A Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Armada

I really enjoyed the recent Star Trek film, and I saw it twice in the theaters. Both times that I saw it, a particular line really caught my imagination. It's just after Kirk got in a bar fight, and Captain Christopher Pike is trying to convince Kirk to join up with Starfleet. About Starfleet he says,

"It's important, a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada."

This sentence has really stuck with me ever since then. This hasn't always been the vision of Starfleet that comes forward in Star Trek. Most of the time the emphasis is on science exploration, as in the opening monologue.

"Space... the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before."

This was from TOS, Picard recites it without the sexist language for TNG. The monologue, combined with the constant reference to the Prime Directive, makes it clear that the old Starfleet was uninterested in political action. Pike's line about a humanitarian armada is a new vision for Star Trek, and an exciting one as far as I'm concerned. As much as I think of myself as a scientist and value exploration and discovery, the idea of a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada really appeals to me.

And I'm not alone. In Orson Scott Card's Shadow series (Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Giant) he describes a similar idea. Hegemon Peter Wiggin forms the Free People of Earth, an international government and alliance of member states. What's important about the FPE is not just that it is an international government that guarantees democracy and human rights protection within member states, but importantly that it was willing to extend direct military aid - soldiers, not weapons sales - to oppressed peoples who asked for help. In Shadow of the Giant the FPE recognizes oppressed minorities of existing countries and allows them to apply for FPE membership. In the book the Thai and Rwandan soldiers of the FPE defeat the armies of Peru and Sudan.

So I've been asking myself, what if the world really did have a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada? I'm not really thinking of a quasi-governmental organization like the FPE or the UN. I'm thinking something more along the lines of the Red Cross, with guns. In March of this year Sudan expelled international aid groups from their borders. In 1994 the international community failed to respond to the genocide in Rwanda. What if there was somebody who could actually do something about it when things like this happen?

Any country could do it. Take a small European country with a reputation for human rights, like Sweden for instance. Announce the intention to form a humanitarian aid military force and start accepting donations. Come up with a good name, something like International Fleet (another nod to Card). When a country like Sudan boots the international aid groups out, the Fleet can step in to protect the International Rescue Committee and bolster their efforts.

Of course there are challenges and pitfalls to this idea. Mainly they fall into financial, political and ethical concerns. How would an International Fleet secure funding? Existing aid groups barely get enough cash to continue their missions in many cases nowadays. I think that a small demonstration of success might go a long way to opening the floodgates from wealthy investors.

Political hurdles concern questions of legality and interference from large powers. Suppose our Fleet has a procedure whereby oppressed groups within a nation can apply for aid. This may be enough to sidestep questions of treading upon national sovereignties, especially when you consider that some of these nations in turmoil essentially have no government at all. In addition the Fleet might need to be careful, especially at the outset, to avoid the appearance of disrupting resource flows in areas that China or Russia have interests.

Ethical concerns should remain the highest priority for the Fleet at all times. The Fleet may be dependent on the goodwill of generous donors and ideally would maintain a reputation for unimpeachable moral character. Above all I am not interested in seeing another group of muderous mercenary thugs like Blackwater.

There has never in the history of the world been a military force founded with a humanitarian purpose in mind. I think it might be time to give it a try.