Defence diplomacy in the Arctic: the search and rescue agreement as a confidence builder

Abstract

In May 2011, the members of the Arctic Council, the pre-eminent inter-governmental forum for circumpolar affairs, concluded the first legally binding agreement in its 15-year history. The Agreement on Search and Rescue (SAR) cooperation in the Arctic, while not a particularly influential document in its own right, offers the circumpolar states an excellent opportunity to pursue defense diplomacy in the region: the peacetime cooperative use of armed forces and related infrastructure as a tool of security and foreign policy. This paper will discuss the current status of military cooperation in the Arctic and outline the prospects for defense diplomacy as a means to reduce tension and enhance geopolitical stability in the region, particularly in the context of the new search and rescue agreement.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Rob Huebert for his valuable feedback on the original conference paper and to contacts at Transport Canada and DND for information on the SAR process.

Notes

The Americans also favored the soft law, forum format for the Arctic Council and successfully sought to avoid a permanent secretariat, assessed contributions or legal commitments. For a thorough examination of the establishment of the Arctic Council, see Bloom (1999), Keskitalo (2004) and Huebert (1997).

Interview with Lassi Heinenen, 18 February 2008, Helsinki, Finland.

The permanent participants include the Aleut International Association, Arctic Athabaskan Council, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Gwich'in Council International, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON), and Saami Council.

Including the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) and the Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR), both released in 2004.

The Russian expedition, led by explorer and Russian MP Artur Chilinkarov, impressively planted a titanium flag at the seabed of the North Pole, at over 4200 m in depth, from a MIR mini-submarine. However it also provoked a maelstrom of headlines, rhetoric, and response and ignited the narrative of an Arctic “race”.

Ilulissat Declaration, 29 May 2008. The lack of capitalization in the term “law of the sea” appears to be have been intentional to account for the fact that the United States had yet to accede to UNCLOS.

See Petersen (2009), for an account of the planning of the Ilulissat meeting. Known as the “Arctic 5”, the group has been criticized for excluding a number of Arctic states as well as the indigenous Permanent Participants, but will likely continue on in some format to address legal issues regarding the Arctic Ocean.

The agencies responsible for SAR under the Agreement represent both civilian and military agencies, including the Canadian Forces and Canadian Coast Guard; Danish Maritime Authority, Danish Transport Authority, and Ministry of Fisheries – Faroe Islands; Finnish Border Guard; Icelandic Coast Guard; Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, Northern Norway (JRCC NN Bodø); Russian Federal Air Transport Agency and Russian Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport; Swedish Maritime Administration; and United States Coast Guard and United States Department of Defense.

Tromsø Declaration, Tromsø, Norway, 29 April 2009.

Article 3(3). Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic, Arctic Council, Nuuk, Greenland, May 12, 2011.

All eight Arctic states are already party to this convention. International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR), International Maritime Organization, 1979 (http://www.imo.org/About/Conventions/ListOfConventions/Pages/International-Convention-on-Maritime-Search-and-Rescue-(SAR).aspx; accessed 18 May 2009).

Convention on International Civil Aviation, International Civil Aviation Organization, 1944 (http://www.icao.int/icaonet/dcs/7300.html, accessed 18 May 2011).

Article 98 discusses the duty to render assistance. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 (http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf; accessed 18 May 2009).

The Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act (AWPPA) in Canada and the Jones Act in the United States could both limit the ability of foreign vessels to assist in a timely manner in the case of an Arctic SAR emergency.

These include the establishment of Permanent Secretariat in Tromso, Norway; the development of a task force on oil spill preparedness as preparation for a legally binding instrument in that issue area.

One Canadian government official noted that for Canada's 2013–2015 Arctic Council chairmanship, proposed activities were being vetted and assessed in terms of their potential for an eight-country treaty. Personal correspondence with Government of Canada official, 18 March 2012.

On 23 March 2012, Norway released its new Defence Plan, which outlined the F-35 procurement schedule. It indicates that 48 F-35s will be purchased for operational purposes and 4 for training purposes.

A number of commentators and authors have made reference and provided analysis of these events; Oran Young is one of them (2009).

Personal correspondence with Department of National Defence public relations division, 18 June 2011.

Its other two icebreakers, the Polar Sea and Polar Star, are both beyond their intended lifespan of thirty years and are currently homeported in Seattle. The Healy is a medium icebreaker.

Canadian Coast Guard Icebreaking Program webpage, “The Icebreaking Fleet” (http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/CCG/Ice_Fleet; accessed 15 July 2011).

The CCGS John G. Diefenbaker National Icebreaker Project, Fisheries and Oceans Canada website, 28 April 2010 (http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/e0010762; accessed 26 May 2011).

The 2012 iteration of Cold Response included 16,300 troops from 14 nations, including Canada, France, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden and the United States.

It seems as though the parachuting expedition did not ultimately occur.

The Russians reportedly continue to fly bombers right up to North American airspace and have refused Canadian requests to file pre-flight plans.

Arctic Search and Rescue Table Top Exercise – Post Exercise Report, December 7, 2011.

For a comprehensive examination of modern Norwegian–Russian military cooperation, see Pettersen (2012).

The new Nordic Defense Cooperation, or NORDEFCO, builds on existing collective security arrangements in the Nordic area, but with a view to broadening and deepening the cooperation with a defence pact. It began as an initiative amongst the Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish Chiefs of Defence, with a report submitted in June 2008 outlining potential areas for cooperation and harmonization. Iceland and Denmark joined the arrangement in November 2008.

This is not a reflection of the quality of the working group members or the scientific reports that are their main outcomes; rather, it is a reflection on the slow and consensus style of management characteristic of the Arctic Council. While aging, the following article is still relevant: “The Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, Arctic Council and Multilateral Environmental Initiative: Tinkering while the Arctic marine environment totters” (Huebert et al. 2001, pp. 225–248).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Heather Exner-Pirot

Heather Exner-Pirot is a Post-Doctoral Fellow with the International Centre for Northern Governance and Development and Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan.