism of 9 February 2015,
– having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
– having regard to the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
– having regard to the Charter of the United Nations,
– having regard to the African Charter on Human Rights and Peoples of 1981,
– having regard to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention to which Kenya is a party,
– having regard to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT),
– having regard to Rule 123(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas al-Shabaab terror group killed 148 people, mainly students, in an attack on a university campus in the Kenyan town of Garissa, about 200 km from the Somali border on 2 April; whereas on June 2014 al-Shabaab carried out an attack on the Kenyan coast killing 48 people; whereas in September 2013 it carried out an assault on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in which at least 67 people were killed;
B. whereas al-Shabaab has deliberated targeted Kenyan Christians in their attacks in Kenya; whereas most of the Somali population is Muslim and over 80% of the Kenyan population is Christian while around 11% are Muslim, mainly Kenyan Somali;
C. whereas the group has recently carried out other deadly attacks in Somalia, such as the killing on 14 April of 10 people after a bomb attack on the education ministry of Somalia or the killing of 9 people, including UN workers; whereas there are also regular gun and grenade attacks in Kenya attributed to al-Shabaab both in border areas - with many Kenyan Somali population- and in Nairobi;
D. whereas Kenyan troops crossed into Southern Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabaab; whereas the Kenyan army afterwards joined the African Union force formed by 22 000 soldiers; whereas the al-Shabaab terror group has stated that the real motivation of its attacks in Kenya is to put pressure on the Kenyan Government to withdraw its troops from Somalia;
E. whereas in February 2012 former al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane ‘pledged obedience’ to al-Qaeda; whereas there are reports about its links with other Islamist groups in Africa, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI); whereas al-Shabaab has set up a recruiting network in Kenya, especially around the port city of Mombasa; whereas there are reports of foreign jihadists going to Somalia to enrol in al-Shabaab not only from neighbouring countries, but also from the US and the EU;
F. whereas Somalia has not had an effective national government for more than 20 years; whereas following the US military intervention of 1992, the so-called ‘Restore Hope’, the country has been a war-zone;
G. whereas al-Shabaab is an Islamist group which was born out of the Islamic Court Union, a loose formation of Islamic judicial systems which was further radicalised following the Ethiopian army invasion of Somalia backed by the United States in 2006;
H. whereas al-Shabaab managed then to control a significant part of the country but lost most of Somali popular support when it rejected Western food aid to combat a drought and famine in 2011; whereas it was forced out of Mogadishu in August 2011 and of the port of Kismayo in September 2012, whereas although al-Shabaab has now lost control of most Somali towns and cities, it still dominates in many rural areas;
I. whereas much of the conflict between Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya has its origin in the imposition of colonial borders, as Somali population has been divided mainly within these three countries, which has in turn motivated different conflicts including the massacre of several thousands of Kenyan Somalis by the Kenyan army in the 1980s;
J. whereas Kenya is the biggest economy in East Africa but despite its vast resources, it ranks among the lowest on the Human Development Index; whereas the majority of the people in Kenya live below the poverty line; whereas there are endemic problems in Kenya from an economic point of view, due to the monopolisation of resources by a minority and major responsibilities of the former colonial powers in the plunder of the natural resources of the country;
K. whereas Kenya is affected by recurrent droughts; mainly in the arid and semi-arid lands in the northern part of the country where 5.5 million people are living, mainly livestock keepers who are in a particularly vulnerable position due to chronic poverty;
L. whereas in Kenya the small farms represent 94.8 % of all farms but they have access to only the 11.7% of the agricultural land in the country; whereas Africa has suffered a recent wave of land grabbing that has now handed over millions of hectares of fertile farmland to large corporations, depriving tens of thousands of farming communities of their livelihoods; whereas Kenya’s main agricultural exports to the EU are tea, coffee, roses and carnations, beans, peas, avocados, Nile perch and tuna; whereas in Kenya 500 000 ha are used for producing agrofuels by enterprises from Canada, Japan and Belgium, with a great impact on the environment and on local communities;
M. whereas urbanisation, the extractive industries, hydroelectric dams and many other industrial mega projects are increasingly advancing over farmland, forest lands, water sources, farming communities and indigenous peoples’ territories; whereas since the announcement of the first discovery of oil in March 2012, Kenya has seen further discoveries of large oil and gas deposits; whereas in November 2013, UK’s Tullow Oil and its exploration partner, Canada-based Africa Oil, announced the finding of oil in a fifth exploration well in Turkana County, the South Lokichar basin; whereas the country is set to start mass extraction of these natural resources, with oil production expected to start in 2016;
N. whereas currently women in Kenya do the vast majority of agricultural work and produce and market the majority of food, they earn only a fraction of the income generated and own a nominal percentage of assets; whereas women continue to be educated at an inferior rate to their counterparts, increasing their reliance upon men, they are also limited from owning, acquiring, and controlling property throughout Kenya, regardless of social class, religion, or ethnic group; whereas the law in Kenya prohibits genital mutilation since 2011 imposing penalties of three years in prison and fines for perpetrators; whereas genital mutilation remains a long-standing practice;
