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A Fairer World

The Challenge

Labour, since its foundation, has been an international party. Its founders believed in the interdependency of the different peoples of the world, the indivisible nature of the task of justice and the mobilising power of solidarity.

Globalisation has greatly benefited Ireland, but with it has come ever greater responsibility. The free market economy, the diffusion of arms and military capability, climate change and the global reach of new technologies mean that we now have an unprecedented capacity to help or to harm those far beyond our national borders.

Labour's core ideals of freedom, equality, community and democracy have always informed our solidarity with all people in all nations, and particularly those in the developing world who are most in need of our support. In 2007, that support is needed more than ever.

The UN's Millennium Development Goals are still some way from realisation, with only five countries reaching the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP for overseas aid. It is essential that developing countries are also able to trade their own way out of poverty. The WTO's Doha Development Round, which was supposed to have concluded by 2004, collapsed in 2006. Meanwhile, in the absence of the development-friendly trade agreements it was intended to produce, bilateral trade treaties have proliferated. These bilateral treaties offer little of the protection afforded by the negotiating blocs of the WTO, leaving the least developed countries open to exploitation.

A globalised economy also means a globalised arms trade, and one that is rapidly expanding. Arms components come from all over the world, including Ireland, while the movement of production facilities, technology and brokers is more fluid than ever before. Ireland's public support for an Arms Trade

Treaty and a ban on cluster bombs is a welcome step in the right direction. However, is it essential that the forthcoming Control of Exports Bill, intended to update our legislation on arms trading and brokering, precipitates greater transparency in Ireland's export and brokering of military, security and police apparatus and small arms.

International security must be achieved through adherence to international law. We are fully committed to the United Nations and reform which would make it a more effective, more democratic institution. Ireland must respect international law within its own borders and proactively support it abroad. Our defence forces should be developed to respond to new peacekeeping challenges and natural disasters and to build on their proud history in UN and EU peacekeeping missions.

In an increasingly interconnected world, Ireland has a real choice to make about its interaction with the global community. We believe that that choice must be an ethical one.

Ireland can do better

The Labour Party invites public support for a New Departure towards an ethical Irish foreign policy that is rights-based, that respects international law, that promotes human rights and development and gives concrete expression to our ideals of international solidarity.

What Labour will do

Overseas Aid

We will:

Pass our Development Cooperation Bill to establish Ireland's official development aid expenditure as 0.7 per cent of GNP annually. The equivalent of 0.7 per cent of GNP will be paid in quarterly installments into our proposed Development Cooperation Ireland Fund regardless of whether funds from the previous year have been spent or not.
Reverse the decision to decentralise Irish Aid.
Ensure that Ireland Aid is appropriately resourced to deliver the highest standard of oversight, transparency and value for money in the spending of Irish development aid. We will initiate a genuine dialogue on 'good governance'.
Work with local partners on the ground in countries receiving Irish development assistance to ensure that aid is recipient-driven and targeted where it can be most useful.
Publish current and planned Irish aid contributions in Irish Aid programme countries and encourage other donors to do the same.
Work within the Council of Ministers to ensure that EU aid is transparent and clearly targeted at achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Press for the extension of human rights into the development arena, for example the right to water.
Ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
Favour the establishment at the level of the UN of a Rapid Response Agency for natural and human disasters.

Trade

We support the Doha Development Round and the delivery of fair trade rules for the developing world.
We will seek to develop special measures for developing countries within the WTO which allow them to regulate essential domestic services.
We will work to ensure that Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and African Caribbean states are not exploitative and are compatible with the realisation of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
We will ensure that government departments purchase Fair Trade goods wherever possible.

Arms

We support an Arms Trade Treaty that will effectively control the international trade in arms, including small arms and light weapons.
We support a universal ban on cluster bombs and will actively encourage other governments to do the same
We will ensure full and transparent reporting of arms trading and brokering as detailed in the Control of Exports Bill.
We will apply extra territorial controls to brokering of small arms, torture equipment and death penalty equipment, as well as those weapons covered by the EU Code of Conduct.
We will reinstate the practice of publishing export licensing data on the website of the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment.
We will develop the initiative of the New Agenda Group in relation to the Nonproliferation Treaty as to nuclear disarmaments, and press under the Treaty for the compliance of the nuclear powers with their commitment.

