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Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination in Emergencies: Towards A Predictable Model

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INTRODUCTION

This publication is an initiative of the Regional Consultative Group (RCG) on Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination for Asia and the Pacific. The RCG seeks to not only link the region with the Global Consultative Group on Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination, but also to provide a learning platform for good practice. This publication focuses on Asia and the five priority countries in this region that are highly vulnerable to large-scale natural disasters: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, and the Philippines.

The first session of the RCG took place in 2015 in Thailand and discussions focused on enhancing operational response planning between civilian and military actors for major disasters in the five priority countries. A key recommendation that emerged from this RCG first session was to ‘enhance predictability and develop a common understanding of the civil-military coordination mechanisms and their respective functions during a response’.1 1 RCG First Session Summary Report 2015.

This publication aims to address this recommendation by outlining the civil-military coordination mechanisms in the five priority countries and how these are activated during disaster response efforts in line with regional frameworks and guidance. The publication provides the context for humanitarian civil-military coordination in Asia at the regional level and considers existing national guidance and structures for civil-military coordination in disaster response, linkages to global and regional guidance and emerging best practices. It also focuses on contributing to enhancing predictability in civil-military coordination in disaster response throughout the region, through outlining the potential adaptation of the Humanitarian-Military Operation Coordination Concept (HuMOCC) in each of the five countries.

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