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47 Organizations Call on Congress to Support UN Civilian Police Capacity Improvements
10/30/2003
The campaign for the creation of a civilian police force at the UN is picking up steam. The growing security problems in Iraq have focused attention on the need for stronger international capacity to maintain law and order during post-conflict periods.
A coalition of 47 organizations and leading members of academia presented a letter to the House of Representatives on October 27th calling for support of HR 1414, the McGovern-Houghton “International Rule of Law and Antiterrorism Act of 2003” setting out proposals to reform the UN civilian policing (CIVPOL) capacity.
The letter spearheaded by the Campaign for UN Reform and Refugees International, includes diverse organizations such as International Rescue Committee, Oxfam America, Mercy Corps, United Methodist General Board of Church and Society, Physicians for Social Responsibility, British-American Security Information Council, as well as a many academics who have come together to voice their support for reform of the current UN CIVPOL.
The bill calls for the creation of a United Nations Civilian Police Corps (UNCPC) that would help address the post-conflict security gap, and establish and maintain the rule of law in post conflict societies. The bill aims to professionalize the current UN capacity and tackle the causes of delays in deployment, the deficiencies in training and equipment of peacekeepers, as well as management constraints, to ensure that UN missions are efficient and effective.
The bill does not advocate a specific framework for a UN CIVPOL; it requires the U.S. to begin negotiations at the UN and report back to Congress on progress.
NOTE: For more information on the problems with the current UN Civilian Policing Capacity, please see the Partnership for Effective Peace Operations Briefing Note.
Contact: Peter H. Gantz, Peacekeeping Associate, at (202) 828-0110.
The text of the full letter and the signatories is provided below:
| October, 2003 Dear Member of Congress: We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, urge you to cosponsor and support H.R. 1414, the McGovern-Houghton “International Rule of Law and Antiterrorism Act of 2003.” This bill calls for the creation of a United Nations Civilian Police Corps (UNCPC) that would help address the post-conflict security gap, and establish and maintain the rule of law in post-conflict societies. As evident in Afghanistan and Iraq, the need to establish security in post-conflict settings is critical to the success of other activities. Furthermore, the restoration of the rule of law, despite its importance, remains one of the greatest weaknesses of today’s international peace operations. The current UN Civilian Police (CIVPOL) system results in deployment delays of months and sometimes years. UN CIVPOL contingents are made up of individual police officers from dozens of countries, with widely different policing cultures and training. This system tends to produce inadequately trained police who are barely able to communicate with each other or conduct police operations effectively. Finally, UN CIVPOL operates with little accountability. All of us witnessed with dismay the violent looting, destruction, and sabotage that followed coalition military action in Iraq. If an effective and impartial police force had been deployed on the heels of coalition forces, many of these problems might have been avoided. Yet, even though lessons learned during the 1990s in Kosovo, East Timor, Haiti and elsewhere taught us that the inability to quickly reestablish the rule of law in war-torn nations can be as dangerous and destabilizing as the wars themselves, a professionalized international CIVPOL still does not exist. If the U.S. does not want to bear the cost and risk of being the world’s policeman, it must work to develop and train other police forces. If the U.S. does not want to turn its armed forces into police forces, it must help find alternatives. The UN is a logical place to start. With U.S. help and leadership, the UN can develop an international police force that can fill security vacuums quickly without imposing new burdens on U.S. forces. We are convinced that the UN should have an improved and professional capacity to deal with the post-conflict security gap and the need to restore the rule of law. The UN is the only international body that represents all of the nations of the world. It already has the infrastructure and institutional learning that, with improvement, could administer a professional civilian police corps. A force of well-trained international civil servants would complement the UN's core capacity to deliver humanitarian aid and reconstruct war-torn nations. The need to restore the rule of law in failed states and post-conflict societies is critically important to the strategic foreign policy goals of the United States. Today’s wars spawn refugees and terrorism, and precipitate worldwide public health crises. They retard development, costing American companies and