O. whereas the Horn of Africa is one of the most food-insecure regions in the world and millions of people living in the region are undernourished and at a risk of famine; whereas despite its rich natural resources the Horn of Africa is one of the world’s poorest regions and includes countries which are among those with the lowest health standards; whereas the international community has failed to address the issues of human security, drought and famine there, and has even worsened the situation in the region;
P. whereas the multitude of civil war parties, the lack of state governance in Somalia, the loss of livelihood of Somali fishermen and the piracy activities off the coast of Somalia, the tensions between Sudan and South Sudan, between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia and between Eritrea and Djibouti, the participation of Kenya and other neighbouring countries in the African Union, force deployed in Somalia, the interference and intervention by outside parties, and the economic as well as geostrategic interests of the EU and of other Western parties all contribute to making the Horn of Africa one of the most conflict-prone regions in the world, resulting in immense human suffering, internal displacements of people, worsening humanitarian crises and the obstruction of sustainable social and economic development as well as of democracy and the rule of law; whereas the UN arms embargo has been violated by many actors;
Q. whereas Kenya hosts nearly 600 000 refugees from neighbouring conflict-prone countries, specially Somalia; whereas in 2011 heightened conflict and localised famine pushed millions of people out of Somalia, which led to a huge influx of refugees into Dadaab, where currently more than 350 000 Somalis live in a refugee camp;
R. whereas education, literacy, women’s rights, social justice and a fair distribution of state revenues in society, reducing inequality and the fight against corruption are key to fighting fundamentalism, violence and intolerance;
S. whereas from 2014 to 2020 the EU will provide EUR 435 million to Kenya; whereas the EU is the largest financial supporter of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) through the African Facility; whereas the EU is carrying out several civilian-military operations in the region such as the CSDP mission EUCAP Nestor in the Horn of Africa (since 2012), EU NAVFOR (since 2008) or EUTM Somalia (since 2010); whereas US holds the military naval base of Manda Bay in Kenya;
T. whereas as a reaction to al-Shabaab attacks, the Kenyan Government passed an anti-terrorist law on December 2014 ; whereas it includes proposals extending the time police can hold terror suspects from the previous 90 days to nearly a year, increasing sentences, giving investigators more powers to tap phones and compelling landlords to provide information about their tenants; whereas journalists can face up to three years of imprisonment if their reports ‘undermine investigations or security operations relating to terrorism; whereas the Kenyan government also decided to close over 500 non-governmental organisations, including 15 for alleged fundraising for terrorism; whereas according to human rights activists these measure constitute a threat to civil liberties and freedom of speech;
U. whereas respect for fundamental rights and civil liberties is an essential element in successful counter-terrorism policies; whereas cooperation between states and international actors on security issues must take place in full respect of human rights and international law;
V. whereas after the terrorist attack on Garissa University the country’s deputy president Willian Ruto issued an ultimatum to the UN urging the UNHCR to shut down Dadaab refugee camp within three months or else Kenya would shut it down itself; whereas the UNHCR has warned that it would have ‘extreme humanitarian and practical consequences’; whereas UN Refugee Convention prohibits forcing refugees back to areas where their life or freedom is threatened; whereas it the construction of a separation wall between Somalia and Kenya has also been suggested;
W. whereas the ICC has accused current Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy President Willian Ruto of committing crimes against humanity during the 2007 post-electoral violence which led to the deaths of more than 1 000 Kenyans; whereas the chief prosecutor withdrew allegations against Kenyatta on 5 December 2014 but accused the Kenyan Government of harassing and intimidating potential witnesses;
1. Condemns in the strongest possible terms the systematic violations of human rights resulting from the terrorist acts perpetrated by al-Shabaab; extends its deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of all the victims, in particular to those of the Garissa University massacre; stresses the need for those responsible for such crimes to be held to account through appropriate mechanisms;
2. Points out that increasing impoverishment of citizens, declining economic opportunities, increasing inequalities and limited educational opportunities have swelled the ranks of the unemployed, which in turn offers the socio-economic basis for al-Shabaab’s development; notes also with concern that in many regions, the Somali and Kenyan states offer no crucial public services for people such as water, sanitation, health or education; urges, under these circumstances, the Kenyan and Somali authorities to address the socio-economic basis for al-Shabaab’s development and to fight against deteriorating living standards to reach social justice;
3. Warns against the risk of going down the path of religious war; considers al-Shabaab’s actions to be violations of the principles of Islam; is convinced that the strategy against terrorism cannot be conceived as a fight between civilisations or religions leading to racist and xenophobic presumptions;
4. Is highly critical of the role that the various Western interventions of recent years have played in fostering the radicalisation of individuals in the Horn of Africa; stresses that such policies are promoting, not countering, terrorism and therefore should be abandoned; is concerned about the focus on military ‘solutions’ in the EU’s counter-terrorism policies, resulting in numerous military assistance programmes to the countries of the Horn of Africa; states that there can be no military solution to the conflicts in the region; rejects the use of the notion of ‘responsibility to protect’, as it violates international law and does not offer an adequate legal basis to justify the unilateral use of force;
