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President Obama’s National Security Strategy: A Commitment to Peacekeeping

Tue, 06/01/2010 - 16:53
Saturday May 29th marked the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, a day to recognize the efforts and the sacrifices made by multinational peacekeepers all over the world. The past 15 years have marked both an exponential increase in the number of missions and peacekeepers deployed, and an overwhelming transformation in the very nature of peacekeeping.
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Testimony Before the Judiciary Committee on the Refugee Protection Act of 2010

Testimony Submitted by
Dan Glickman
President, Refugees International

To the hearing before the
U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary
Wednesday, May 19, 2010


Introduction

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Sudan: No complacency on protecting civilians

Policy recommendations
  • The Special Representative of the Secretary General should develop a mission-wide protection strategy for UNMIS that consolidates existing protection initiatives and ensures the best use of available military, police, and civilian resources to confront actual and threatened violence against civilians in south Sudan and the transitional areas.
  • UNMIS should institute more consistent and effective systems for information gathering and analysis of threats to civilians, including from the staff of UN and non-governmental agencies and communities.
  • Members of the Security Council and the staff of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations should immediately initiate discussions with Troop Contributing Countries to ensure that there are no national obstacles to the deployment of mission forces into areas where civilians are most at risk.
  • UNMIS should ensure that its civilian staff is regularly serving in Temporary Operating Bases to improve the identification of local-level political conflicts that may escalate into violence.

Five years after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) southern Sudan remains highly volatile, with longstanding tribal tensions, competition for land, and new economic competition fueling south-south violence that has resulted in 450 deaths and the displacement of 40,000 people this year alone. Just nine months from the planned referendum for southern independence, the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) remains weak, and its army and police remain incapable of maintaining stability and protecting civilians.

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DR Congo: Spotlight on the Equateur Crisis

Policy recommendations
  • International donors, including the U.S., must allocate increased resources to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of internally displaced people and refugees from Equateur province.
  • OCHA, UNHCR, and MONUC must take a strong leadership role to ensure that assistance and protection is provided to the displaced where they are now, and to mitigate the push for non-voluntary returns.
  • The UN Security Council should ensure that any discussions of MONUC drawdown are based on reasonable benchmarks and that the mission maintain the capacity for rapid reaction and political monitoring to respond to future crises in western DRC.  
  • MONUC and international donors should support the Congolese government to address the long-standing grievances between the Boba and Lobala tribes and implement a comprehensive reconciliation and dialogue process in collaboration with local civil society organizations.

Violent conflict in Equateur province in northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) forced nearly 200,000 Congolese civilians to flee their homes in the last six months. Humanitarian agencies have struggled to meet the needs of those who fled, many of whom do not want to return anytime soon, and assistance is urgently needed now in areas of displacement.

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RD Congo: Projecteurs sur la crise en Equateur

Policy recommendations
  • Les bailleurs de fonds internationaux, dont les Etats-Unis, doivent allouer davantage de ressources afin de pouvoir répondre aux besoins humanitaires urgents des personnes déplacées à l’intérieur du territoire et des réfugiés originaires de la province de l’Equateur.
  • OCHA, le HCR et la MONUC doivent assurer un leadership solide pour garantir qu’aide et protection soient fournies aux déplacés là où ils se trouvent actuellement et pour tempérer l’encouragement aux retours non-volontaires.
  • Le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies doit assurer que les discussions autour du retrait de la MONUC soient fondées sur des critères raisonnables et que la mission conserve une capacité de réaction rapide et continue à suivre de près la situation politique afin de pouvoir réagir à des crises futures dans l’ouest de la RDC.
  • La MONUC et les bailleurs de fonds internationaux doivent apporter leur soutien au gouvernement congolais afin de s'atteler aux griefs que nourrissent depuis longtemps les groupes ethniques Boba et Lobala et doivent entamer un processus de réconciliation et de dialogue approfondi en collaboration avec les organisations de la société civile locale.

Un conflit violent dans la province de l’Equateur dans le nord-ouest de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) a forcé presque 200.000 civils congolais à fuir leur foyer au cours des six derniers mois. Les agences humanitaires ont du mal à répondre aux besoins de ceux qui ont pris la fuite, dont nombreux ne veulent pas rentrer chez eux dans un avenir proche, et l’approvisionnement d’aide est désormais urgent dans les zones de déplacement.

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Introducing Dan Glickman, President of RI
March 26, 2010

Dan Glickman became President of Refugees International on April 1, 2010. Dan has a distinguished history in public service where he has devoted much of his career to fighting hunger and working as a champion for underserved people in the U.S. and around the world. While at RI, Dan will focus on strengthening the organization's base of support and providing the strategic vision and leadership to improve RIs ability to compel the worlds leaders to provide clean water, food, health care and other basic assistance to people uprooted by conflict.

Click here to learn more about Dan.

 

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Pakistan B-Roll: Jalozai Camp for Internally Displaced People
June 4, 2010
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Refugees International's 31st Anniversary Dinner
May 26, 2010
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Dispossessed: Iraq's Squatter Settlements
April 2, 2010
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Introducing Dan Glickman, President of RI
March 26, 2010
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Walk With Us
December 16, 2009
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Ante Up for Africa
August 11, 2009
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South Sudan: An Enduring Struggle
July 13, 2009
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30 Years of Lifesaving Action
May 28, 2009
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Iraqi Refugees: The View From Syria
February 11, 2009
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Iraqi Refugees: "Khaled's" Story
February 11, 2009
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Colombia: Support Displaced Communities
December 18, 2008
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Somalia: Give a Gift with Impact
December 4, 2008
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Speak Out. Save Lives.
October 8, 2008
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Take a Look
July 19, 2008
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Afghan Refugees' Difficult Road Home
July 10, 2008
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The Bunong of Cambodia
June 27, 2007
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DR Congo: Recovering From War
April 2, 2007
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DR Congo: Returning Home
April 2, 2007
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Darfur: On Our Watch
April 2, 2007

Sudan: No Time for “Business as Usual”

Policy recommendations
  • The UN, non-governmental organizations and donor governments in north and south Sudan must urgently draw up coherent contingency plans for possible conflict around the 2011 referendum. The recently started planning process led by the Humanitarian Country Team in the south must be accompanied by and coordinated with a similar process in the north, and donors must be willing to provide flexible funding for a quick response.
  • The U.S. and other donors should fund local government and community consultations on contingency plans to feed into the UN’s process. Community early warning and self-protection networks should also receive political and financial support.
  • The U.S. and other donors should increase support for reintegration of returnees, especially for basic services and livelihoods, and must support returnee tracking and monitoring. Equal attention should be paid to IDP returnees as refugee returnees.
  • The U.S. and other donors should expand funding for gender-based violence (GBV) and reproductive health programming, including increased support for service provision and UNFPA coordination, especially in the transitional areas.

The next two years will be critical in determining Sudan’s future. The country faces national elections in April, the first multi-party elections in 24 years, and a referendum on southern independence in January 2011. While the U.S. and others must do everything possible to ensure that the governments in north and south Sudan reach agreement on outstanding issues before the referendum, the humanitarian community must simultaneously prepare to respond if conflict erupts around the upcoming political events.

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The American Military and Its Unrealized Peacekeeping Potential

Tue, 03/16/2010 - 18:02
The American military is stretched pretty thin these days. We're in two wars; we have lots of global commitments. On any given day, one third of our troops are actually involved in an operation, one third are getting ready to go and one third have just come back. Busy.
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