Climate Change

We have set out our commitment to domestic greenhouse gas reductions earlier in this document. We recognise that tackling global warming is indivisible from supporting development. Development aid will be wasted if, within a few decades, the populations we are seeking justice for are struggling indefinitely with more disease, flooding and drought.

We also support the creation of an international Climate Change Fund to help vulnerable developing countries adapt to changing weather patterns arising from global warming. This fund should be strictly separate to development aid.

Peace, Cooperation and Defence

Labour remains committed to the principle that Ireland should not become party to any mutual defence treaty or any EU agreement for common defence. The Irish people prize their tradition of military neutrality and we intend to uphold our Labour tradition of positive neutrality.

However, military neutrality does not bind us to isolation or inactivity. We are committed to seeing the Defence Forces playing a full part in the whole range of humanitarian and peace-related tasks, including tasks of combat forces in crisis management. We believe in putting positive neutrality into practice, for example with regard to human rights protection.

In relation to international security, Labour is committed to the United Nations, which, however imperfect, is our closest approximation to a universally accepted institution based on international law. We will also play an active role in the development of European Foreign and Security policy, such as is derived from the principles of international law.

Promoting peace at home

Labour believes that the international community should learn from the recent illegally declared war in Iraq. We believe that positive compliance with international law and the policy principles of positive neutrality require us to not allow our airspace or facilities to be used for such purposes as facilitating such a war, or preparing for such a conflict. We will institute a regime requiring compliance with human rights obligations that will be implemented through monitoring and inspection measures.
Furthermore, in government we will not allow Shannon Airport or other Irish facilities to be used for the prosecution of any war, or military preparation for such, outside of international law, international humanitarian law, or in breach of the Charter of the United Nations.
In the case of Shannon, and consistent with our policy for more balanced regional development, Labour in government is committed to facilitating the development and growth of civilian traffic volumes using the airport.
In accordance with the Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation, we will put in place an adequate and effective regime for the inspection and search of civil aircraft, so as to ensure that no aid or assistance is given to 'extraordinary rendition' and to guarantee the compliance of Ireland with international law and related conventions.

Peacekeeping and defence

Our defence forces will participate in international missions only where they involve the protection of international peace and security and where they are lawful under the UN Charter and in accordance with international law. Under no circumstances whatsoever will the Irish army engage in or assist international aggression or any other act which is contrary to international law.
Participation in battlegroups under EU auspices will be in accordance with these governing principles. Labour is committed to maintaining the 'triple lock': we will ensure that participation in the Nordic Battlegroup is limited to peacekeeping, peace enforcement and other actions which have government, UN and Dáil approval.
We will invest in the future of the Defence Forces as a modern, world class, light infantry force, capable of participating in the full range of UN peacekeeping missions in as large a complement as possible.
We will further encourage and develop opportunities to contribute to international tasks for all branches of the military including the Reserve Defence Forces and also for the Garda Síochána.
We will actively encourage lawfully resident non-nationals to enlist in the Defence Forces.
We will actively encourage the recruitment of women into the Defence Forces and take a determined approach to stamping out bullying and harassment.