5. Emphasises, in particular, the need for the EU, its Member States and its partner countries of the African Union to base their strategy for combating international terrorism, as with all other forms of crime, on the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights; underlines, furthermore, the fact that the Union’s external policies to combat international terrorism should, in the first place, be aimed at prevention, and at a policy which opposes all kinds of military intervention, thoroughly rethinking the EU’s position in international negotiations, and highlights the need to promote political dialogue, tolerance and understanding among different cultures and religions;
6. Calls on the EU and the international community to work with the African countries and with regional and international actors to resolve conflicts strictly by peaceful means, including through addressing their root causes; calls on the EU to establish a new framework of relations with Kenya and all African countries based on non-intervention in their internal affairs and respect for their sovereignty, and aimed at supporting the development of neighbouring regions and promoting employment and education, rather than on ‘association agreements’ serving mainly to establish free trade areas that benefit Western corporate interests;
7. Expresses its disapproval and rejection of the military approach of the EU, pursued through the security sector reform and the EUTM Somalia training mission and rejects any further Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) mission in the region like EUCAP Nestor; calls on the Council and Commission to end EUTM Somalia as it seems to be impossible to prevent recruits trained by EUTM from joining different armed groups such al-Shabaab, the EU thereby contributing massively to the conflict and to the militarisation of the region;
8. Stresses that resources for development aid, such as the EDF, must not be used for any military purpose; objects strongly to the use of the EDF for the training of military forces; objects strongly to the use of development aid to enforce strategic interests; takes the view that the EDF must strictly remain an instrument for financing efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger in developing countries;
9. Considers that combating the trafficking of weapons should be a priority for the EU in fighting serious and organised international crime; believes, in particular, that cooperation needs to be strengthened further as regards information exchange mechanisms and the traceability and destruction of prohibited weapons;
10. Demands an international investigation under the auspices of the UN to determine the third country responsibilities in the organisation and financing of terrorist groups in the region, and responsibility of multinationals and governments in the hoarding of wealth and deepening economic and social inequalities;
11. Urges the EU to follow a purely civilian and peaceful approach to conflict resolution and to assume its neutral role as conciliator/mediator in order to achieve a sustainable peace in Somalia and the whole of the Horn of Africa region; calls on the EU and its Member States to provide neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations;
12. Reiterates that EU and Horn of Africa countries should address the root causes of violent extremism by tackling it in a manner that is compatible with human rights and international law, instead of encouraging or supporting repressive regimes or groups in the Horn of Africa;
13. Expresses its deep concern over food price speculation and land grabbing in Africa, also for agrofuels, which risks undermining local food security and worsening the famine; calls on the governments of the Horn of Africa and of the EU to assess the current impact of farmland acquisition on rural poverty and on the famine crisis; urges the Commission to integrate the ‘land grab’ issue into its policy dialogue with developing countries, with the aim of halting support for such policies; calls on the EU to increase the proportion of official development aid (ODA) assigned to agriculture, as well as ODA for investments in small sustainable farms and pastoralism, for ensuring that small farmers have access to land, thereby strengthening the local market, for ensuring food sovereignty in the Horn of Africa, and for helping to regenerate the waters of the region in order to guarantee the means of subsistence for fishermen and their families;
14. Calls on the Kenyan Government and the governments of the countries of origin of the extractive enterprises to demand them to apply the best practices to assure transparency, accountability and public participation and to address corruption in the extractive industries sector;
15. Calls on the Kenyan Government to promote the important role of women in society, the economy of the country, food production and the preservation of the environment, including by promoting women’s participation in public and political life; calls on the government also to adopt effective measures to eradicate the practice of ablations in the country;
16. Expresses its deep concern at the focus by the Kenyan Government on internal security over human rights and civil liberties; calls on the country to fulfil its obligations under international law, in particular to house and protect refugees;
17. Calls on the authorities of the EU and of the Horn of Africa countries to respect the prohibition of torture as it is most notably enshrined in the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; reiterates that forced confessions under torture are not valid and condemns this practice; firmly opposes the use of drones in extrajudicial and extraterritorial killings and demands a ban on the use of drones for this purpose;
18. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European External Action Service, the Commission and the Council, the Member States of the European Union, the countries of the Horn of Africa, the Pan-African Parliament and the members of the UN General Assembly.