Transcript Peacebuilding in Complex Operational Environments

Constructive Engagement with
Civil Society
Lessons from the Peacebuilding field
CCOE Community of Interest 6.02.2014
Anton Quist, PAX
Jenny Aulin, GPPAC
Lisa Schirch, Alliance for Peacebuilding/GPPAC
Why are we here?
• Need for more elaborate CIMIC guidelines on
engagement with civil society
• Share civil society experiences in locally
owned and multi-stakeholder engagement on
security issues
• Share civil society perspectives on challenges
linked to engaging with security sector
Organization
• Formerly IKV Pax Christi
• Political peace organization (not
humanitarian/development)
• 70 FTE / 15 contexts
• Facilitate peace and security through research,
programmes, advocacy
CivMil work: PoC
•
•
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•
Field exercises (Common Effort)
Presentations and lectures
Course work (UNMISS)
Policy meetings, doctrine development and
reports on integrated approaches
• In the ‘field’ (South Sudan, Srebrenica)
CIMIC definition?
“The aim and purpose of CIMIC is the
interaction between military and civil actors
within a comprehensive environment to
support the military commander’s plan”
(CCOE, CIMIC field handbook 3.0)
Key challenges
• Peace can only be realized by political
solutions
• Cooperation often is too instrumental
• Integrated approaches need integrated
planning and cooperation
• National vs human security
Recommendations
• Examples from working with SPLA (South
Sudan)
• Invest in knowing and understanding each
other
• Start early enough and at the right level
• Be transparent about possibilities, added
value, goals and motivations
Our ideal CIMIC
• The aim and purpose of CIMIC is the
interaction between military and civil actors
within a comprehensive environment to
support the Protection of Civilians and create
circumstances for peace.
GPPAC: a global network of civil society organisations working for a shift
from reaction to prevention of violent conflict:
 15 regional networks, 1 Global Secretariat, thematic working groups & projects
 Informing policy - Improving practice – Convening & facilitating collaboration
A multi-stakeholder approach
“the prevention of deadly conflict
is, over the long term, too hard –
intellectually, technically, and
politically- to be the responsibility
of any single institution or
government, no matter how
powerful. Strengths must be
pooled, burdens shared, and
labor divided among actors.”
(Carnegie Commission on Preventing
Deadly Conflict 1997)
Shared
Operational
Environment
International
organizations
Humanitarian
organizations
Host
Government
Multimandate
NGOs
Local and
international
security forces
Civilian
Population
Private
contractors
Local civil
society
groups
Types of NGOs
• Humanitarian NGOs
– Conduct humanitarian assistance focused on relieving human suffering
with an independent, impartial and neutral stance
• Multi-Mandate NGOs
– Development (diverse sectors including health, education, water,
micro-credit, governance, etc)
– Human Rights
– Environment
– Peacebuilding
Local and International NGOs and CSOs…
• Local CSOs are part of the local civil society within a country but in some
cases have foreign donors
• International NGOs or “INGOs” tend to have their headquarters outside of
the country but may have local partners
• Most NGOs strive to be community-based and accountable to local people
Increase in Security
Sector outreach to
civilians for
counterinsurgency,
stabilization, QIPs
Increase in Civil
Society Efforts in
Peacebuilding and
Countering
Extremism
Increase in attacks
against NGOs, CSOs,
and civilians
Increased
need for
coordination
Increase in Security
Force Assistance and
SSR requirement for
community
engagement
4 Interrelated Trends
Trend 1: Increase in Civil Society Organizations in
Conflict Prevention & Peacebuilding
Local – regional - global
Liberian women were central to
democratization
Peacebuilding Pyramid
Top Level Leadership: Policymakers
Track I Diplomacy
Mid-Level Leadership: Religious, Business,
Media, Academic Leadership
Track II Diplomacy
Community Level Leadership
Grassroots Peacebuilding
Peacebuilding requires both horizontal and vertical efforts.
Trend 2: Increase in Security Sector reaching out to civilians via
hearts & minds activities for Counterinsurgency, Stabilization,
Counterterrorism, etc
Stabilization
Peacebuilding
Primary Goal
Emphasis on achieving
foreign-defined national
interests
Emphasis on achieving
locally-defined human
security
Primary Actor
Emphasis on foreign
capacity and leadership
with transition to locals
Emphasis on local
capacity and local
leadership
Civil-Military
Coordination
Emphasis on
comprehensive approach
or “whole of government”
capacity – coordination of
government civilians and
military
Emphasis on “whole of
society” capacity –
coordination of an
independent civil society
with government civilians
and military
Time Frame
Emphasis on short-term
projects
Emphasis on long-term
goals
Afghanistan
Afghan NGOs used conflict resolution and mediation to assist with DDR
