The EU’s response to the crisis in Ukraine has been rapid and transformational. As President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the European Parliament last week, Ukraine is the frontline for the global battle between democracy and dictatorship. Ukraine is not just defending our values but also the territorial integrity of Europe.
There are currently 12 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and there are a number of actions the EU can take and which Ireland should support.
First, how we manage this population movement will require a major reversal of EU policy towards refugees. The opportunity now exists to implement the proposed Migration and Asylum Pact and to finally reform the Dublin Convention on refugees.
This will allow for an even distribution of refugees across the EU, while ensuring that no refugee is discriminated against. It is worth recalling that the definition of a refugee is one who has fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and has crossed an international border to find safety in another country – the colour of their skin or country of origin is irrelevant.
If citizens decide they want the EU to be a genuine area of freedom, security and justice, this is an opportunity to make this happen
Article 2 of the Treaty on the EU declares that the union is founded on respect for human dignity, freedom and human rights. Such commitments are hard to reconcile with the framing of migration policy as a security issue, including border pushbacks and the outsourcing of migration management to Libya and Turkey.
The European Commission, using the temporary protection directive, has asked member states to grant temporary asylum to all Ukrainians for up to three years. All member states have agreed to this. At present, Ukrainians can stay visa-free in the EU for up to 90 days. However, not many have applied for asylum so far. All EU states including Ireland will need to be ready for that.
While the numbers will be very high, it is worth recalling that Lebanon (with a similar population to Ireland) has hosted 1.5 million refugees for more than a decade.
Poland, Slovakia and even Hungary have opened their borders and we must show solidarity. This is in stark contrast to the attitude taken to Syrian refugees since 2015. It will be ironic to hear Poland and Hungary demanding that other member states share the burden given that they consistently blocked burden-sharing proposals that would have relieved pressure on Greece and Italy which absorbed the gulf of refugees fleeing Syria and Libya.
Hungary and Slovakia challenged the EU’s triggering of article 78 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU – a challenge that was rejected by the European Court of Justice in 2017. The judgment confirmed the binding nature of the principle of solidarity in EU migration policy.
That being said, if this crisis reflects a turning point in the attitudes of EU citizens and governments towards refugees or indeed the meaning of their EU membership, we must welcome this and channel it constructively for our collective future. If citizens decide they want the EU to be a genuine area of freedom, security and justice, this is an opportunity to make this happen.
The opportunity to develop a European legislative framework for safe and legal migration pathways must not be missed.
Ensuring safe corridors for aid will involve uncomfortable conversations and dialogue with Russian forces
Second, the EU will have to support humanitarian agencies as they prepare to scale up their response in Ukraine and in neighbouring countries.
When I was chief executive of Goal, we responded rapidly to the conflict in Syria. Unlike other international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) we made a decision to deploy inside Syria, in the northwestern governorate of Idlib, rather than in neighbouring countries.
In Ukraine, INGOs will be making decisions like this right now with emergency response teams on the ground assessing where they can add value. They will begin co-ordination meetings with other agencies deciding what services each one is best-placed to deliver and in what geography. It is critical that the EU shares the risk associated with delivering aid across conflict lines. These are not laboratory conditions. Ensuring safe corridors for the delivery of aid will involve uncomfortable conversations and a degree of dialogue with Russian forces.
Finally, it is clear Russia is guilty of war crimes. The attack itself is a war crime (a crime against peace) and a violation of international humanitarian law. I have urged the EU to support the establishment of an independent commission to gather and preserve evidence for future prosecutions. None of this will come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the war in Syria. Russian jets have deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure including bakeries, hospital and schools since 2015.
In the resolution passed by the European Parliament last week, the EU commits itself to working with other international bodies to prepare for prosecutions in the International Criminal Court. Prosecutions under the principle of universal jurisdiction are also contemplated as has already happened in Germany with individuals associated with the Syrian regime. On Tuesday, Germany announced its federal prosecutor has opened a probe into suspected war crimes by Russian troops.
Like almost all difficult humanitarian contexts, there is no humanitarian solution but the EU has an opportunity to deliver a dynamic and principled response consistent with the treaty commitments of the EU’s member states.
Barry Andrews is Fianna Fáil MEP for Dublin