Margaret Jay: With the UN's help, Britain can do a lot for Iraq

We have yet to hear a major statement from Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Iraq. But two weeks after taking office, he will have been told that there are no political or military "silver bullets" to solve the situation there. The Iraq Commission report states there are now no easy choices, only painful ones for the countries who led the invasion in 2003.

Established by the Foreign Policy Centre and Channel 4, the Iraq Commission's remit was to identify options for the UK and specifically for Gordon Brown's incoming administration. We have made 34 recommendations designed to reduce the immediate chaos and violence, and in the longer term to offer some strategies for stability and prosperity. The commission members are well aware that there is no guarantee of success, and that parts of our report may seem over- optimistic, but there is consensus that a clear blueprint for future UK policy is a priority.

Related articles

• Iraq commission tells Brown to replace troops with diplomacy
• Search the news archive for more stories

The commission interviewed more than 50 witnesses from Iraq, the UK, the United States and elsewhere, and received submissions from across the world. There is a remarkable consensus that ultimately only Iraqis can improve Iraq, but in the short term they need our help. This leads us to conclude that our current strategy on troop deployment should change. We should refocus our military activity, progressively ceasing offensive military operations and bringing to completion the capacity building of the Iraqi security forces. This does not mean we should "cut and run" or set a fixed timetable for withdrawal. Doing so would simply give heart to our enemies. As Bayan Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government High Representative to the UK, told us: "Untimely withdrawal from Iraq would send completely the wrong message to al-Qa'ida and to other terrorist organisations. It would be seen as weakness and defeat."

That is why our central recommendation on British troop deployment is that when the Iraqi forces complete their training, and are demonstrably capable, they should assume responsibility for security. Our current policy of drawing down troops is contingent on the security situation – something British troops operating out of Basra air base are not able completely to control. We have already handed three provinces over to the Iraqis. Experience from other provinces, where responsibility has been handed over when the Iraqi security forces are ready, shows that when challenged by violence they have shown the political will to confront it – if they have their own security muscle to back that political will.

In parallel, we need to internationalise the situation in Iraq. This doesn't mean blue helmets on the ground, but using the diplomatic skills and neutrality of the United Nations. There must be an urgent international political effort under UN auspices, but backed by the US and the EU, which involves Iraq's neighbours. All parties, including the neighbours, must commit to a binding international treaty respecting Iraq's territorial integrity.

The US Iraq Study Group last December suggested a new diplomatic offensive in which the Bush administration has only latterly shown interest. The UK government, with much better diplomatic channels in the region, should take a lead.

At the same time, a new high-level UN envoy should be appointed to facilitate political reconciliation inside Iraq. After the assassination in 2003 of its key diplomat, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 150 others, there are questions whether the UN can or would want to play a greater role in Iraq. But since that tragedy, its experience has been used: the UN-brokered agreement on the timing of elections and then the interim government for Iraq in 2004.

The UK must do more to protect the most vulnerable communities. The two million refugees who have fled Iraq, the one million refugees expected over the next year and the two million Iraqis displaced within Iraq represent the biggest refugee crisis since 1948. We have a moral duty to tackle this humanitarian tragedy, and it is in our own interest to prevent what could become a longer-term breeding ground for terrorism and insecurity in the region. The size of the refugee problem is already threatening the political stability of Syria and Jordan. The UK should give greater support to the UNHCR to develop and implement a strategy that meets the needs of the refugees and displaced people.

Peace building is not an event, but a process. A lasting peace may take years to achieve with more bloodshed in the interim. Britain has a unique experience in Northern Ireland. Although no two examples are the same, it shows us that conflicts are not intractable. As economic conditions improved in Northern Ireland in the 1990s and levels of unemployment narrowed, the violence ebbed and the prospects for peace lifted. Work should be done to bring those lessons to bear on the Iraqi situation now.

The UK, with the International Compact with Iraq, should develop an economic roadmap for the country. This should strongly emphasise economic liberalisation and the creation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Hopefully, as the security situation improves on the ground, the economic benefits of peace could take root as soon as possible. Ed Balls MP, one of Gordon Brown's closest allies, has recently made important economic proposals for reconstructing the Palestinian economy to underpin a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. He calls the proposals "an economic roadmap for the Middle East", and many of the general ideas could be applied to Iraq. This is another area where UK could take an international lead.

The Iraq Commission report represents an independent strategy for the British government. Some proposals diverge from positions taken by the US administration. We believe that the British government should make clear that this course of action reflects British and wider interests, and is the most likely to reduce the violence and offer Iraqis a more stable future.

To summarise: for security, we must reinvigorate the process of reconciliation. For stability, we must protect Iraq's territorial integrity. For prosperity, we must devise an economic plan for peace. For humanity, we must protect the most vulnerable people. In diplomacy, we must lead and build international and regional alliances.

There is a political impetus for Gordon Brown simply to draw a line under the mistakes of the past. But we have a responsibility to go further. The Iraq Commission report represents a blueprint for the future of British policy in Iraq. Its success depends on one thing – a unity of purpose and action.

Baroness Jay of Paddington is co-chair of the Iraq Commission and a former Leader of the House of Lords http://www.channel4.com/iraqcommission Further browsing: The Iraq Commission report: channel4.com/iraqcommission