Article in STETE Yearbook 2010

Christina GestrinMP, Chairman of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC)Cooperation in common interestsThe common interests in the Baltic Sea Region permit states to lay the foundations for a strengthened partnership. However, whether the region will move toward mutually beneficial strategic partnership depends on many factors, including the scale of the economic crisis, development of civil society and political will. These areas can either facilitate closer cooperation or present obstacles to it. At the same time, we are all inevitably interconnected by common challenges and threats, to overcome which we need the spirit of mutual respect and hard work on developing cooperation.The protection and promotion of democracy, security and the rule of law are among the fundamental conditions for a fair and prosperous social and economic development in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). It is also a common interest to repel the threats against civil security.National or international security today is not just a question of an absence of military threats, but, to a growing extent, a transnational presence of stable democratic, political, economical, social and infrastructural conditions.The threats against society are manifold: natural disasters, environmental degradation, political, social and infrastructural vulnerabilities, organized crime, corruption, poverty, welfare gaps, social marginalization, uneven living conditions, ideological fanaticism etc. The threat of a military confrontation has all but vanished, although it has not disappeared entirely.Organized crime is a vivid example of a phenomenon, which is growing and eating its way into society’s fabric. It is materialized in e.g. the detestable trafficking in human beings, in the narcotics trade and in the recurrent corruption scandals. Organized crime undermines the security and safety of citizens. It corrodes the legal and administrative foundation of society. It distorts the free function of the market mechanisms. It corrupts politics. Organized crime is, therefore, a fundamental threat against freedom and democracy.Emphasis on civil security and the fight against human traffickingCivil security requires a comprehensive assessment of threats and risks, which take into consideration everything from non-intentional to intentional threats. It is also a matter of developing and adapting of new means of prevention and response, which include the combined resources of society prepared for various scenarios. Not least, civil security is a question of safeguarding the principles, functions and institutions of the open and democratic society, while concurrently strengthening the security and integrity of citizens. The unconditional basic principle lying underneath it all is the supremacy of Human Rights and the rule of law.NGOs have an important role to play in and for civil security. At the end of the day, it is always civil society and citizens that suffer from the consequences of a threat. The citizen’s perspective also represents a bottom-up approach to civil security. Safety and security rooted in civil society is fundamentally important for stable democratic, social and economic development.Civil security is one of the current priorities of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC). A parliamentary Working Group on Civil Security has recently been launched, focusing on trafficking. Recommendations and statements on civil security were incorporated into the Conference Resolution from Nyborg 2009, representing the unanimous view of parliamentarians from the whole BSR.The governments in the BSR have been urged to enhance cooperation and coordination on the civil security issues in general, in order to foster a joint and comprehensive understanding of the risks and threats facing the Region. The strategic and operational cooperation between law enforcement authorities and other relevant actors must be stepped up, in order to strengthen the joint capacity to identify, monitor and take forceful action against organized cross-border crime.The cooperation against trafficking in human beings must be intensified. The emphasis should be placed on preventive measures, protection and support, for instance, by means of providing safe houses for victims and people at risk. It is also necessary to implement strategies and measures against the root causes of trafficking. It is important to provide a realistic basis for the development of adequate measures to fight the problem. Therefore improved and coordinated data collection concerning the scale of the problems of trafficking in human beings is needed.The governments of the Region should - if they have not already done so - carry out the adoption, implementation and coordination of the proper legislation against trafficking in human beings, in accordance with the relevant UN and Council of Europe protocols and conventions of which they are parties. This should target all forms of exploitation and include the measures to assist victims.The cooperation on crisis management and civil protection against natural, technological and man-made risks and emergencies needs to be strengthened. This could be done, for instance, by coordinating planning, prevention and resources, and by streamlining the existing arrangements within a comprehensive region-wide framework. Concerted action should be taken to reinforce IT security by analyzing, detecting and managing cyber crimes, and by launching the defensive and protective measures against the disruption of critical infrastructure systems.The issue of maritime safety and security was also raised at the Nyborg conference. A number of political recommendations were agreed, for example, on the preparedness and management capacity to tackle oil spills, on the implementation of the Clean Baltic Shipping project, on maritime safety and ship traffic monitoring and on the efforts to phase out the operating of sub-standard ships in the Baltic Sea. The governments were urged to join and support the project called Surveillance Cooperation Baltic Sea (SUCBAS), whose purpose is to improve maritime situational awareness and to support the maritime safety, maritime security, protection of the environment and countering illegal activities in the maritime environment across the entire Baltic Sea. BSPC also strongly supports the HELCOM’s (the Helsinki Commission) Baltic Sea Action Plan.The preconditions for success in joint efforts• As always, when a large number of actors are engaged in a geographic area or in a particular field of activity, the question of coordination naturally arises. To ensure efficiency and avoid wasteful duplication, it is important that actors try to define and develop their respective comparative advantages and their specific role in the overall situation, preferably in dialogue with their fellow actors;• Cooperation is an art of give and take and of rights and duties. A party to a cooperative structure certainly has the right to benefit from the combined resources of the structure, for instance, if a country is hit by a disaster that outstrips its own response resources. But a party also has an obligation to provide information to its partners, for instance, in the case of an accident with possible trans-border impacts, such as an airborne or waterborne discharge of hazardous agents;• The Baltic Sea Region is made up of both EU- and non-EU- states. It is essential that all cooperative efforts dealing with the challenges of the Region include the participation of - or at least suggest participation to - all the states of the Region. No credible solution to any major challenge in the Region can be found if the relevant stakeholders are excluded from cooperation. The cooperation in the BSR should be conducted “in the spirit of the Northern Dimension”, that is, as cooperation between equal partners, irrespective of their membership in the EU. One could also consider the desirability and modalities for inviting countries adjacent to the BSR to observe or take part in activities in the Region.The future of relations between the countries of the BSR depends on how the countries will use their opportunity to establish joint mechanisms built on cooperation, mutual understanding, common values and non-confrontation.