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 Home > News & Policies > June 2004

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 10, 2004

G-8 Action Plan for Peace Support
G-8 Action Plan: Expanding Global Capability for Peace Support Operations

The number of peace support operations throughout the world continues to grow, increasing the need for the international community to respond with military and related complex security operations to bring the stability and security that is fundamental to social, economic, and political progress in countries in crisis.

Africa is facing greater peace support needs, and the international community recognizes the importance of more comprehensive measures for ensuring peace. In recognition of this, in Kananaskis, we resolved in the Africa Action Plan to provide technical and financial assistance so that, by 2010, African countries and regional and sub-regional organizations are able to engage more effectively to prevent and resolve violent conflict on the continent, and undertake peace support operations in accordance with the United Nations Charter.

In Evian, we followed up our earlier pledge with the Joint Africa/G-8 Action Plan to enhance African Capabilities to undertake Peace Support Operations. In that plan, we made the commitment to work with African partners, step by step, to develop key building blocks that will help to channel existing resources more effectively in support of the longer term African vision for its peace and security architecture.

Already many G-8 countries have undertaken activities to improve the capacity of African organizations and countries to conduct peace support operations and their related activities. The EU recently established the Peace Facility for Africa, an initiative that pledges 250 million to address the well-recognized financial and logistical difficulties that many countries in Africa face when trying to deploy to international peace support operations and to support the African institutional capacity building process. The U.S., France, Canada, Germany and the UK have provided bilateral assistance to train and equip African peace support operations units and to develop the capacity of African organizations to establish, manage and sustain peace support operations. Italy has provided support to African peace support operations including through training activities at the UN Staff College in Turin and operations at the UN Logistical Support Base in Brindisi. Japan and Russia have supported African peace support op

While we have made progress in establishing a framework for greater peace and stability in Africa, more coordination is needed to maximize our individual efforts to enhance African peace support operations capabilities.

Similar measures to improve the capability to conduct peace support operations and related activities are also needed elsewhere. There are significant gaps in many countries abilities to conduct peace support operations in a timely manner. Institutional capacity building is particularly important for headquarters staffs in those regional and sub-regional organizations that do not have the training and expertise required to effectively plan and carry out peace support operations. With the growing number of complex peace support operations around the world today, there is a lack of well-trained and equipped units able to respond to increased demands. Many of the countries that do have the capacity to participate in peace support operations are unable to participate due to their inability to transport and sustain their troops. Trained units need to maintain their skills until their deployment to a peace support operation.

Increasingly, carabinieri/gendarme-like forces have demonstrated their unique skills in recent peace support operations. These units can fill the security gap between military forces and civilian police, relieving some of the military units heavy burden and establishing an environment in which civilian police can operate effectively within the rule of law. More interoperable and a greater number of these units are needed to participate in international peace support operations and their related activities.

Action Plan for Expanding Global Capability for Peace Support Operations

Today, we committed to an Action Plan to expand global capability for peace support operations that is available for any international peace support operation or mission on a timely basis. Any nation receiving training and assistance will make its own sovereign decision on whether to deploy its units to a particular peace support operation. All peace support operations and other related activities undertaken by G-8 members under this initiative would be in accordance with the UN charter. Moreover, given the fact that most of the peace support operations around the world, particularly those in Africa, are operating under the aegis of the UN and with a UN Security Council mandate, all actions undertaken by the G-8 to expand global capability for peace support operations should be implemented in close cooperation with the UN, in accordance with its technical standards, and take into account the recommendations of the Brahimi Report. In Africa, these actions should also be implemented in close cooperation wi

Accordingly, we undertake specific activities and coordinate our efforts closely to ensure the maximum benefit to our partners and ourselves. Therefore, we commit, consistent with our national laws, to:

  • Train and, where appropriate, equip a total of approximately 75,000 troops worldwide by 2010, in line with commitments undertaken at Kananaskis and Evian. This effort will have a sustained focus on Africa and other nations that can contribute to peace support operations both in Africa and elsewhere. We are also committed to training and exercises to ensure that those troops will maintain their skills after their initial training. Activities will also include enhancing the institutional capacity of regional and sub-regional organizations to plan and execute peace support operations.
  • Coordinate with African partners, the UN, the EU and others to maximize our individual efforts to enhance African peace support operations capabilities and their related activities. By playing an active part in the AU-hosted annual consultation, setting up donor contact groups in African capitals (as foreseen in the Evian plan), and conducting coordination meetings with interested parties, we will more fully coordinate assistance by G-8 members and others related to peace support operations and their related activities. To this end, we will establish G-8 expert-level meetings to serve as a clearinghouse for exchanging information for as long as will be needed to accomplish this goal.
  • Build peace support operations capabilities in other regions by 2010. Many of these peace support operations units could deploy to Africa, as well as to crises in their own regions. Member states are also committed to providing training and exercises to help ensure that those troops trained maintain their newly learned skills.
  • Work with interested parties, before the next Summit, to develop a transportation and logistics support arrangement, which will help provide countries with transportation to deploy to peace support operations and logistics support to sustain units in the field. This kind of arrangement, which will take into account existing efforts, should address a key capabilities gap that often prevents timely intervention in crises.
  • Increase our contribution to the training of carabinieri/gendarme-like forces both by continuing to support existing centers dedicated to that purpose, notably those in France and Italy, and those in Africa, and by supporting new initiatives in that respect. In particular, we will support the Italian initiative to establish, on a multinational basis, an international training center that would serve as a Center of Excellence to provide training and skills for peace support operations. The center will build on the experience and expertise of the Carabinieri, Gendarmerie and other similar forces to develop carabinieri/gendarme-like units of interested nations, including those in Africa, for peace support operations.

The initiatives will be carried out by:

  • Operating training programs, including train the trainer courses and pre-deployment training for specific missions;
  • Developing a common doctrine and common operational standards for employing carabinieri/gendarme-like forces in peace support operations, specifically with regard to crowd control, combating organized crime, high risk arrests, prison security, protection of sensitive facilities, election security, VIP security and border control;
  • Providing interoperability training with the relevant military forces; and
  • Interacting with academic and research institutions in related areas, such as humanitarian law, human rights, criminal law, prison management, and civil-military cooperation.

These efforts complement the objective of building capabilities of military units, as both are needed in peace support operations.

We remain committed to the above actions to accelerate and expand current efforts to enhance global capability for peace support operations and its related activities. To do so, G-8 member states have provided, and will continue to provide, substantial support to meet these objectives. We look forward to the day when these units are no longer needed, but until then we acknowledge that expanding global capability for peace support operations is a critical element to a safer and more secure world.

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