Special Committee calls for careful study of 'rapid reaction force.'(United Nations Special Committee on Peace-Keeping Operations)

A suggested UN "rapid reaction force" has raised a variety of important and complex political, legal and financial issues and should be studied carefully, the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations reported after its four-week 1995 session (10 April-5 May, New York).

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, in his "Supplement to An Agenda for Peace", issued on 25 January, had proposed that the UN needed to give serious thought to the idea of a rapid reaction force.

Some members, however, expressed caution, arguing that the use of such a force in internal conflicts would be unacceptable since that would erode the principle of State sovereignty. They also pointed out that the efficiency of an operation was not so much related to the speed of deployment, but more to its political capacity. Further, the establishment of such a force would duplicate the capabilities of Member States and give the UN an undesirable military image.

To facilitate the rapid deployment of troops, the 34-member Committee urged the Secretary-General to develop a deployable headquarters team, composed of personnel skilled in essential military and civilian functions, that could be sent quickly to mission areas. Special attention should be paid to the question of rapid and effective responses to emergency situations in Africa, it added.

The Committee, in its report (A/50/230), also stressed the importance of clearly defined mandates, objectives, command structure and secure financing for peace-keeping operations.

It recommended the appointment of a Special Representative of the Secretary-General for larger operations with overall authority for their components, and reaffirmed the importance of an effective public information capacity.

Emphasizing that peace-keeping operations should respect States' sovereignty and not intervene in matters essentially within their domestic jurisdiction, the Committee reaffirmed three basic principles underlying those operations: consent of the parties; impartiality; and the non-use of force except for self-defence.

Whenever possible, consultations should be held between the UN Secretariat and prospective troop-contributing countries before the establishment of new missions, and troop contributors should receive situation reports on the operations.

Reaffirming that training was essentially the responsibility of Member States, the Committee asked for a study on the feasibility of attaching training assistance teams to the headquarters...