Launch of UN Guidelines on the use of military and civil defence assets

Joint Press Release by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO)

Kenzo Oshima, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, and Poul Nielson, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, today launched the UN Guidelines On The Use Of Military And Civil Defence Assets To Support United Nations Humanitarian Activities In Complex Emergencies ("MCDA Guidelines"), in Brussels, in a ceremony aimed at taking note of and seeking support for a wide use of the document. The launch was co-hosted by the UN's Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Humanitarian Office of the European Union (ECHO).

The conditions surrounding the delivery of humanitarian assistance are becoming increasingly difficult. Access to target populations is often hampered by security concerns and this has fuelled a growing debate on the involvement of military assets.

The Guidelines are the result of nearly three years of deliberations between Member States, international and regional organisations, and agencies from both the humanitarian and the military communities. They are non-binding, generic provisions designed to facilitate the drafting of specific guidance papers on the use of military and civil defence assets for particular humanitarian complex emergency operations.

The document lays down the main principles, concepts, tasks and responsibilities of the players in a complex emergency. From these guidelines, the following should be highlighted:

Humanitarian assistance must be provided in accordance with the basic humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality and neutrality. The UN seeks to provide humanitarian assistance with full respect for the sovereignty of States. Based on the degree of contact with the affected population, international military resources have been divided into direct assistance, indirect assistance and infrastructure support.

When military and civil defence assets are under UN control they are referred to as UN MCDA. Other deployed forces are all military and civil defence forces deployed in the region other than UN MCDA. They are divided into peacetime; UN commanded peacekeeping operations; other peace operations/peace support; and combat missions. A humanitarian operation using military assets must retain its civilian nature and character and must remain under civilian control and authority.

Military assets should be requested only as a last resort, where there is no comparable civilian alternative and only the use of military assets can meet a critical humanitarian need. Like all UN humanitarian assistance, they are to be provided at no cost to the affected State or receiving agency. Any use of military and civil defence assets should be clearly limited in time and scale and present an exit strategy element. Military personnel providing direct assistance should not be armed and should rely on the security measures of the supported humanitarian agency. Military and civil defence personnel employed exclusively in the support of UN humanitarian activities should be clearly distinguished from those forces engaged in other military missions.

UN Humanitarian Civil Military Coordination (CMCoord) is the essential dialogue and interaction between civilian and military actors necessary to protect and promote humanitarian principles, avoid competition, minimise inconsistency, and when appropriate, pursue common goals. This is done through sharing of information and exchange of liaison personnel.

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, in consultation with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, provides the overall guidance for a particular complex emergency. The UN Resident Coordinator or Humanitarian Coordinator or the Special Representative of the Secretary-General will initiate the request for the use of military and civil defence resources in the field. UN humanitarian agencies will request the use of these assets through the Humanitarian Coordinator or Resident Coordinator that has coordination responsibilities for the complex emergency. OCHA's Military and Civil Defence Unit (MCDU) will process the request, make the necessary arrangements with the Member States, and track the use of these resources. It will maintain a UN Civil Military Coordination (CMCoord) training programme and a roster of UN CMCoord trained liaison personnel for mobilisation.

The affected State has primary responsibility for providing humanitarian assistance to persons within its borders. UN MCDA shall have at least the same freedom of movement, immunities, privileges, and exemptions afforded the UN humanitarian agencies. Transit States will facilitate the movement of requested UN MCDA in the same manner that they facilitate the movement of UN relief goods and personnel.

Assisting States or regional organisations and peacekeeping forces involved in complex emergencies or other military operations beyond their borders should include in the guidance or orders issued to force or contingent commanders the parameters for the use of their resources to support UN humanitarian activities in a complex emergency.

The new Guidelines are complementary to those adopted by the international community in Oslo in 1994 for the use of military and civil defence assets in natural, environmental and technological disasters.

OCHA's Military and Civil Defence Unit has acted as the facilitator and secretariat of the process, at the request of the international community.


The Guidelines are available at:

http://www.reliefweb.int/mcdls/mcdu/mcdu.html


For the French text please see:

Introduction, à Bruxelles, le 26 juin 2003, des nouvelles directives des Nations unies sur l'utilisation des ressources de l'armée et de la protection civile dans le cadre d'opérations d'aide humanitaire d'urgence complexes menées par l'ONU

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• Commission and UN launch UN Guidelines on the Use of Military and Civil Defence Assets (25/6/2003)