Civil-Military Coordination Practices and Approaches Within United Nations Peace Operations

Abstract

The paper argues that the bi-polar civil-military coordination concept is no longer adequate to describe the system-wide coordination needs of contemporary UN peace operations, at the strategic level, in the context of the UN Integrated Mission concept. However, the civil-military coordination concept is still appropriate and meaningful at the operational and tactical levels, both from a humanitarian and military perspective. UN Civil-Military Coordination (UN CIMIC) is the function within the military component of a UN peace operation responsible for facilitating liaison and coordination between the military component of the UN mission and its civilian counterparts and partners. In the UN Integrated Mission context the military component is one of many UN mission components, and function as part of the overall UN System. As such it participates in a wide network of coordination mechanisms that, taken together, constitute mission-wide coordination. UN CIMIC is not responsible for all aspects of civil-military coordination, but it has a very specific role to play in the context of Mission Support and Community Support, and the overall Liaison and Information Management function required to sustain these two types of military support to civilian partners in a UN peace operations context.