Tempest Express 26

Humanitarian Civil-Military CoordinationCenter for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance

Jesse Wolfe, DMHA Advisor

Noumea, New Caledonia

2 April 2015

Introduction

• Interaction between Humanitarian and Military actors differ according to the operational context

• Interaction with the military must not compromise neutrality, impartiality and operational independence of humanitarian actors

• In a natural disaster situation in peacetime, military and humanitarian forces cooperate to save lives and assist people in need

• In conflict-related complex emergencies, relationship and interaction will be different; humanitarians and military share an operational space, but not objectives

UN-OCHA

• UN Office Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

• Ensures effective and efficient interface between civilian and military actors

• Deploys and supports field operations

• Conducts humanitarian civil-military coordination activities

• Initiates development and exercises oversight of guidelines, provision of training and participation in workshops, conferences and simulation exercises

UN-CMCoord - Definition

‘‘is the essential dialogue and interaction between civilian and military actors in humanitarian emergencies that is necessary to protect and promote humanitarian principles, avoid competition, minimize inconsistency, and when appropriate pursue common goals. Basic strategies range from coexistence to cooperation. Coordination is a shared responsibility facilitated by liaison and

common training.”

Civil-Military Concepts

HUMANITARIANS MILITARIES

UN-CMCoord UN-CIMIC

ACM (Fr)

NATO CIMIC

Civil Affairs (US)

CIMCO

(EU)

Action guided by humanitarian principles. Assistance based on assessed humanitarian needs.

Action based on the needs of the force and mission. It is conditional and may cease when the mission changes or the

unit moves.

CMOAfrican

CIMIC

Civil-Military Interaction: A plurality of concepts

Aim of UN-CMCoord

1. No ‘‘one size fits all’’

2. Main goals:

• Improve collective dialogue, communication and interaction

• Help preserve humanitarian freedom to operate by maintaining a clear distinction of identities, functions and roles of humanitarian and military actors

• Ensure appropriate relationship between humanitarian and military/armed actors in a given context

• Facilitate coherent and consistent approach across UN agencies and HCT

• Ensure appropriate and timely use of foreign military assets

• Ensure coherence of relief efforts to avoid duplication

Aim of UN-CMCoord

Primary tasks of the UN-CMCoord function:

1. Establish and sustain dialogue with military forces

2. Establish mechanisms for information exchange and interaction with military forces and other armed actors

3. Support development and dissemination of context-specific guidelines

4. Monitor activities by military forces

5. Assist in negotiating issues in critical areas of coordination

Sharing an Operational Space

• Dialogue is essential

• Key elements of civil-military interaction are:o Information Sharingo Task Divisiono Joint Planning

1. Information Sharing – Establishment of a coordination mechanism for information sharing, deconfliction, avoiding duplication is critical.

o Security informationo Humanitarian locationso Humanitarian activities

Note: under no circumstances will humanitarians disclose information that might give tactical advantage to a party to the conflict or that might put civilians at risk.

Sharing an Operational Space

2. Task Divisiono Humanitarian priorities are identified through the clusterso Happens mostly in natural disasterso Military activities are ideally coordinated through the cluster

systemo May be applicable in complex emergencies and limited to life-

saving activities

3. Joint Planningo Depends on the contexto In natural disasters, humanitarian and military actors may be co-

located in a humanitarian coordination mechanismo In complex emergencies, more applicable in terms of security-

related issues, use of armed escorts, protection of civilians

Liaison & Coordination Structures

The appropriate, acceptable and feasible liaison approach depends on the nature of the emergency

COOPERATION COEXISTENCE

HUM

MIL

HUM

MIL

LO

LO

HUM

MIL

LO

LO

HUM

MIL

Co-Location Liaison Exchange Limited Liaison Interlocutor

Coordination(essential dialogue and interaction)

UN-CMCoord

UN-CMCoord Guidelines

Rationale: To address the need for principles and standards and to provide improved coordination in the use of MCDA. They establish the basic framework for formalizing and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the use of military teams, assets and expertise in international disaster relief.

Scope: Response to natural, technological and environmental emergencies in peacetime.

Target audience:

• UN humanitarian agencies and their implementing partners;

• Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator (RC/HC);

• Military Commanders in charge of deployment of foreign or UN MCDA to support humanitarian operations;

• All humanitarian actors;

• Member States and International Organizations.

UN-CMCoord Guidelines

MCDA Guidelines (Use of MCDA to Support UN Humanitarian Activities

in Complex Emergencies)

Scope: This document focuses on the use of military and civil defence assets in complex emergencies. […] Reconstruction and rehabilitation activities are beyond the scope of this document. (Para 16).

Aim: Provide guidance on when military and civil defence resources can be used, how they should be employed, and how UN agencies should interface, organize, and coordinate with international military forces with regard to the use of military and civil defence assets. (Para 11)

Target audience: Same as the Oslo Guidelines.

Security & Humanitarian Access

• Main areas of civil-military interaction

• Humanitarian Access: humanitarian actors’ ability to reach people in need and their ability to access humanitarian services

• Restriction and impediments to humanitarian access can be minimised or avoided without compromising security by:o Establishing a system for humanitarians to notify security forces

of their intended movements to allow quick passage;o Security forces informing humanitarians on procedures and

expected waiting timeso Maintaining liaison and dialogue for deconfliction

Military Aid Projects

• Military forces provide assistance to local communities and carry out stabilisation and reconstruction activities

• Military civic action is conducted based on the needs of the force and the mission (intelligence, security, etc)

• Recipients are based on military considerations; humanitarian assistance is provided to all parties (people in need)

• If military and humanitarian perform similiar activities, distinction becomes difficult to maintain

• Military personnel must refrain from presenting themselves as humanitarian workers

• Military assistance and reconstruction activities should not be referred to as ‘humanitarian’ activities.

Key Points

1. Humanitarian - military dialogue is essential; the kind of information shared depends on the context

2. The common humanitarian requests for military support are related to a safe and secure environment in complex emergencies, and to logistics support in natural disasters

3. UN-CMCoord is the humanitarian civil-military coordination function guided by the humanitarian principles, not to be confused with UN-CIMIC

4. The request for and use of foreign military assets to support humanitarian action should be considered as ‘last resort’.

5. As a general rule, humanitarian actors do not use armed escorts. The Armed Escorts Guidelines define exceptions from this general rule

6. Liaison and coordination structures are tailored to the operational context – they take into account the feasible civil-military coordination, ranging from cooperation to co-existence, and the associated risks of perception.

Questions?Address: Building 76

456 Hornet Avenue

Joint Base Pearl Harbor

Hawaii 96860

Web: www.cfe-dmha.org

Telephone: (808) 472-0515