EU, VN, OVSE en Raad van Europa coördineren training van civiele experts in internationale crisisoperaties (en)

A major international training conference, aimed at discussing strategies to improve the preparation of civilian experts for international crisis management missions, was closed in Rome on Wednesday with the commitment of the EU and partner organisations to enhance their co-operation in training civilian experts for deployment to peace operations of their respective organisations. In his opening address, Italian Minister Frattini underlined the important progress achieved by the EU in boosting its personnel capacities for conflict prevention and crisis management and stressed the need to thoroughly prepare civilians for the challenges of field work in crisis areas. The meeting was dedicated to the memory of the late Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh and organised in the context of a major initiative launched by the European Commission with the training of 260 specialists in Rule of Law and civilian administration in nine different EU countries in 2003.

Civilians play an increasingly important role in peace missions, assuming a leading role in crisis and post-conflict situations by supporting democratisation and the Rule of Law, by strengthening human rights, and by rebuilding civil societies and viable administrations. One of the major challenges the international community faces however, is the lack of suitably qualified and available personnel for peace missions. Participants from all over the world in the conference debated ways of improving the recruitment of civilians to international peace operations and enhancing, through training, the co-ordination of military and civilian actors in the field.¹

Following the decision to strengthen its actions in civilian crisis management at the European Council meeting of Feira in June 2000, the Union engaged in an important effort to build up personnel in the priority areas of rule of law, civilian administration, civil protection and police. 5,000 police officers, 2,000 civil protection personnel and 280 rule of law experts will be available for EU-led crisis management missions, as well as EU contributions to the field operations of partner organisations like the UN, the OSCE and the Council of Europe.

Following the successful launch of the first police and military missions by the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina² and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2003 and the imminent new police mission in fYROM in 2004, the new training partnership should help to improve the size, qualifications and rapid deployment capabilities of Member States' personnel pools in the areas of rule of law and civilian administration.

For further information:

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¹ IP/03/79, 20 January 2003, "European Commission Launches Pilot Courses for Training Civilian Experts in Crisis Management"

² IP/03/44, 14 January 2003 - "EU launches Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina"