"At present it is as if when a fire breaks out, we must first build a fire station to respond. Rapid deployment can prevent enormous agony, and we must continue to work with member states to reduce the time it takes for the U.N. to put peacekeepers in the field." 
- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, February 11, 2000

UN Peace Operations Program

Effective and efficient UN peace operations are essential to building permanent peace and security in failing or failed states. The UN member states have a responsibility to support the peace operations and structure and reform them adequately to meet the needs of post-conflict societies and regions – secure areas for the civilians, restore and maintain the rule of law, and enable economic and political reconstruction to occur successfully.

Currently, after the Security Council makes the decision to deploy peacekeeping or peace enforcement missions, it now takes between three and six months on average for the troops to arrive and begin their mission. In contrast, it takes much less time to carry out genocide and mass murder: in Rwanda it took only six weeks to kill at least 800,000 innocent civilians. And once troops arrive, they are most often under-equipped, under-trained, under-staffed and under-funded. In most circumstances, they have never trained together, do not speak the same languages, do not have the same operational procedures, do not use the same military and communications equipment, do not have the equipment and personnel necessary to carry out the mission, and often have been denied permission to take aggressive actions to protect civilians.

Citizens for Global Solutions works to reform and strengthen the current UN Peace Operations. We call for:

• A UN peace operations rapid response capacity, able to deploy in days or weeks, not month

• The UN capacity should be well-trained and enjoy the benefit of standardized training, use common communications equipment and weapons systems

• The UN peace operations capacity should be accountable to the United Nations mission under which they are deployed and abide by the rules and procedures of the UN

• The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDKO) should be provided with staff, resources and equipment to manage deployed missions, keep best practice case studies of past missions and monitor potential crisis zones to act as an early warning system before a crisis results in massacres, conflicts and genocides.

• An intelligence and information analysis capacity is essential to support missions on the ground and to ensure their effectiveness.

• A well-trained civilian police component of peace operations, which is vital to restore the rule of law, recruit and train local police and secure the local areas for civilians and experts to move forward with reconstruction.

Citizens for Global Solutions works with Members of Congress and Senators  to brief them on current problems with the UN peace operations system and supports legislation to strengthen the system to enable it to respond to today’s world.

UN EMERGENCY PEACE SERVICE (UNEPS)
UNEPS is envisioned as a permanent emergency response service designed to  have first in – first out capabilities to provide stability, peace, and relief in deadly emergencies. 
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G8 AFRICA ACTION PLAN

Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) announced by the U.S. at the G8 Summit in Sea Island, June 2004

U.S. Administration's statement at the G8 Summit announcing GPOI PDF Format

PROPOSED REFORMS TO THE CURRENT UN PEACE OPERATIONS SYSTEM:

About the Brahimi Report

Summary of the Report's Recommendations

An Analysis of the Secretary-General's Follow-up Report on the Brahimi Report, released June 2001

Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (Brahimi Report)

ARTICLES:

IS UN Peacekeeping an Effective Program, Deserving of U.S. Support? By Harpinder Athwal
(CONGRESSIONAL DIGEST A PRO & CON MONTHLY September 2004, VOL. 83 NO. 7)

Getting Peacekeeping Right at the G-8
by Don Kraus
(Foreign Policy in Focus, June 7, 2004)

The Need for UN Police
by Don Kraus
(Foreign Policy In Focus)