Thank you.
I can't say that I'm going to be as erudite, as flowing, as Mr. Shea was, particularly in French. I can give you a bit of Welsh, but my French is fairly limited.
Thank you again for inviting me to appear before the Standing Committee on National Defence. I want to start briefly by recognizing the critical role that Canada has played in setting the NATO alliance and the Parliamentary Assembly.
It could be argued that in fact the alliance started when Canada agreed to send more than one million people to serve in the Second World War, including over 14,000 who joined the allies in Normandy on June 24, 1944.
Across the NATO alliance, we do remember the work of Escott Reid, Lester B. Pearson, and Louis St. Laurent, who floated the idea of a temporary military alliance in the north Atlantic region to ensure the stability of democracy and freedom in western Europe, in the face of the communist threat. The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April, 4, 1949, and included article 2, which became known as the “Canadian article”. The enthusiasm and commitment of Canadian Senator Wishart McLea Robertson and British MP Sir Geoffrey de Freitas initiated the first gathering of parliamentarians in July 1955 to create the NATO conference of parliamentarians, the forerunner of today's NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Senator Robertson was elected as the first president of the new assembly in 1955, and was the first of many important Canadian presidents, vice presidents, chairs, vice-chairs, and rapporteurs who served the alliance and the assembly.
I want to look at today's pressures. I plan to focus on the role NATO plays in the maritime and space domains, and in advancing a women, peace, and security agenda. I've prepared, on behalf of the defence security committee, reports on the maritime and space domains. I will be speaking to those.
Maritime is first, because NATO in many ways was primarily a maritime alliance. The transatlantic link is vital to all member states, but has long been neglected. I think it's been said that you cannot win a war in the Atlantic, but you can certainly lose one there. Control of the sea is vital for communication and freedom of movement, both of which are crucial aspects of NATO's operational efficiency. Alliance naval forces guarantee NATO's strategic defence and are central to the promotion and protection of political, economic, and diplomatic interests.
However, member states' navies, on the whole, have been shrinking in size, largely due, as in most fields, to the increasing cost and sophistication of vessels. This has had two major effects: allied navies have shrunk and the capability gaps have increased. A ship, no matter how sophisticated, can only be in one place at one time. The effect of this trend is that the U.S. is now the only member state with truly full spectrum capability.
Why is the maritime environment so crucial at both a local and global level? Currently 95% of trade is conducted on sea routes, 80% of hydrocarbons are transported by sea, and 95% of Internet traffic goes through undersea cables. A closer look shows that 80% of the maritime trade passes through eight choke points, three of which are crucial to NATO in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Red Sea.
The figures show that freedom of the seas is a driver of global economic interests. However, it is worth much more than this. Free seas are also a global norm and can be a tool to use in reinforcing international order.
With 80% of the world's population living within 60 miles of the coast, and 75% of the world's major cities being littoral, plus the use of sea lanes growing at 4.7% a year, the maritime domain is only becoming more critical to the alliance.
Threats at sea are increasing. I'll cite just one example. As the Arctic Ocean becomes navigable, the bastion concept is being reinforced with increased numbers of Russian submarines present. The threat to the GIUK gap and our undersea cables is growing. All aspects of naval capability serve as an essential enabler of deterrence and as demonstrators of political will and power.
Naval assets also provide the capacity to manage crises by providing expeditionary capabilities, sea control and denial, and logistical support to amphibious operations, including the enforcement of embargoes and no-fly zones, and the provision of humanitarian assistance. Naval forces also often offer the easiest and quickest route to providing co-operative security by working in partnership on capability building, training, joint exercises and, less directly, through naval diplomacy.
Here I will just put in a quick mention of port security, which we must raise our game on.
I want to move on to the new frontier of space. It's complicated but increasingly important area. Over the last few years, space has become a key pillar of NATO defence. Space is increasingly at the forefront of the security policy and planning debate, and a key area of global geopolitics.
The cost of operating in space is high, and as such the agenda lends itself to collaboration, rather than competition, among the alliance. This is perhaps reflected as a push for some kind of space code of conduct. As far as NATO is concerned, the alliance has no official space policy, but has released an allied joint doctrine for air and space operations. This is an area that NATO should now be looking to consolidate.
The current picture in space is complex. Satellite constellations are now vital for the efficient functioning of modern infrastructure, both military and civilian. Indeed, one challenge is the indistinguishability of military and civil spacecraft. It's estimated that 40% of all satellites are military, but that's not to say that civilian craft can't also be used for military functions.
Over the last two decades, both the breadth and depth of possibilities have expanded. A flood of new actors, both national and commercial, is making the three principal geocentric orbits congested and dirty. In part this is due to almost every country now having a satellite, or a stake in space. We've now got approximately 1,100 satellites in orbit; some are saying there are as many as 1,500. On top of this, in recent years new and dynamic commercial actors have ignited a second space race. Costs, although still high, are falling, and this is opening the space arena to many more participants and many more potential threats and problems.
Finally, as the North Atlantic Treaty was being signed, women were leaving the many vital roles they had played in the armed forces during the Second World War. The important role of women in peace and security did not return to the main political agenda for some time. In 2000, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 encouraged member states to involve women and integrate a gender perspective in multilateral security initiatives such as peace settlements, peace missions, disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration programs.
Additional resolutions now include a focus on sexual violence in the context of armed conflict, and recognizing sexual violence as a serious violation of human rights and international law. Recognition of women's roles in post-conflict recovery and actively integrating them in peace-building, peacekeeping, and aid management, is growing.
More recently, the agenda has expanded from a focus on women and girls to include the impact of conflict on gender relations, recognizing that sexual violence in conflict affects men and boys and those secondarily traumatized as forced witnesses of sexual violence against family members. It also emphasizes the positive role that men and boys play in promoting gender equality during reconstruction efforts. We now recognize that efforts to build peace must benefit both men and women equally.
NATO has taken on all these objectives and subsequent resolutions at different levels of the alliance's structures and activities. The 2013 Parliamentary Assembly report recorded nine strategies deployed by Parliaments of NATO member countries that contribute to the promotion, implementation, and monitoring of the women, peace and security agenda. In four areas there was a commitment to change—the areas of gender-balanced Parliamentary leadership; legislative initiatives; influence and oversight through debates, questions, and reports; and civil society engagement.
This update was published in 2015. The Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security will be sending out another survey this year. The results will be presented in Halifax by Clare Hutchinson, the NATO representative for women, peace, and security, who will be with us to talk about the results.
I'll end on that positive note. Canada has been a key member of the alliance since its inception, and I have many Canadian colleagues.
I look forward to answering your questions.