Lords debate the EU's Afghan Police Mission Report
22 June 2011
The House of Lords debated the EU's police mission in Afghanistan on Wednesday 22 June following a hard-hitting Lords Committee report which said that the mission risks failure.
- Parliament TV Audio and Video: The EU's Afghan Police Mission Debate
- Report: "The EU's Afghan Police Mission"
- Government Response to "The EU's Afghan Police Mission" Report
- Letter from Baroness Ashton and Commission Response to "The EU's Afghan Police Mission" Report
- Inquiry: The EU's Afghan Police Mission (EUPOL Afghanistan)
- EU Sub-Committee C - Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development Policy
Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat), Chairman of the Sub-Committee which authored the report, opened the debate. He called for the EU to show leadership on bringing law and order to Afghanistan, and said that the Government must get a formal agreement between the EU and NATO so that splits between the two organisations don’t jeopardise the mission.
Speaking prior to the debate, Lord Teverson said:
"The EU’s task in Afghanistan is vital but it is letting Afghanistan down. The Afghan people desperately need a police force that works but they stand no hope of getting that as things stand. The Afghan National Police force is in a dire state because of high rates of attrition and illiteracy, and corruption. And the EU police mission which is meant to be sorting these problems out is not working. The EU needs to get more staff on the ground now, and it must pay attention to developing the most urgent and basic of policing skills – starting with reading and writing. The Government must get the EU to put its house in order if all the valuable effort and money we have put into this isn’t to be wasted."
Other Members who to spoke included Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (Liberal Democrat), Lord Radice (Labour) the Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench), Lord Sewel(Labour) and Lord Selkirk of Douglas (Conservative).
Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat) responded on behalf of the government.