OCHA on Message: Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination (UN-CMCoord), January 2022

What is UN-CMCoord?

Humanitarian organizations, State security forces and non-State armed groups (NSAGs) increasingly operate in the same space across all humanitarian emergencies, from natural disasters to human-made and technological emergencies. Effective dialogue between these actors is critical to obtaining and maintaining humanitarian access to people in need and ensuring their protection.

Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination (UN-CMCoord) is the essential dialogue and interaction between civilian and armed actors in humanitarian emergencies that is necessary to protect and promote humanitarian principles, avoid competition, minimize inconsistency and, when appropriate, pursue common goals. Basic strategies range from coexistence to cooperation.

Coordination within these relationships is a shared responsibility facilitated by liaison and common training. Key coordination elements are information-sharing, task division and planning, all of which are adapted to the specific context.

Critical functions of UN- CMCoord include establishing appropriate UN- CMCoord structures, developing context-specific guidance based on internationally agreed guidelines, and ensuring all relevant personnel (e.g. military, political/civil affairs officers, non-governmental organization [NGO] workers) understand the key aspects of UN-CMCoord.

UN-CMCoord’s primary functions:

1. Establish and sustain dialogue with military and other armed actors.

2. Establish mechanisms for information exchange and humanitarian interaction with military forces and other armed actors.

3. Assist in negotiations in critical areas of interaction between humanitarian workers, military forces and other armed actors.

4. Support the development and dissemination of context-specific guidance for the humanitarian community’s interaction with military forces and other armed actors.

5. Observe the activities of military forces and other armed actors to ensure distinction is maintained and to avoid negative impact on people in need or the humanitarian community.

What is OCHA’s role?

In 1995, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee designated OCHA as the focal point and custodian of related guidelines and policies for UN-CMCoord within the UN system. OCHA’s Civil-Military Coordination Service (CMCS) performs that function on behalf of the humanitarian community and facilitates the appropriate interaction between humanitarian operational partners and armed actors. What that facilitation looks like depends on the context, and on the role and mission of the armed actors in that emergency. CMCS also manages the UN-CMCoord training programme, supports large-scale military exercises with a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief component, provides policy guidance, fosters partnerships with like-minded organizations, maintains a UN-CMCoord roster of experienced personnel, and is the custodian of global UN-CMCoord guidelines and policy documents.