Irish Times, 9th January 2009

Madam,

The Gaza crisis has shown us, once again, the utter inability of the UN Security Council to protect the world's most vulnerable people. It is obvious that a neutral peacekeeping force is required to protect the innocent residents of Gaza from the cross-fire between Hamas and Israel, but the chances of this happening through the current Security Council structure are non-existent.

Statements and pronunciations have flown back and forth across the Security Council chamber, but when it comes to putting actual force behind those words the council has been sorely lacking. The citizens of Gaza can now join the displaced of Darfur, Congo and Zimbabwe on the list of people the Security Council has proven itself incapable of serving.

Surely the international community can come up with a more effective way of protecting those who need it. Goal has long advocated the need for a neutral humanitarian force to provide protection for aid workers and innocent bystanders during times of conflict.

This force would be free of political ties to any particular country and have the sole remit of protecting those who are trapped in situations that are not of their own making. Given the events of the past few days, it is plain that this is a proposal that needs to be brought back to the top of the international community's agenda. - Yours, etc,

JOHN O'SHEA,
GOAL
Dun Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.