Global Action Newsletter

Global Action to Prevent War is pleased to announce the relocation of its New York office closer to UN Headquarters. Once fully operational, we will begin again to host workshops, seminars, pizza parties and other educational and social events.

In addition to the programmatic work highlighted below, we are pleased to inform you of new partnerships that will strengthen both our organizational structure and our work on small arms, peace media, and youth leadership development. More on all of this in future newsletters!

The updated Global Action Program Statement will also be available shortly and will be distributed separately in the next few weeks.

NEW ADDRESS
866 United Nations Plaza
Suite 4050
New York, NY 10017
Telephone: 212 818 1815 (same as before)

Table of Contents

1. UNEPS White Paper Launch

2. UNEPS Workshop in South Africa

3. Security Council Resolution 1820

4. Perspectives of Leaders in Asia on UNEPS

5. Articles and Papers of Interest

1. A UNEPS ‘White Paper’ Launched in Washington, DC

A UN Emergency Peace Service: One Step Towards Effective Genocide Prevention
Hosted by the Partnership for Effective Peacekeeping and Citizens for Global Solutions

Citizens for Global Solutions and Global Action to Prevent War led a panel discussion focused on increasing the effectiveness of UN and regional genocide prevention efforts. Hosted by the Partnership for Effective Peacekeeping (PEP), the purpose of the event was to introduce and discuss a White Paper produced by Citizens for Global Solutions entitled, “A UN Emergency Peace Service: One Step Towards Effective Genocide Prevention.”

Mark Malan, Robert Zuber, Ken Bacon and Don Kraus

The panel was led by Don Kraus (CEO of Citizens for Global Solutions) and included Robert Zuber of GAPW and Mark Malan of the Peacebuilding Unit of Refugees International. The event chair was Kevin Bacon (Director of Refugees International).
Click here for full report

2. UNEPS Workshop in South Africa

The UNEPS meeting/workshop with partners from South Africa, Cameroon and Mozambique was conducted at the University of Pretoria (through the Centre for International Political Studies). Students, academics, NGO leaders and representatives of UN agencies gathered for a vigorous discussion of the merits and challenges of a UNEPS in African contexts.

Panel: Christian Tanyi, Hussein Solomon, Robert Zuber and Alejandro Soto Romero

The panelists – Hussein Solomon (who hosted the event), Alejandro Soto Romero, Christian Tanyi and Robert Zuber emphasized that UNEPS is being designed and promoted as a service-integrated, complementary capacity that would work alongside existing UN and regional peacekeeping operations.

This discussion underscored two important mandates for UNEPS. First, that the non-military components of UNEPS, including police, health and development assistance, must receive the same levels of strategic attention as the military components. And second, that a UNEPS must continue to seek a complementary ‘fit’ both with the constellation of existing regional and UN peacekeeping operations and with the articulated security needs and concerns of nations in the ‘global south’ that would most likely be the recipients of any future UNEPS deployment.
Click here to read the full conference report

3. Security Council Resolution 1820 - Sexual Violence in Conflict

	Congolese Women at a 'Stop Rape' Campaign

On June 19th 2008, after a day long debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted SC Resolution 1820, which condemns all sexual violence committed against civilians in armed conflict, in particular women and children.

The resolution declares that “despite repeated condemnation, violence and sexual abuse of women and children trapped in war zones was not only continuing, but, in some cases, had become so widespread and systematic as to reach appalling levels of brutality.” The text notes that women and girls, in particular, are often targeted by the use of sexual violence, describing this as a “tactic of war” as well as calling rape a “war crime”. Resolution 1820 goes on to warn that sexual violence “can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security.”

The resolution demands that all parties to armed conflict immediately stop sexual violence against civilians and emphasizes the need to end impunity for such crimes. It stresses the responsibility of states “to respect and ensure the human rights of their citizens” and to prosecute persons responsible for crimes against humanity or war crimes. Resolution 1820 also calls for United Nations peacekeeping forces to be better trained for protecting civilians against sexual violence, and underlines the importance of women’s participation in preventing conflict, maintaining international peace and security and playing a role in peace building in post conflict situations.

Lastly, the resolution requests the Secretary General to submit a report on implementation by 30 June 2009 that would include, among other things, information on conflicts in which sexual violence has been widely or systematically employed and “benchmarks for measuring progress in preventing and addressing sexual violence.”

All information is cited from UN Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008) (http://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/1651500.html)

Click here for Resolution 1820 on Sexual Violence in Conflict

Click here for NGOWG Press Release

Click here for Summary of Open Debate, June 19th 2008

4.Perspectives of Leaders in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur
on UNEPS
By Annie Herro and Stuart Rees
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, the University of Sydney

In May 2008, Annie Herro interviewed approximately 20 “leaders” in Indonesia and Malaysia to find out their perspectives on the development of UNEPS. This inductive study focused on perceptions about what might hinder or facilitate government support for such a proposed service. Leaders included senior researchers from International Relations/Security Studies think-tanks; current and former diplomats and government officials in foreign affairs and justice; the directors of human rights NGOs and a leading socio-political Muslim organization; and a high-profile TV journalist.

One of the key messages that emerged from interviews with leaders in Indonesia was that it is crucial for the UNEPS proposal to reflect local political and cultural realities. For many of the respondents, this meant that the nationality, ethnicity, culture and religion of the representative(s) of the proposal, as well as the conduct of UNEPS’ interventions, should be sensitive to the needs and nuances of the Indonesian nation-state. This also meant ensuring that the language used to describe UNEPS is in a spirit of cooperation and partnership.

Finally, the perceived feasibility and legitimacy of the UNEPS proposal among many respondents was linked to how the concept was packaged. Attractive “badges” included UNEPS as a human rights and peace initiative; as an evidence-based research project; and as a government-driven proposal propelled by “enlightened national interests”.
Click here for full report

5. Articles and Papers of Interest

"DISARMAMENT: 20:20 Vision Aimed at Dismantling Nukes"
By Thalif Deen
Including comments by Mayors for Peace and John Burroughs, Executive Director, LCNP

"Bring on the Bricklayers without Borders"
By Stuart Rees, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
Constructive debate on Peace in Iraq and role of UNEPS

"Love Thy Neighbour"
By Annie Herro and Stuart Rees, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
Debate over how the global community should have responded to the cyclone in Burma, is there a role for UNEPS?

“A UN Emergency Peace Service: One Step Towards Effective Genocide Prevention.”
By Citizens for Global Solutions