UNEPS is envisioned as a permanent, integrated, multi-functional unit of up to 13,000 well-equipped and highly trained personnel, ready for almost immediate deployment when authorized by the Security Council.
December 14, 2023, Published in The Hill Times
CNN reports on yet another Israeli airstrike in Gaza. After panning across the seeming total destruction of residential buildings, the camera trains on a small clearing where bodies of some of the dead have been laid out. One is a toddler no more than three years old. Standing over him is a devastated Palestinian boy about 10 years old, who screams in his language “they killed my father and my baby brother!” He leans down to kiss his tiny brother on the cheek to say goodbye. Such indescribable heart-break. Such an inhuman outrage. As was the murderous attack by Hamas on innocent Israeli men, women, and children on Oct. 7 that left 1,200 dead, and an additional 240 taken hostage.
Admonitions notwithstanding, nations of the world stand by as the slaughter of innocents continues in Gaza, Ukraine, Yemen, and elsewhere. Some add fuel to the fire. In 1992, then-United Nations secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali proposed that the UN Security Council be provided forces and resources to enable it to intervene—militarily if necessary—in an imminent or ongoing conflict when all efforts at mediation and negotiation have been exhausted. Moreover, he proposed that such forces be available on a permanent, rather than ad hoc, basis. In effect, he wanted to create a standby UN force with the mandate and might to challenge belligerents if necessary in order to prevent or bring violent conflict to a summary end; UN ‘peacemakers,’ as distinct from ‘peacekeepers.’
It was never suggested that such a force could effectively challenge the world’s most powerful countries. Even so, Boutros-Ghali speculated that its very existence could deter most breaches of the peace. With more than a hint of irony, his proposal failed to garner adequate support within the UN Security Council itself.
The Brahimi Report on United Nations Peace Operations, issued in 2000, echoed the need for such a capacity, and recommended that the UN maintain brigade-size forces of 5,000 troops able to deploy in 30 to 90 days as part of a UN team, including political, development, and human rights experts. This proposal also went nowhere.
The latest iteration of this general concept is a proposal to establish a UN Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS) that would provide a rapid UN response to prevent or end armed conflict, protect civilians at extreme risk, prepare for peacekeeping operations if required, and to provide the basic necessities for survival in conflict zones where others either cannot or will not.
UNEPS is envisioned as a permanent, integrated, multi-functional unit of up to 13,000 highly trained personnel, well-equipped and ready for almost immediate deployment when authorized by the Security Council: a body that could respond in a matter of days, as opposed to the months required for ad hoc arrangements—when they happen at all. This proposal will be discussed during the upcoming 2024 United Nations Summit of the Future in September. One wonders if UN member states will finally muster the resolve to provide the UN with substantial means to prevent or end violence.
Earl Turcotte is a former Canadian diplomat and United Nations official, and a member of Canadian Pugwash Group.
The Hill Times