Don Kraus, Executive Vice President of Citizens for Global Solutions, explained that the United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS) is a potential future service provided to better address the international community in case of genocide or various other humanitarian emergencies. 

The proposal has been designed to increase rapid response deployment of troops to designated areas, staff a variety of professionals and obtain a much more cohesive operation unit. It would also serve as a cost-effective investment designed to lessen the overall U.S. contribution to U.N. peace and genocide prevention operations.

The proposal is currently backed by several organizations including Citizens for Global Solutions, Center for International Policy, Africa Action, Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam America, Peace Action, Resolve Uganda, Refugees International, and many others.

In 1994, over 800,000 people in Rwanda were murdered and in Darfur the death tolls claim to be toppling 400,000 since 2003 according to The Washington Post.  The urgency is clear and the thought that others are trying to find a new, more effective approach to aiding and preventing in genocide and other humanitarian emergencies is a first step in the right direction. 

The proposal provides a more structured and detailed leadership/training element that is lacking in the current system.  It emphasizes a different approach to the current staffing of humanitarian aid workers.

On average the U.N. has taken 46 days to begin deployment of peacekeeping personnel and 13 months to fully staff crisis response missions in the past 15 years.  Last year the World Health Organization reported 70,000 deaths had been counted in Darfur, and the Representative for Darfur, Rodolphe Adada estimates that it won’t be until 2009 when they have reached full operational capacity. 

The urgency is now and one of the main goals that UNEPS plans to reach is to begin deployment of the first round of peacekeeping troops within 48 to 72 hours of Security Council authorization.  This is just one of many goals UNEPS has highlighted in its attempt to create a more effective, emergency based response team.

One of the challenges that UNEPS doesn't currently address is what to do in a situation where the country's government does not welcome the UNEPS mission.  Another meeting participant asked, "What does it matter if we have a system formulated such as UNEPS if the country’s government does not welcome our mission?"  She was referring to the Sudanese government and the barrier that would face us in our mission to implement UNEPS in such emergency areas.

Another challenge that I see with UNEPS involves the cultural and historical training of deployed personnel.  UNEPS training will include: setting and assessing new standards for personnel, long-term planning, course and curricula development, training and exercise, interoperability, etc.  There is no section in the proposal that includes extensive background knowledge of the country or area that UNEPS may deploy to.  How can we possibly gain people's trust and let them know we are there to help them, when we express no understanding of their war to begin with?  I think this is one element that many of us overlook, yet it is the one area that needs the most attention to in dealing with delicate situations such as genocide.

Don Kraus and others that helped present the proposal hope that UNEPS can help to prevent genocide and avoid the need to deploy UNEPS troops.  It has been established by monitoring and data analysis teams that genocide is no accident.  The trends suggest that genocide is both predictable, by closely monitored data, and preventable.  This data can help to forecast and prevent genocides from happening.  The existence of UNEPS could also deter groups from planning genocides.

To learn more about UNEPS, visit Citizens for Global Solutions.

Share your thoughts about UNEPS by commenting below.
- How can the UNEPS proposal be improved?
- Do you think it will be successful if implemented? 
- What are the challenges of implementing it?