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Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management
Civilian Crisis Management
European Views on the Nuts and Bolts of
Building a Better Peace
Washington, D.C., October 30, 2001
Participants
-
Andrea de Guttry,
professor of international law and director of the International
Training Program for Conflict Management in Italy
-
Alessandro Politi,
independent strategic and Open Source Intelligence analyst
in Italy
-
Julie Smith (moderator), program
officer with the German Marshall Fund of the United States
Summary
The second roundtable discussion focused on the technicalities
of how to make civilian crisis management (CCM) work. The
components of CCM are multifaceted, ranging from coordinating
humanitarian aid and policing, to developing the laws and
regulations to provide a base upon which these units operate.
The analysts in this panel tackled the progress of institutions
involved in CCM. Although the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations (U.N.)
have made substantial contributions to the field, this session
focused mostly on the European Union.
The European Union has made the most aggressive headway in
developing a comprehensive CCM framework during the past few
years. Andrea de Guttry reviewed the decision-making mechanisms
for CCM in the European Union and attributed their proliferating
number to the sensitivity of the topic and the proclivity
of member states for regulations.
In addition to establishing a framework for CCM, De Guttry
explained that civilians require extensive training to prepare
for crises. The skills in peacekeeping support in Europe may
come more from the OSCE than from other organizations because
it already is implementing its Rapid Expert Assistance and
Cooperation Teams (REACT) program. De Guttry added that European
universities are starting to work with the European Union
and other organizations to offer special training for civilians
who want to serve in crisis management capacities. The International
Training Program for Conflict Management at the Scuola Superiore
Sant'Anna in Pisa, where De Guttry serves as a director, is
one of these universities.
Another important building block in CCM operations, according
to Alessandro Politi, is the integration of a "situation center"
that involves the intelligence and analysis of the circumstances
on the ground. He also recommended that CCM operations might
benefit from the production of a "warning and indicators matrix"
that would help assess the potential escalation of crises.
Politi suggested that the European Union standardize its
training for crisis management and peace support missions,
also while providing special training to prepare people for
their service in a particular country. To make realistic the
European Union's goal of providing police forces for CCM operations,
the member states should rotate commitments. Furthermore,
the European Union will need to institute limits on the length
of deployment for forces and compensate countries and civilian
sectors inconvenienced by deployment.
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