Strengthening Capacities to Prevent Deadly Conflict and Protect Civilians: (FCNL Budget Memo)

Mar 20, 2009

The nature of armed conflict has changed dramatically since the end of the Cold War. State-to-state wars have declined so significantly that, in 2005, every deadly conflict was fought within states rather than among them ¹. As state based warfare has declined, non-traditional threats such as failing states, violent extremism, mass atrocities, climate change and the global economic recession are increasingly defined as top challenges to U.S. and global peace and security.

Policymakers have begun to question how well U.S. spending on national security meets these challenges. While the U.S. maintains the largest and most powerful military in the world, it lacks adequate civilian capabilities to engage societies before conflict turns deadly or to rebuild after war. By default, without a dynamic and well funded civilian toolkit, U.S. foreign policy remains biased toward reactive military solutions. The U.S. military itself recognizes the problem. Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen, among others, have become leading advocates for strengthening U.S. civilian agencies and "demilitarizing" U.S. foreign policy.

We at FCNL applaud this subcommittee for providing funds in the FY09 Omnibus appropriations bill to increase personnel at the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as create the first two tiers of the Civilian Response Corps (CRC). FCNL has supported efforts to authorize the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS) and to create a corps of deployable civilian experts since proposed by Colin Powell. These are critical investments that -- if used effectively -- could save billions of dollars and countless lives.

We also applaud President Obama's outline FY10 budget, in which he calls for a "multiyear effort" to increase the overall size of the Foreign Service at the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development. We urge this subcommittee to support the administration's top line request for the 150 accounts. Additionally, we offer the following recommendations on ways this subcommittee can further strengthen U.S. capacities to peacefully prevent deadly conflict.

Diplomacy and Crisis Response

Diplomatic and Consular Programs (D&CP)
Tackling the most pressing challenges of the 21st century -- weapons proliferation, terrorism, weak and failing states, and global climate change -- requires a well-funded State Department and well-trained diplomatic corps. Robust funding for the D & CP account will enable the State Department to increase the U.S. civilian presence abroad and reduce the militarization of U.S. foreign policy.

An increase in the size of the Foreign Service will also bolster the quality of our diplomatic and development corps. Increasingly, U.S. Foreign Service officers (FSO) are asked to do more and take more risks. This requires training in critical skills such as project management, resource and strategic planning, international humanitarian law, conflict resolution as well as language and cultural studies. By increasing the overall size of the Foreign Service, you can ensure the State Department has the float capacity to enable FSO's to undergo training without leaving their posts vacant. We support President Obama's commitment to a multiyear effort to increase the size of the Foreign Service and urge the subcommittee to fully fund this effort.

Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS)
We thank this subcommittee for supporting the Civilian Stabilization Initiative (CSI) last year. The $130 million this subcommittee provided S/CRS and USAID for this initiative has enabled S/CRS and USAID to begin hiring and training the active and standby response corps. FCNL urges this subcommittee to provide a minimum of $250 million for S/CRS and the CRC in FY10 appropriations.

Conflict Prevention and Response Fund
We encourage this subcommittee to provide funds for a flexible conflict response fund within the State Department. As you know, the Department of Defense (DoD) provides S/CRS significant funding to support conflict prevention and stabilization activities through 1207 transfer funds. While these funds are valuable, it can take up to one year for the State Department to receive funds from DoD². According to the high level Genocide Prevention Task Force (GPTF), "responding quickly and effectively to unforeseen crises requires a better way to allocate a portion of U.S. government resources³.

FCNL supports the GPTF's recommendation that Congress appropriate $50 million for an annual fund to support urgent off-cycle initiatives to prevent conflict from turning to violent mass atrocity situations. Such a fund could provide rapid support for regional diplomatic initiatives, stabilization projects (i.e. urgent support for local police), assistance to multilateral peace operations or direct non-military interventions (e.g. jamming radios to prevent hate speech).

Importantly, the fund would allow the Secretary of State to respond quickly with resources to head off an emerging crisis that could develop into a mass atrocity situation or entrenched violence. We encourage this subcommittee to provide $50 million for a Conflict Prevention and Response Fund with particular attention to genocide and mass atrocity prevention projects.

