EU Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination (CMCoord)
| Description | The European Union promotes the coordination between civilian and military actors in emergencies. Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination (CMCoord) is necessary to protect and promote humanitarian principles, avoid competition between civilian and military capacities, minimise inconsistency, and when appropriate, pursue common goals. The changing nature of modern conflicts, natural hazards and crises make dialogue and interaction between civil protection and humanitarian responders and the military ever more relevant. Civil-military coordination is crucial in supporting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The scope and form of the civ-mil interaction always depends on the specific context of the crisis. A case-by-case evaluation is necessary to safeguard the humanitarian space and the perception of aid as independent and neutral. Coordination strategies range from: • Co-existence: focusing on de-confliction and on minimising inconsistency, which is typical of conflict settings with military actors involved in active combat • Cooperation: focusing on harmonising a combined effort, could be adopted in natural disasters, as appropriate. CMCoord is essential to maintain a clear distinction between civil and humanitarian responders on one side, and the military on the other. Humanitarian aid assistance needs to be delivered according to the humanitarian principles and there should be no duplication of efforts. Certain humanitarian emergency and disaster situations require capabilities available only from the military community. Such services include strategic air and sealift, medical support and medical evacuation capacities, specialised engineering capabilities, etc. Humanitarian and civil protection responders may request support from the military, as a last resort, when no civilian or commercial option is available, in accordance with internationally agreed civ-mil guidelines (i.e. Oslo and MCDA) and recommended practices. Exceptionally, assistance by the military might also be required in order to create appropriate safety conditions for humanitarian workers to deliver aid and operate in complex emergencies. … How are we helping? The European Commission works closely with the European External Action Service’s crisis management structures, especially the EU Military Staff, as part of the EU Integrated Approach to external conflict and crises. It covers the:
To raise awareness towards humanitarian principles and humanitarian civil-military coordination, the European Commission organises presentations to EU personnel deployed in CSDP missions and operations in European Security and Defence College’s (ESDC) trainings and to military academies in Member States. The EU Concept on Effective Civil-Military Coordination in Support of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, approved by the EU Military Committee in 2019, collects lessons learnt and best practices from years of mutually beneficial engagement between the EU Military Staff and the European Commission, and provides direct operational guidance to EU Mission and Operation Commanders. It also operationalises in the EU the UN Recommended Practices for Effective Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination of Foreign Military Assets in Natural and Man-Made Disasters. The European Union strongly supports the United Nations role on humanitarian civil-military coordination, including through global advocacy and funding for dedicated UN OCHA staff in charge of ensuring the appropriate level of coordination between humanitarians and the military on the ground. |
| Source / Website | https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/partnerships/relations/civil-military-cooperation-emergencies_en |
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