Conduct of Foreign Policy

We are committed to supporting the United Nations and its institutions, including the Bretton-Woods institutions, while calling for necessary reform of these bodies.
Drawing on our rights perspective in foreign policy, we stress the importance of our positive neutrality policy in developing strategies of human rights protection through the agency of the United Nations. We are committed to the forward movement towards the indivisibility and universality of human rights.
Labour supports the delegation of peace keeping functions to regional authorities by the UN, under appropriate mandate and control so as to enable speedy conflict prevention and resolution.
We will work towards the development of new institutional relationships that will assist in the anticipation of conflicts that are increasingly intra-state and are thus not amenable to being addressed by conventional, and especially military, strategies.
In relation to the continuing loss of life in Palestine and Israel, Labour believes that any enduring peace will have to be based on acceptance of the principles of international law; the resolutions of the United Nations; with the recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people to a viable state and the right of the people of Israel to live in security and peace and an end to violence of all kinds
We believe it is urgent that countries such as Ireland give a lead in encouraging a dialogue with moderate Islam.
Labour will give the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs a more active role in the initiation of policy proposals, research and publication.
Irish appointees to the Bretton Woods institutions will be required to be ratified by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, and to appear annually before the committee.
We will seek to eliminate the backlog in relation to ratification of UN conventions relating to human and natural welfare. Labour favours the movement away from a dualistic approach to international law, and favours the entry into Irish domestic law of such international principles as are agreed by the more advanced and rights-driven members of the international community.

The European Union

The Labour Party is committed to a united and peaceful continent of Europe, and a union of states working together to the benefit of all.We believe that a democratic and inclusive Europe offers a more prosperous, culturally enriching and secure life for Irish citizens, for other Europeans and for the citizens of the rest of the world.

In light of this we will work for:

A More Relevant Europe

incorporation of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights into the proposed EU Constitutional Treaty reflect our long-standing commitment to a more just and equal Europe for all. This is why we support the Constitutional Treaty. However, the momentum of the European project has stalled, largely because the public have not been persuaded of the need for change. To address this critical problem, we will

Support the convening of an Intergovernmental Conference to agree Protocols on three key policy issues of great concern to Europe's citizens. These are climate change, global poverty and human trafficking - all complex problems which cannot be solved without a high degree of international cooperation. These protocols would set out the powers necessary to deal with these challenges, state the intention of the Member States to act through national and EU structures and set out the concrete steps to be taken if the Constitutional Treaty enters into force.
Support a greater level of EU co-operation in tackling cross border crime particularly in the trafficking of drugs and people and will work constructively with our European partners to ensure progress in this area.
Promote in advance of the review of EU spending in 2008/09, a national debate involving the Oireachtas and social partners on the future of the EU budget.

A More Democratic Europe at Home and in Brussels

Labour has worked hard in recent years to ensure the Oireachtas can properly oversee what our governments do in Brussels. We will continue to ensure greater democracy at home in relation to EU matters.

We will work to enhance Oireachtas scrutiny of EU proposals and EU decision-making.
We want all EU legislation to be made in public.

A Social Europe

We want a Europe that ensures a better quality of life for all its citizens.We reject the race to the bottom as epitomised by the Irish Ferries debacle. Through our allies in the PES we have developed a firm vision for the future of a renewed social Europe which values communities but embraces economic and social reform.

We will strive in government to promote these values Europe wide particularly by:

Urging the Commission to adopt clear headline targets for the EU to reduce the levels of poverty measured against GDP by 2010 and a clear way of measuring progress in this regard.
Pressing the Commission to produce a draft Framework Directive on Services of General Interest (i.e. public services) clarifying the rights and duties of such services under EC law.
Supporting reform of the EU social model which is based on the core values of the EU member states: equality, solidarity, redistribution.

A Globally Responsible Europe

The EU is a major economic world power. It needs to use this power for development, to eradicate hunger, control the arms trade and foster democracy and human rights. In the WTO we need to ensure greater openness and a fairer world trade system particularly for the developing world. Labour will work for a globally responsible Europe by

Recognising the key importance of the EU Neighbourhood Policy and relations with the Russian Federation.We believe as an EU partner Russia must show a strong commitment to human rights and real democracy.
Ensuring the fundamental spirit of the integration project which sought to create a true zone of peace, stability, prosperity and justice in Europe continues to be offered to our neighbours.
Supporting EU action to promote peace and stability on the continent of Europe - as in Bosnia and Kosovo where Irish troops and police serve with distinction - and beyond, as in Gaza and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Working to ensure that EU aid and trade policies do not undermine the efforts of the poorest countries to grow and develop. We particularly believe that the NEAP process needs to be re-examined in this light.