[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 22, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1107-E1108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           EXPANDING UNARMED APPROACHES TO PROTECT CIVILIANS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RICHARD M. NOLAN

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 22, 2015

  Mr. NOLAN. Mr. Speaker, we are besieged daily with news of 
intensifying brutal attacks on innocent civilians in South Sudan, 
Syria, Ukraine, and many more places throughout the world. Women and 
children are increasingly being targeted.
  Anthony Lake, the executive director of UNICEF, recently wrote about 
South Sudan: ``The details of the worsening violence against children 
are unspeakable, but we must speak of them . . . Survivors report that 
boys have been castrated and left to bleed to death . . . Girls as 
young as 8 have been gang raped and murdered . . . Children have been 
tied together before their attackers slit their throats . . . Others 
have been thrown into burning buildings . . . Children are also being 
aggressively recruited into armed groups of both sides on an alarming 
scale.''
  When confronted with such atrocities, our typical response is to send 
in the bombers and drones, ship military equipment, train ``the good 
guys,'' or even put our own troops on the ground. By doing these 
things, we create a state of on-going war. Is it any wonder the result 
is more violence, rather than less?
  The UN High Commissioner on Refugees reported last month that 59.5 
million individuals have been forcibly displaced worldwide. This is the 
largest number since UNHCR began keeping records. UNHCR's Annual Report 
tells us that every day last year, an average of 42,500 people had to 
flee their homes, a four-fold increase in just four years. That's like 
everybody in a city the size of Duluth, the largest city in my 
district, fleeing from their homes every other day.
  But there are effective alternatives that are protecting civilians 
and deterring violence in some of the most brutal war zones around the 
world. You probably haven't heard about them because, unlike 
terrorists, these nonviolent peacekeepers seldom make the headlines.
  During this time of crisis, it is imperative that we examine new and 
less conventional methodologies as we try to fulfill our responsibility 
to protect our fellow civilians as best we can. One such approach is 
unarmed civilian protection (UCP), pioneered by Nonviolent Peaceforce, 
an organization that originated in Minnesota. UCP provides unarmed, 
specially trained civilians who are recruited from many different 
countries to live and work with local civil society in areas of violent 
conflict. Currently there are more than a dozen nongovernmental 
organizations DIRECTLY protecting civilians, using only nonviolent 
methods, in places like South Sudan, Colombia, Guatemala, Palestine and 
the Philippines.
  Their approaches are strategic, thoughtful, and tailored for each 
specific situation. These unarmed civilian protectors model peace by 
practicing it. For example in South Sudan, displaced women leaving the 
Protection of Civilian areas to gather firewood and water face rape by 
soldiers lurking at the edge of the sites. The women routinely have to 
make excruciating choices between their family's sustenance and their 
personal safety. UCP workers found that when two or more trained, 
unarmed civilian protectors accompany 20-30 women, the soldiers look 
the other way. No woman has been attacked when accompanied by an 
unarmed civilian protector.
  Imagine if we had 10,000 unarmed civilians protecting civilians in 
South Sudan, instead of the 150 that Nonviolent Peaceforce struggles to 
fund. We can afford them, because these unarmed civilian protectors 
cost a fraction of the cost of a soldier.
  In their report released on June 16, the UN High Level Peace 
Operations Review Panel recognized UCP as a key reform for protecting 
civilians under threat of violent conflict.
  The Panel Chair, Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos Horta, stated, ``The Panel 
reviewed the excellent input by Nonviolent Peaceforce, which shared 
with us its positive experience in protecting civilians in war-torn 
situations. In our Report, we recommend that the UN engage more of 
those brave people working in the field, unarmed, to protect 
civilians''.

[[Page E1108]]

  Crisis demands innovation. We need to respond to violence with 
methods that are effective and efficient, not just usual and 
conventional. We need methods that move us towards peace, not those 
that engulf us in further violence. The United States must incorporate 
UCP as a key instrument in transforming violent conflict, and in 
protecting civilians, through our initiatives at the State Department 
and USAID as well as our positions at the United Nations.

                          ____________________