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March 17, 2005
Citizens for Global Solutions Welcomes
The United Nations Emergency Peace Service Legislation
Washington DC – Citizens for Global Solutions
enthusiastically welcomes Representatives Albert Wynn (D-MD) and James Leach’s
(R-IA) resolution calling for the creation of The United Nations Emergency Peace
Service (UNEPS). UNEPS is a timely and important step in providing the world
community with the international emergency service it desperately needs. It is a
step that we encourage Congress to support with swift passage.
Don Kraus, Executive Vice President of Citizens for Global Solutions said, “Too
often the international community does not have the capacity, personnel, or
resources to act quickly in an emergency, be it a tsunami or genocide. UNEPS
would provide this much-needed and long-awaited first-responder capacity.”
UNEPS would consist of some 15,000 expertly trained and equipped professionals,
including military, civilian police, humanitarian, judicial and relief
personnel. The Emergency Peace Service would help prevent early stage crises,
whether caused by violent conflict or natural phenomenon, from escalating into
regional or national disasters. As Rep. Wynn noted, “If the UN Security Council
made the decision today to send peacekeepers to a hot-spot, it would take three
to six months for troops to arrive and begin their work. That delay is a
proverbial three-to-six month busy signal for people in need of immediate
assistance.”
In addition, because UNEPS would be an effective mechanism for conflict
prevention, it has the potential to save countries, including America, hundreds
of billions on post-conflict reconstruction. According to the Carnegie
Commission of Preventing Deadly Conflict, the international community could have
saved nearly $130 billion of the $200 billion it spent on managing conflicts
throughout the 1990’s if such an emergency prevention system had been in place.
As Kraus notes, “UNEP has the potential not only to save millions of live but
also billions of dollars.”
At a time when Congress is paying serious attention to UN reform, Citizens for
Global Solutions applauds Representatives Wynn and Leach for not only looking at
the need for accountability, but for outlining how the UN’s capacity can be
improved to help complete its mission.
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Updated March 17, 2005 |
Contact:
Don Kraus
Executive Vice President
202 546 3950 ext. 103
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