- reintegration for insurgents in Afghanistan. These local NGOs shared
their insights with ISAF about how to reduce support for the Taliban.
Philippines
Balay Mindanao,
a Filipino civil
society
organization
runs training
course for the
Philippine
military on
conflict
management
and
peacebuilding.
DRC
Search for
Common Ground,
a peacebuilding
NGO, trains military
officers in the DRC
in human rights
and facilitates a
military committee
to monitor and
track human rights
violations by
soldiers through
the justice system.
Iraqi Civil Society
Peacebuilding
Network
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•
“Why don’t international forces ask
us for advice on what to do here?”
“We can’t walk into a PRT to talk to
them. We’d be killed as soon as we
walk out of there…. We are soft
targets.”
Trend 3: NGOs and CSOs are increasingly deliberately targeted in
political attacks
Coordination with Types of Civilians
Spectrum of Neutrality and Impartiality
Humanitarian NGOs
-help people based on
need assessments
without regard to
political, economic,
military or other
objectives
with the sole goal of
relieving human
suffering
Multi-Mandate NGOs
-help people based on need
assessments while supporting
general goals such as
supporting democratic
processes and human rights,
but without supporting a
speci ic political party or
regime
Contractors
-work directly for
governments to help
people based on explicit
political and security
goals of that
government
Impar al, Neutral, Independent---------------Par al, Taking Sides, Dependent
Accepted by local communities -------------------Not accepted by some local communities
Accepted by all armed groups------------------------------Not accepted by all armed groups
Not perceived as a threat-------------------------------Perceived as a threat by some groups
Not targeted by any groups--------------------------------May be targeted by armed groups
Trend 4: Increased recognition of the need for better
Community Engagement in Security Sector Reform and
Security Assistance Training
Civil Society is Key to
Stabilization & Peacebuilding
CitizenOriented
State
Private
Business
Sector
Active Civil
Society
Good
governance,
human rights,
development,
security
Without Civil Society…
Elite-Captured
State
Instability,
Corruption,
Lack of
Human Rights
Private Business
Sector
Some States use Security Forces to
Repress Civil Society…
State
State-run
Security
Forces
Private
Business
Sector
Instability,
Corruption,
Lack of
Human
Rights
Pacification
and Repression
of Civil Society
National Security Dialogues are
essential to SSR
• Public perception that
security forces are
predators
Predators
National Security
Dialogue
• Security forces,
government and civil
society dialogue on nature
of security threats and how
to work together to
improve human security
• Public perception that
security forces are
protectors
Protectors
Increase in Security
Sector outreach to
civilians for
counterinsurgency,
stabilization, QIPs
Increase in Civil
Society Efforts in
Peacebuilding and
Countering
Extremism
Increase in attacks
against NGOs, CSOs,
and civilians
Increased
need for
coordination
Increase in Security
Force Assistance and
SSR requirement for
community
engagement
4 Interrelated Trends
Coordination in Complex
Environments
• Only coordination mechanisms
and guidance for Humanitarian
Civil Military Coordination
• No guidance or coordination
mechanisms for Civil Military
Relations between security
sector and multi-mandate NGOs
and local civil society
organizations
Structural Integration in Comprehensive Approach
International
organizations
Humanitarian
organizations
Armed
Opposition
Groups
Multimandate
NGOs
Host
Government
Civilian
Population
Local civil
society
groups
Local and
international
security forces
Private
contractors
Shared
Operational
Environment
International
organizations
Humanitarian
organizations
Host
Government
Armed
Opposition
Groups
Multimandate
NGOs
Local and
international
security forces
Civilian
Population
Private
contractors
Local civil
society
groups
Two Paradigms of Security
National
Security
Human
Security
Approaches to
Coordination
Comprehensive
Approach
Humanitarian Civil
Military Coordination
via Structural
Integration with military
chain of command to
achieve military goal
via communication
mechanisms with
civilian chain of
command to achieve
civilian humanitarian
goal
Whole of Society
Infrastructures for
Peace
via facilitated
communication
mechanisms with loose
infrastructure to
achieve human security
Recommendations & Feedback:

More elaborate CIMIC guidelines on engagement with civil society

Involve diverse civil society in CIMIC initiatives and training, taking into
account their diverse characteristics and positions

Aim for locally owned security strategies and multi-stakeholder
engagement

Communication and coordination rather than integration:
> Invest in knowing and understanding each other
> Start early enough and at the right level
> Be transparent about possibilities, added value, goals, motivations