Development, Transition, and Recovery

Long term assistance to prevent genocide and mass atrocities
Congress has invested billions in peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance to provide protection and relief in Darfur, Sudan. While these efforts are crucial, we strongly urge greater funding for long-term efforts to prevent deadly conflict. Specifically, we urge the subcommittee to provide $200 million in new funds dedicated to prevention efforts, as recommended by the Genocide Prevention Task Force. Focusing a portion of U.S. assistance on preventing conflicts from escalating into mass violence could greatly help prevent the next Darfur. Such funding could support demobilization and disarmament programs, promote community reconciliation, or address land disputes or other underlying conflicts⁴. Such assistance could be funded through existing accounts, such as the development assistance and economic support funds account. While $200 million for a new initiative may seem burdensome in a time of economic crisis, it is a fraction of the financial costs of one peacekeeping mission, and the human benefits of preventing genocide are incalculable.

Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI)
Through small grants, OTI encourages good governance, democracy, and civil society participation in countries transitioning from war to a stable peace. Initiatives funded by OTI include demobilization and re-integration of ex-combatants, conflict resolution and community self-help programs. OTI is a successful model, and FCNL encourages this subcommittee to provide at least $75 million for this office in FY 10 appropriations.

Reconciliation Programs
Reconciliation programs bring together individuals of different ethnic, religious and political backgrounds in countries torn apart by civil war and other deadly conflict. This program, coordinated out of USAID's Conflict Management and Mitigation Office, seeks to promote understanding, mutual respect, and reconciliation through the active participation of members of opposing groups. FCNL encourages this subcommittee to provide a minimum of $25 million for this important account in FY10 appropriations and to expand funding in future years.

Demining
FCNL asks the subcommittee to include a line item for Humanitarian Demining as a component of the Non-proliferation, anti-terrorism, demining and related programs (NADR) account in the FY10 foreign operations appropriations. Demining is essential to post-conflict recovery in dozens of countries, where landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) pose a mortal threat to civilians, disrupt refugee return, and impede agricultural production and economic development for years after armed conflict ends. Today, funding for demining is in jeopardy around the world, due both to the global recession and to decreased international interest in demining. In the FY09 Omnibus Budget Bill, Congress merged demining funding with small arms/light weapons abatement funding, as requested by the Administration. FCNL strongly believes that it is necessary to maintain a floor in the budget for Humanitarian Demining. While mine action funding is less fashionable now than it has been over the past decade, we believe that the United States has a particular responsibility to maintain its demining assistance in certain regions—including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Serbia, and Kosovo—all places where the United States, or in one case a U.S. ally equipped with U.S. munitions, employed vast quantities of ordnance that left behind a dangerous legacy of UXO and mines that continues to threaten local populations.

In addition, two major treaty developments occurred in 2008 which will demand increased resources for clearance of mines and other UXO. Ninety-five nations signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which will take effect six months after the 30th country ratifies it (possibly as soon as the end of 2009). This treaty commits States Parties to fulfilling the Convention's obligations on demining and victim assistance. Second, the United States Senate ratified Protocol V to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, dealing with Explosive Remnants of War. This international law recognizes the responsibility of user nations to contribute to clearing their own ordnance. While the United States has not yet joined the Cluster Munitions Convention, it should support the efforts of nations that have, and should honor its own ratification of Protocol V by maintaining or increasing its commitment to clear and aid mine- and UXO-affected nations—particularly those afflicted with U.S. ordnance.

Implementing the Leahy Law
FCNL asks the subcommittee to consider requiring a very small 'tax' on all U.S. military aid (including that provided through Title 10, if possible), to provide funds to the Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) office at the State Department and to embassies of key countries of concern in order to underwrite implementation of the Leahy Law. We strongly support the goal of this provision: to devise a more narrowly focused human rights-based standard for the provision of U.S. military aid, so that it might be implemented even vis-à-vis 'friendly' states. However, we are concerned that even this more narrowly drawn standard is not being implemented, due to a lack of dedicated staffing within the embassies and a lack of prioritization within DRL⁵. Moreover, widely reported incidents of seeming human rights abuses by U.S.-trained and funded forces, such as the repeated firing with live ammunition by Kenyan Riot Control Police into crowds during political unrest in December 2007, have not resulted in any reported suspension of aid to these forces under the Leahy Law.

