Zuber UNEPS Article

Creating a UN Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding capacity to Prevent Massive Loss of Human Life: the UNEPS Project
Robert Zuber, Global Action to Prevent War and UNEPS Project

The United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS) project is being developed by a group of international experts and civil society leaders as an individually recruited, gender integrated, rapid-response, standing UN capacity that can help put an end to genocide and crimes against humanity occurring anywhere in the world. As a 'first in, first out' service, UNEPS will work in tandem with other UN and regional capacities, positively impacting both the duration and cost of peacekeeping operations that are often insufficiently trained and arrive on the scene too late to stop violence in its formative stages. Now in its fourth year, the UNEPS initiative is well on its way to becoming a permanent capacity to help the international community honor its 'responsibility to protect' civilians in times of genocidal violence and other humanitarian crises. 

The UNEPS secretariat has created strong partnerships with a number of important international NGOs, notably the World Federation of United Nations Associations, with which we hope to develop a strategy to highlight UNEPS as part of WFUNA's future plans. We also have varying levels of support from international leaders such as Juan Mendez (Argentina), Sir Brian Urquhart (UK), Lloyd Axworthy (Canada), Jonathan Dean (US), Herman Scheer (Germany), Senator Tadashi Inuzuka (Japan), General Satish Nambiar (India), Sadako Ogata (Japan), Anwarul Chowdhury (Bangladesh) and Mia Farrow (US).  Sir Brian, who has been tirelessly championing the notion of  astanding rapid-deployment capacity virtually since the founding of the UN, has been especially generous with his guidance and inspiration.

In addition to UN and US outreach and advocacy conducted with our New York and DC partners, our priority is to develop and build capacity at affiliated UNEPS centers in South Africa, Brazil, India, Spain, Australia, Serbia and other regions.  Through materials development, workshops, conferences, research and media outreach, these centers have essential roles to play in helping us refine our proposal and reach diverse governments and regional constituencies.  For example, we recently celebrated the creation of United Action for Peace (http://www.unitedactionforpeace.org), a project aimed at "creating a united front for civil society organizations in Cameroon to promote peace, human rights and governance at national and international levels with a focus on the strengthening of the UN peace keeping capability via support of the UNEPS initiative." These centers are instrumental in helping us develop regional leadership on the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity, especially from younger practitioners, while ensuring that our UNEPS project and related proposals take the security concerns, needs and aspirations of emerging global regions into full account.
 
Enthusiasm for this project continues to build from many sources, including this from the DRC: "We are the ones who understand well and support with convincing evidence and testimony why the world needs UNEPS--a United Nations permanent and rapid response to deal with issues of peace and humanitarian relief," said Cissa wa Numbe, Secretary General of the UNA-Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We welcome the interest and support of UNA chapters worldwide. Please send your ideas and perspectives, your criticisms and suggestions to coordinator@globalactionpw.org. Find UNEPS updates at www.globalactionpw.org/uneps/index.htm. A service like UNEPS can be successfully implemented only if it reflects the broadest possible global consensus on peacekeeping, conflict resolution and peacebuilding.