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En En Mission Report EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 2014 - 2019 Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan, EU-Uzbekistan and EU-Tajikistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and for relations with Turkmenistan and Mongolia 05/03/2015 MISSION REPORT following the 10th EU-Mongolia Interparliamentary Meeting, 16-18 February 2015, Ulaanbaatar Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan, EU-Uzbekistan and EU- Tajikistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and for relations with Turkmenistan and Mongolia Members of the mission: Gabrielius Landsbergis, (PPE) (Leader of the mission) Joachim Zeller, (PPE) Emil Radev, (PPE) Ismail Ertug, (S&D) Andrejs Mamikins, (S&D) Ryszard Czarnecki, (ECR) Urmas Paet (ALDE) CR\1052078EN.doc PE550.033v01-00 EN United in diversity EN The mission was organised with good cooperation and support from the Secretariat of the State Great Khural (Parliament), the EU Delegation in Beijing (accredited to Mongolia) and the Technical Office of the latter in Ulaanbaatar. Ms. Marina Vraila (political section, EU Delegation in Beijing) participated in all meetings. The mission was held just before the main Mongolian festivity of New Year, Tsagaan Sar. 1. Meetings at the UN House (16 February) The two meetings held at the UN House were interesting and appreciated by the delegation. The Chief Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission, Mr. Jamsran Byambadorj, gave an overview of the human rights situation in the country. He valued the country’s achievements since 1990, but expressed his concern on several areas. The number of human rights complaints received by his office has been rising recently, and he makes sure that they are reflected in his annual report to the Parliament. His greater concern was for cases related to dignity of individuals, e.g. torture, human trafficking, etc. Mr Byambadorj was also concerned with cases related to mining – the biggest industry in the country: people (herders, indigenous peoples, etc) and the environment are negatively affected. Mining projects are also a serious cause of pollution with the big lorries transporting the ore through the Gobi desert. These and other factors are prompting a large human internal migration to Ulaanbaatar which is having some negative human and social consequences: the city’s outskirts are becoming crowded and poor; moreover the ‘gers’ (yurts) and small constructions planted on these areas are often not connected to urban utility services and, above all, they cause a serious air pollution problem in the city as burning cheap coal for heating. As regards the health sector, Mr. Byambadorj admitted that the number of doctors per capita is satisfactory, but the medical infrastructure is not; this encourages wealthy people to seek medical treatment abroad. Mr. Byambadorj recalled that, according to the constitution, the government is in charge of safeguarding human rights. Mr Byambadorj recognised that Mongolia has been active in signing international conventions on human rights, but said that human rights problems in the country are more related to the economic level sphere than to the political one. The questions and answers covered several topics, such as the comparison of the human rights situation in Mongolia and in its neighbours (Mongolia is to be compared with countries like Australia, NZ or South Korea), China and Russia; the evaluation of media freedom in Mongolia (the media freedom law proposed by the president last year was not passed by Parliament); the children situation, particularly in the new ‘ger’ areas of Ulaanbaatar (the apartments built by the government in these areas, although cheap, remain often empty because the people has no capacity to repay mortgages); and the enforcement of human rights conventions. The UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Sezin Sinanoglou, gave a very interesting overview of the development challenges faced by Mongolia. For her Mongolia is a true democracy and a politically stable country. The government is accessible and the defence budget is small. It has huge untapped natural resources that one day will benefit its population. But there is much to do yet in the country, basically due to the following reasons: A) There has been an unsustainable economic growth which started at very low wealth levels in the 1990s. The national economy relies too much on mining, while there are big potentials in other sectors like tourism and agriculture. The Mongolian economy is fragile because it is nowadays too much dependent on China – particularly on trade. B) Mongolia is too vulnerable to global economic shocks and to climate change. The increase in temperature has already reached the ceiling of 2 degrees rise (UNFCC tipping point for the planet). Moreover the regular dzuds (hot summers followed by extreme winters) are an impediment for sustainable herding, and they encourage the nomads to keep a disproportionate number of animals, which is uneconomical and bad for the environment. Finally, Ulaanbaatar and several regions are prone to suffer earthquakes. PE550.033v01-00 