United Nations Emergency Peace Service

With the support of Caritas Australia and Global Action to Prevent War, CPACS has embarked upon an ambitious research and advocacy project on establishing a United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS).

The UNEPS project has two goals:

Empirical: Examine what aspects of the UNEPS proposal facilitate or hinder the creation of a UN Emergency Peace Service in the South East Asia-South Pacific region.

Advocacy: Establish a network of individuals, organizations and states in the South East Asia, South Pacific region that would be well informed about UNEPS and could thereby contribute to its development and promotion.

In order to achieve these goals, CPACS is undertaking the following activities:

1. Interviewing politicians, senior bureaucrats, high ranking military officers, police, religious leaders, non-government organisations, youth groups and UN officials in the South East Asia, South Pacific region to identify their perspectives on:

* The feasibility and legitimacy of the UNEPS proposal
* The UN, regional, unilateral peace operations
* Security and how this is achieved
* Ways to consult and make decisions
* Social, cultural and political issues affecting attitudes to UNEPS

2. Conduct secondary research on themes and case studies relevant to UNEPS' creation

3. Raise the awareness of the general public, politicians, the military and civil society on the need to peacekeeping reforms and the UNEPS proposal.

Photo # 76190, UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Location: Dili, East Timor; Date: 01 March 2000

(i) Identification of resources and obstacles affecting UNEPS’ acceptance and promotion
(ii) Identification of key people who would promote the UNEPS idea
(iii) Production of guidelines for repeat of such a research and advocacy inquiry in other regions.

Photo # 159933, UN Photo/Marco Dormino
Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Date: 30 October 2007

(i) Caritas Australia

Caritas Australia belongs to an international network called Caritas Internationalis - a network of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organisations working to build a better world, in over 200 countries and territories. Caritas upholds that a grassroots commitment to peace should involve young people: their values, language, understanding of cultures and politics

(ii) Global Action to Prevent War

Global Action to Prevent War (GAPW) is a transnational network dedicated to practical measures for reducing global levels of conflict and to removing the institutional and ideological impediments to ending armed conflict and severe human rights violations.

GAPW established a comprehensive programme for effective conflict prevention, with the UN at its centre. The creation of UNEPS is one of GAPW’s priority programme points.

UNEPS Publications

UNEPS in Japan

UNEPS in the United States

UNEPS publicity in Australia

* Love Thy Neighbour
newmatilda.com
29 May 2008, by Annie Herro and Stuart Rees

* Transcript of Perspective on ABC Radio National
8 November 2006, by Annie Herro and Stuart Rees

* Problems in the Pacific: Who You Gonna Call?
Centre for Policy Development
29 September 2006, by Annie Herro and Stuart Rees

Photo # 146035, UN Photo/Fred Noy
Location: Khartoum, Sudan; Date: 29 May 2007

Relevant recent UN documents and related reports

* Security Council Resolution - Protection of civilians in armed conflict - S/RES/1674
(April 2006)

* 2005 World Summit Outcome Document
(September 2005)

* In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All
Report of the Secretary-General (March 2005)

* A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility
Report of the Secretary-General's Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change (December 2004)

* The Responsibility to Protect
Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) (December 2001)