Speeches
Minister of Defence Jyri Häkämies at Comprehensive Approach Seminar - CAS
MINISTER OF DEFENCE JYRI HÄKÄMIES
CAS seminar
Lunch Speech
17 June 2008, Finlandia House, Helsinki
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
I am very pleased to share this lunch with such a distinguished audience. Comprehensive approach, how we understand this term? We need the resources of various players and sectors to address current crisis prevention and management challenges. We aim at avoiding the need for duplication or overlapping capabilities. Lack of cooperation might put civilian and military personnel unnecessarily in danger, hence; the coordination is required to ensure the best possible synergy. Partnership between various international and regional organizations is needed as well as with Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
The complex nature of today's international crises means that the challenge can not be met by one actor or sector only. Dealing with today's crises, the comprehensive approach should start early on, from the assessment phase. Let's take an example. In Afghanistan we meet totally different situation in the southern part and in the northern part of the country. The situation in the southern part reminds more like war situation, while the situation in the north enables other means like reconstruction and civilian assistance. Therefore, the actions that have to be taken vary, depending on the area of operations and the situation. Naturally, in these cases the over all coordination has to be done from totally different approach. What are the ways to success?
For sure, we need the capabilities of various actors and sectors to address current crisis prevention and management challenges. We need a common acceptance in measures what are to be done in various phases. Different elements are needed at different times; their use should be addressed in a common plan which would define the course of action according to the evolution of a situation. Every organisation has its own way and tradition of doing things and all players have to respect this principal. Coordination does not mean the control of various actors for example by the leading organisation like NATO or EU. Instead, it means that different actors understand the requirements of a situation in a similar way and draw conclusions for further action together. Without this kind of communication between different various players such as NGOs, we may end up just creating more barriers. Domestically, I have always underlined that all the ministries, not only the Ministry of Defence or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have to be able to take the lead in their own area of responsibility. In this case other ministries have a supporting role.
I would like to raise one critical issue, information operations. To ensure operational success, we need to achieve the trust of the local population and on the other hand we need a political acceptance by the participating countries. Both our own citizens and the players in the field need to have the feeling that they are doing the right things for the right cause. Unfortunately, various players have sometimes their own views on current actions and that may confuse those people we are trying to help. Therefore, what we say must be on track with the actions we take. In order to succeed, we need communication from the very beginning, from capability development to training, from planning to phased conduct of operations, from exit strategy to lessons learnt exercises.
Today's crises break up very rapidly. We must have capability for very rapid and robust intervention in order to prevent escalation. European Union Battle Group and NATO Reaction Force concepts are created for these purposes. At the same time we need all the necessary military and civilian capabilities from various players. Each international organisation has its specific strengths, as you have discussed this morning. What is essential today is that we work together in many different frameworks in parallel like we do in Afghanistan and in Kosovo. Comprehensive approach can not be achieved by any organization alone. It needs to be created together.
It is sometimes challenging to foster co-operation. Initiatives to create common ground are often seen as attempts to gain more power or credit. This is especially true at the political level. Good initiatives from the field are too often hindered and best practises are hampered because of such reasons as heritage, pride and tradition. We have to get over this. The complex nature of crisis is being daily met by our young crisis management personnel in the field. They can not wait for our debates to be solved. We owe them the best possible tools and conditions to operate together.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the particular pleasure to have invited you to Finland together with my (Minister) colleagues. We all share a strong belief in the benefits of comprehensive approach. We trust that your deliberations today can help us take further steps in making this more and more of reality. The more pragmatic and actionable steps should follow this seminar. I am looking forward hearing your constructive and useful discussions in the afternoon.