2/9 CR\1052078EN.doc EN C) Inequalities are growing and the quality of education is poor: there are medical schools where the students do never see a patient. The health landscape is unequal: although the level of HIV infection is low, the infection levels of sexual transmissible diseases are very high. Tuberculosis is fought successfully, measles have disappeared and maternal mortality has diminished dramatically; however hepatitis-C has turned to be an authentic epidemic. D) Governance has to be improved. Checks and balances are simply not there, and the links between members of parliament and government are too strong. Institutions, and particularly ministries, are not mature enough. There are too many organisational changes and personnel turnover to let any institutional memory survive. Moreover ministries require far better coordination spirit and procedures. Freedom of media is good but corruption is a serious issue, particularly in the judiciary power. There is also a need for policy strategies before they are implemented: the country’s development is managed by separate projects and not by strategies, and the decisions are not taken based on prior research. By contrast, development partners need to understand that the people’s culture and history is nomadic and therefore individualistic; the sense of community is very different in these societies, each ‘ger’ (yurt tent) is meant to be a self-sufficient cell. The questions and answers focused on: the government’s 2012-2016 action plan (difficult to apply with so many government changes); cultural obstacles for governance (the people want to severe themselves from the past centralised planning); president’s office role (visionary although with limited constitutional powers); financing administrative capacities (local governments receive public funds but have no institutional / technical capacity to manage them); corruption and ways to deal with it (popular perception that corruption came with foreign investments, particularly South Koreans). The UN programme in Mongolia focus on fighting inequality, seeking economic and environmental sustainability and empowering women. The UN is also paying great attention to the urbanisation problems, air pollution, land grabbing and how to improve transparency in the mining sector. 2. Meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lundeg Purevsuren (17 February) The Minister elaborated on the 25 years of democratic change in Mongolia, stressing that elections have been always respected and that the transition was peaceful – in line with the Mongolian character. Mongolia broke the stereotypes of transitions from communist to democratic regimes. Nevertheless it was not an easy process, but it was a good experience rather than bad. Mongolia is sharing this valuable and positive experience with other Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar. It is also ready to share experiences with North Korea thanks to the good relations that Mongolia has maintained with this country and its neighbours. The EU is an important third neighbour and the opening of an EU Delegation in Ulaanbaatar is badly needed – even the 5 EU embassies are asking for this opening. We need to encourage more EU MS to ratify the EU-Mongolia PCA. Cooperation with the EBRD and the EIB is important. It was regrettable that the previously foreseen slot for the Mongolian President, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, to address the EP plenary sitting in March has been given to ‘another candidate’. The Minister hopes that the EP will make its April or May agenda open to the President to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the Mongolian democracy. There are important international appointments for Mongolia in the next months: the 2015 meeting of the Freedom On-line Coalition will be held in Ulaanbaatar on 4-5 May. A strong EU participation and engagement in this event is important – former SE PM and MFA, Carl Bildt, has already confirmed his presence. Mongolia is becoming increasingly active in the OSCE, only a couple of years after its accession. Next year the 28-29 July ASEM summit in Ulaanbaatar is also of great relevance. The Chairman of the EP delegation, Mr. Gabrielius Landsbergis, recalled the importance given by the EP to relations with Mongolia and clarified that if there was no IPM meeting in 2014 this was due to reasons out of our control, such as the EP elections and the change of CR\1052078EN.doc 3/9 PE550.033v01-00 EN government in Mongolia. We value Mongolia because is a beacon of democracy. The EU wants to be a close ‘third neighbour of Mongolia’. The EU is doubling its financial assistance cooperation to Mongolia in the period 2014-2020 and this is an evidence of the EU interest and dedication the country. The EP is much looking forward to the completion of the PCA ratification by the parliaments of the EU MS. The EP will, once again ask the EEAS to open a Delegation in Ulaanbaatar; the problem is only of financial nature, there is not lack of political will. People to people contacts and student exchanges have the potential to be increased.
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