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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 938

To enhance the capability of the United Nations to rapidly respond to

emerging crises.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 8, 2001

Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms.

PELOSI, Mr. FRANK, and Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

A BILL

To enhance the capability of the United Nations to rapidly

respond to emerging crises.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United Nations Rapid

5 Deployment Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) The December 1999 United Nations ‘‘Re9 port on the Independent Inquiry into the Actions of
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1 the United Nations During the 1994 Genocide in

2 Rwanda’’ indicates that in April 1994, the United

3 Nations Security Council failed to deploy 5,500

4 United Nations peacekeepers to Rwanda within two

5 weeks of the initial violence, thereby allowing the

6 conflict to escalate. The six-month estimated cost of

7 the deployment would have been $115,000,000. In8 stead, the genocide consumed 800,000 lives along

9 with $2,000,000,000 in humanitarian aid.

10 (2) The April 2000 report of the United Na11 tions Secretary General, ‘‘We the Peoples, The Role

12 of the United Nations in the 21st Century’’, states

13 that only member nations of the United Nations can

14 fix the structural weakness of United Nations peace

15 operations. The report compares the current system

16 for launching peacekeeping operations to a volunteer

17 fire department that has to find fire engines and the

18 funds to run them before starting to douse any

19 flames. The present United Nations system relies al20 most entirely on last minute, ad hoc arrangements

21 that guarantee delay, with respect to the provision

22 of civilian personnel even more so than military per23 sonnel. Availability and readiness of forces is very

24 unpredictable and constraints on resources preclude

25 rapid deployment.
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1 (3) In August 2000, the specially-appointed

2 panel on United Nations Peace Operations issued its

3 findings. Known as the ‘‘Brahimi Report’’ (A/55/

4 305; S/2000/809), the report concludes that ‘‘few of

5 the basic building blocks are in place for the United

6 Nations to rapidly acquire and deploy the human

7 and material resources required to mount any com8 plex peace operation in the future’’. These building

9 blocks include a standing police corps, a reserve

10 corps of mission leadership, a sufficient stockpile of

11 equipment, and arrangements for recruitment of ci12 vilian personnel. Furthermore, the report encourages

13 member nations to enter partnerships with one an14 other in the context of the United Nations Stand-by

15 Arrangements System (UNSAS). These partnerships

16 would form the basis for Rapid Deployment Bri17 gades (RDBs), which would develop the operational

18 capabilities to fully deploy ‘‘traditional’’ peace19 keeping operations within 30 days of the adoption of

20 an authorizing Security Council resolution and to

21 fully deploy ‘‘complex’’ peacekeeping operations

22 within 90 days of the adoption of an authorizing Se23 curity Council resolution.

24 (4) Former United States Ambassador Richard

25 C. Holbrooke, speaking before the United Nations
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1 Security Council on November 15, 2000, stated that

2 ‘‘[u]nless we move decisively on meaningful peace3 keeping reform, those that threaten peacekeepers

4 across the globe may draw the conclusion that the

5 UN lacks the will, the cohesion and even the capa6 bility to perform its essential peacekeeping func7 tion’’.

8 (5) Both the nations of Europe and the United

9 States have recognized the value and need for rap10 idly deployable combat units in response to a full

11 spectrum of contingencies, including peacekeeping

12 and humanitarian operations, low-intensity conflicts,

13 and full-scale warfare. The European Union has pro14 posed forming a standing police force and rapid de15 ployment brigades as part of the European Defense

16 Force, and in the United States, the Department of

17 Defense is establishing interim brigade combat

18 teams as part of the overall Army transformation

19 strategy.

20 (6) The United States’ veto power in the

21 United Nations Security Council gives it the capac22 ity to halt the deployment of United Nations forces

23 if the deployment is not in the national interests of

24 the United States.
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1 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNITED NATIONS RAPID DE2 PLOYMENT POLICE AND SECURITY FORCE.

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall direct the

4 United States representative to the United Nations to use

5 the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to urge

6 the United Nations—

7 (1) to establish a United Nations Rapid Deploy8 ment Police and Security Force (UNRDPSF) that—

9 (A) is rapidly deployable under the author10 ity of the United Nations Security Council;

11 (B) should be able to deploy within 15

12 days of a United Nations Security Council reso13 lution to establish international peace oper14 ations;

15 (C) is limited to a maximum deployment of

16 six months for any given mission;

17 (D) should be deployed only when the

18 United Nations Security Council determines

19 that violations of human rights, breaches of the

20 peace, or the failure to restore the rule of law,

21 requires rapid response to ensure adherence to

22 negotiated agreements to prevent or end hos23 tilities;

24 (E) should be composed of at least 6,000

25 volunteers who train together and are appro-
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1 priately equipped expressly for international

2 peace operations, including civilian policing; and

3 (F) should be given the authority to pro4 tect itself, execute negotiated peace accords,

5 disarm combatants, protect civilians, detain war

6 criminals, restore the rule of law, and to carry

7 out other purposes as detailed in United Na8 tions Security Council resolutions;

9 (2) to recruit personnel to serve in the Force;

10 and

11 (3) to provide equitable and reliable funding for

12 the Force.

13 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘inter14 national peace operations’’ means any operation carried

15 out under a United Nations Security Council resolution.

16 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF RAPID DEPLOYMENT BRI17 GADES.

18 In order to promote the development of human and

19 material resources for United Nations peacekeeping oper20 ations as recommended by the August 2000 Report of the

21 Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (A/55/305; S/

22 2000/809), commonly known as the ‘‘Brahimi Report’’,

23 the President—

24 (1) shall direct the Secretary of State and the

25 United States representative to the United Nations
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1 to encourage the member nations of the United Na2 tions to enter into partnerships with one another, in

3 the context of the United Nations Stand-by Arrange4 ments System (UNSAS), to form the basis for

5 Rapid Deployment Brigades, which would develop

6 the operational capabilities to fully deploy ‘‘tradi7 tional’’ peacekeeping operations within 30 days of

8 the adoption of a Security Council resolution and

9 ‘‘complex’’ peacekeeping operations within 90 days

10 of the adoption of a Security Council resolution; and

11 (2) shall direct the Secretary of Defense to un12 dertake a study, not later than six months after the

13 date of the enactment of this Act, to determine the

14 advisability of and the feasibility of using interim

15 combat brigade teams as part of Rapid Deployment

16 Brigades as described in paragraph (1).

17 SEC. 5. REPORT ON UNITED NATIONS RAPID DEPLOYMENT.

18 Not later than one year after the date of enactment

19 of this Act, the President shall prepare and transmit to

20 the Congress a report on—

21 (1) the status of negotiations to establish a

22 United Nations Rapid Deployment Police and Secu23 rity Force (UNRDPSF) in accordance with section

24 3;
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1 (2) the status of United States activities to en2 courage member nations of the United Nations to

3 establish Rapid Deployment Brigades in accordance

4 with section 4(1); and

5 (3) the results of the study conducted under

6 section 4(2).

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