By DPA
New York : The United Nations has launched a five-member expert team which will help the world body deal better with crisis around the world, the UN Department of Political Affairs (UNDPA) has said.
The Mediation Support Standby Team will assist UN envoys charged with resolving crises and will spend most of its time in areas prone to conflicts, B. Lynn Pascoe, the UN undersecretary general for political affairs and a former US ambassador, said Wednesday while announcing the first such expert team.
“Successful conflict mediation is a complex enterprise requiring precisely the kind of mobile expertise this new team can provide,” Pascoe said. “Even the most experienced envoys cannot do it alone. They can benefit from the kind of timely and expert advice that this team has to offer.”
The team is funded by the Norwegian government but the UNDPA has the sole authority to manage the team and its work, including dispatching the experts to hot spots.
The team is headed by Joyce Neu of the US, the founder and executive director of the Joan B Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego.
Other team members are Jeffrey Mapendere (Zimbabwe), an expert on security arrangements; Patrick Gavigan (US-Ireland) on transitional justice and human rights; John McGarry (Canada) on power-sharing; and Andrew Ladley (New Zealand) on constitution-making.