Thursday, July 15, 2010

Civilian Reponse Corps reaches 1000 members


Today, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced that the Civilian Response Corps has reached 1,000 members on its second birthday. Created by Senators Rich Lugar and Joseph Biden and established in 2008, the Civilian Response Corps is a US Federal organization of civilian experts and professionals who are deployed to post-conflict areas or countries in political transition, to provide humanitarian support and to help prevent countries from turning into terrorist havens. For example, the Corps has 10 people currently deployed in the Kyrgyz Republic helping out with crisis response and aiding the Parliamentary elections. Corps members have experience in fields such as public health, law enforcement, engineering, economic, law, and public administration. Members of active corps can be deployed to crisis with just a 48 hour notice. Previous Corps projects have been located in Lebanon, Colombia, and Somalia, and usualy focus on mitigating instability and improving the capacity of the ruling governments.

-Matthew Thwaites

SOURCES: 'Secretary Clinton Announces Civilian Response Corps Reaches 1,000 Members'-US State Department