Italy: Civilian peace service, a new volunteering opportunity

A new volunteer figure will soon be officially recognised in Italy to promote international peacekeeping. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Social Affairs are drawing up the guidelines that will define the role that the so called ?civilian peace service volunteers? are to play.

The idea of creating a ?civilian peace corps? emerged after various Italian associations met during the Perugia-Assisi 2006 march. In February 2006 the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Patrizia Sentinelli, set up a consultation with non profit organisations involved in issues of conflict resolution from which a feasibility report emerged. In March a number of associations proposed to change the term ?corps?, as it had military connotations, to ?civilian peace service?.

?The project is at its final stages? said Sentinelli: the civilian peace service will build on previous civil service experiences gained in Italy and by Italian organisations. ?There are already initiatives that operate in the field, like the White helmets or the Giovanni XXIII Association, who are looking towards Europe. We want to bring them together and support them? said Sentinelli.

At a European level the model we are following comes from Germany where a Prevention plan against armed conflict that incorporates 128 concrete and rigorously civilian measures. The European Council has also begun to increase the potential for civilian intervention in conflict situations, for example by creating Civilian quick response corps by 2008.