United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS)
A proposal & global movement to address our five big challenges in preventing and managing armed conflict
UNEPS was specifically designed to help with:
- The prevention of armed conflict;
- Stopping genocide and mass atrocity crimes;
- Protecting civilians at extreme risk;
- Ensuring prompt start-up of demanding peace operations; and,
- Addressing human needs in areas where others cannot.
As proposed, it is to be:
- a permanent, integrated UN formation,
- a highly trained and well-equipped first-responder (‗UN 911‘)
- ready for immediate deployment upon authorization of the UN Security Council;
- multifunctional and multidimensional (civilians, police and military);
- composed of 16,000 dedicated personnel (recruited professionals, selected, trained and employed by the UN);
- co-located at a designated UN base under an operational headquarters and two mobile mission headquarters ;
- capable of diverse assignments with specialised skills for security, humanitarian, health and environmental crises;
- at sufficient strength to operate in high-threat environments ; and
- a service to complement existing UN and regional arrangements.
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Sample Endorsements for a United Nations Emergency Peace Service
―This venture is of the greatest importance both to the UN as a responsible institution and to the millions as of yet unknown, innocent victims who might, in the future, be saved by this essential addition to the UN’s capacity to act on their behalf. There is one overwhelming argument for the United Nations Emergency Peace Service. It is desperately needed, and it is needed as soon as possible.”
–Sir Brian Urquhart, Former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs
“This initiative directly responds to the widely recognized need to protect people caught in deadly conflicts. I pleaded on numerous occasions for the rapid deployment of specialized forces. Effective, trained and specialized standing forces would have been invaluable.”
–Sadako Ogata, Former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
“The people and policy makers of the world can continue to be shocked, horrified, outraged and grief-stricken by one genocide after another, or we can take meaningful action to stop the killing…Their plan for a United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS) is thoughtful, well researched and solid. When implemented, it will create a rapid, comprehensive, internationally legitimate response to acts of genocide and other crises and save millions of lives through preventive action.”
–Lois Barber, Executive Director of EarthAction
“If the objective is to protect people and prevent violence you send a legitimate credible UN presence to start a mission quickly-not wait for 4 to 6 months -then there is far less likelihood of people being murdered, or large scale massive ethnic cleansing. That suggests a dedicated UN mechanism including a range of services-military, police and civilian and capable of using force even when opposed to it -a entity that Peter Langille has called a UN Emergency Service…”
-Lloyd Axworthy, former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
“With regard to practical tools–if you like the “tool of response”…there are many ideas on the table. But I believe one idea on the table that should be pursued more seriously and discussed within the United Nations, maybe a mandate if need be, is an idea which is being proposed by a very serious group of scholars and
organizations. They call this the UN Emergency Peace Service. We can discuss this more fully later; I think this is something that should be debated more seriously so that where there is an actual genocide going on, at an early stage there will be a tool for response which does notdepend on individual Member States deciding to send their men and women into harm‘s way or not to do so.
-Olara Otunnu, former UN Special Representative to the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict
“Rather than await the next tragedy, together, we could take one confident step toward saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war. Together, we could help the UN prevent armed conflict and protect civilians at risk. Together, we could finally provide the Organization witha reliable mechanism for responding rapidly and effectively to diverse emergencies worldwide. Together, we could initiate a dedicated UN Emergency Peace Service. With sufficient support, such a service would complement efforts to overcome an increasingly divided, dangerous and heavily armed world. As amechanism for enforcing international law, it would be a positive step toward ensuring a rules-based system; one that worked to promote common, human security. Gradually, it should also help to undermine the anarchy, the culture of impunity and the growing exclusivity characteristic of contemporary international relations.A UN Emergency Peace Service would be a permanent UN formation, maintained at high readiness with pre-trained, well-equipped personnel, available for immediate deployment once authorized by the UN Security Council. This service would be both multidimensional and multifunctional, composedof military, police and civilian elements, prepared for rapid deployment to diverse UN operations… I won‘t go into all the details of this proposal today, but it is supported by a coalition of organizations and detailed in a book published by the Center for UN Reform entitled, Bridging the Commitment—Capacity Gap.., a terrible title but a wonderful book written by Dr. Peter Langille”.
–Don Kraus, Executive Director, Citizens For Global Solutions