civil society millions of dollars a year. Conflicts create costly environmental destruction in some of the world’s most ecologically sensitive areas. The costs for humanitarian aid to rebuild after conflicts are soaring ever higher, and far exceed the costs of preventing conflict in the first place. Most importantly, failed states can become safe havens for organized criminal networks and terrorist organizations. The only way to stop this from happening is to go beyond the mere absence of conflict. We must also create the opportunity for peace and democracy, and that requires the rule of law. Our organizations support H.R. 1414 for many reasons. Some are alarmed with the way our military forces have been stretched thin and given jobs they have not been trained to do, and that should be done by specially trained police officers, not combat soldiers. There is great concern that humanitarian workers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere are working in areas where a basic level of security is not present. Still others see the important need to provide citizens and refugees in post-conflict nations a safe environment in which citizens can return to work and school, and rebuild their nations. While H.R. 1414 does not stipulate a specific framework for a UN CIVPOL Corps, it does require the United States to begin negotiations at the UN to establish a UNCPC and report back to Congress. We believe this is a good first step. We hope you will take this step with us by supporting H.R. 1414. Sincerely, Jerome C. Glenn Executive Director American Council for the United Nations University Peter Gubser President American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) Frida Berrigan Senior Research Associate Arms Trade Resource Center Dr. Ian Davis Director British-American Security Information Council Don Kraus Executive Director Campaign for United Nations Reform Richard Hudson Executive Director Center for War/Peace Studies John Isaacs President Council for a Livable World Lelei LeLaulu President and Chief Executive Officer Counterpart International Joe Volk Executive Secretary Friends Committee on National Legislation Maurice Paprin Co-Chair The Fund For New Priorities in America Dr. Gregory H. Stanton President Genocide Watch Saul Mendlovitz Global Action to Prevent War Virginia Swain Director Institute for Global Leadership Doug Brooks President International Peace Operations Association Dr. Arthur B. Keys, Jr. President International Relief and Development, Inc. (IRD) Dr. George Rupp President and CEO International Rescue Committee John Burroughs Executive Director Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy Nancy Lindborg Vice President MercyCorps Esther Pineda Acting National Coordinator NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby David Krieger President Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Richard Walden President & CEO Operation USA Raymond C. Offenheiser President Oxfam America Sarah Newhall President and CEO Pact Kevin Martin, Executive Director Peace Action Education Fund Edie Wilkie President Peace Through Law Education Fund Robert K. Musil, Ph.D., MPH, Executive Director and CEO Physicians for Social Responsibility Ken Bacon President Refugees International Beverly L. Blum Executive Director Solar Cookers International Ambassador (ret.) Jonathan Dean Adviser on International Security Issues Union of Concerned Scientists Jaydee Hanson Assistant General Secretary United Methodist General Board of Church and Society Irving Stolberg President Connecticut Division United Nations Association, USA Trevor Findlay Executive Director Verification Research, Training, and Information Centre (VERTIC) Aaron Knight Executive Director World Federalist Association - - - - - - - - - - - - Katie Verlin Laatikainen* Professor Departments of International Studies and Political Science Adelphi University Charles T. Call, Ph.D.* Director Governance in War-Torn Societies Project Brown University Thomas J. Biersteker* Director Watson Institute for International Studies Brown University Kathryn C. Lavelle* Assistant Professor Department of Political Science Case Western Reserve University Bill Rose* Chair, Department of Government, Connecticut College Michael J. Kelly* Assistant Professor of Law Creighton University Martha Finnemore* Director of Graduate Studies George Washington University Ian Hurd* Assistant Professor of Political Science Northwestern University. Chadwick F. Alger* Professor of Political Science Ohio State University David T. Ives* Executive Director Albert Schweitzer Institute Quinnipiac University Robert A. Rubinstein* Director Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts The Maxwell School Syracuse University Michael J. Struett* School of Social Sciences University of California, Irvine Isebill V. Gruhn* Professor of Politics, Emerita University of California, Santa Cruz Joseph P. Baratta* Assistant Professor History and Political Science Dept. Worcester State College * institution included for identification purposes only |
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