Given that all military aid programs (whether under Title 10 or 22) currently cite application of the Leahy Law in order to assuage any concerns or doubts about the wisdom of the military aid relationship, it is imperative that clear directives and funding be provided to implement background vetting procedures and to cut off weapons flows to particular units when violations are credibly reported to the State Department.

International Cooperation

Contributions to International Organizations (CIO)
The Contributions to International Organizations (CIO) account provides money to pay U.S. assessed dues at 45 international organizations including the World Health Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and the United Nations. These organizations help advance a wide range of shared goals, including promoting economic growth, monitoring weapons proliferation, creating global trade norms, and addressing global health pandemics. We urge this subcommittee to pay down $88 million in uncontested arrears to the CIO account this year, and to meet its annual assessed contribution on time and in full.

Contributions to International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA)
The number of UN peace operations and personnel serving in these operations has increased dramatically in recent years. In 1989, just 10,000 people were deployed in missions under the U.N. flag. Today, more than 110,000 people serve in 20 missions around the globe, although no U.S. soldiers serve in these operations. In FY08, the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations financed these missions for just $7.2 billion. UN peace operations are cost-efficient and often prove vital in consolidating the peace in countries emerging from conflict. Funding these operations saves lives in Darfur, Chad, Liberia, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other conflict zones.

We were discouraged that Congress did not meet U.S. obligations to U.N. peacekeeping in FY09 appropriations. As U.N. officials warn that U.N. peacekeeping is stretched to the limit, FCNL strongly encourages this subcommittee to pay down the $843 million in UN peacekeeping arrears, permanently remove the cap inhibiting the U.S. from paying its full share to U.N. peace operations, and meet assessed dues for FY10 on time and in full.

Provide assistance to countries most vulnerable to the burden of climate change
The United States has a national security interest as well as a moral obligation to fund international adaptation programs to help mitigate the effects of climate change. Many of the nations that contributed the least to the buildup of global warming-inducing greenhouse gases are the most vulnerable to its effects. Some of the people most at risk are in developing nations, which are under the immediate threat of reduced agricultural yields, rising sea level, increased storm surges, disease incidence, and weather extremes, as well as many other climate change-related hardships.

Adaptation is also a national security issue. The effects of climate changes, if left unchecked, will lead to greater human migrations and social unrest, putting pressure on governments and services, many which are already weak, and adding to global instability.

Thus far, the U.S. has failed to contribute in any significant way to international adaptation funds. Several funds have been created under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to address adaptation needs. These funds include the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), the Special Climate Change Fund, and the Adaptation Fund.

In FY10, the United States should begin to contribute a significant portion of the $86 billion a year which the 2007/2008 United Nations Human Development Report suggests will be needed by 2015 for climate change adaptation in developing countries.

Conclusion

Committed to the vision of a world free of war and the threat of war, the Friends Committee on National Legislation has worked with Congress for over 65 years to improve U.S. policy. The aforementioned initiatives and programs represent critical efforts that, when adequately funded, can help prevent deadly conflict and promote durable peace. We look forward to working with members of this subcommittee to reduce reliance on expensive and ineffective military reaction to global problems and strengthen the tools of diplomacy, development, and international cooperation to help peacefully prevent deadly conflict.

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¹See P.1, "When States Go to War," MiniAtlas of Human Security (2008), Human Security Report Project.
²See USIP expert Bob Perito's testimony before SFRC, where he explains how it took nearly a year for 1207 funds to reach the Africa Bureau at State.

³See P. 11, "Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for U.S. Policymakers," Genocide Prevention Task Force.
⁴For more detail, P 51-52, Genocide Prevention Task Force Report.
⁵An investigation in 2006 by the GAO found lapses in human rights screening for North African militaries' participation in U.S. military aid programs, as required by the Leahy Law. According to this report, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia received at least $146.5 million in training and equipment during the three year period, while the embassies could provide no documentation to indicate that they had vetted backgrounds of any military aid recipients.

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