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Roundtable on Civil–Military Coordination - The Police, Humanitarians and the Protection of Civilians: Coordinating ‘Civilian’ Contributions
Summary Note
The Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection of the European Commission (DG ECHO) organised a one-day roundtable meeting on 1 March 2012. The meeting brought together international police and humanitarian actors to consider the role of international police deployments in protecting civilians, and the interaction with humanitarian actors in this regard. Using case examples from past and current international police deployments, the discussion explored the differing roles and mandates of international police with regard to the protection of civilians and complementarities with the efforts of humanitarian organisations. It also considered lessons learnt around interaction and dialogue between international police deployments and humanitarian actors on this issue.
The roundtable was the second in a series of events held as part of HPG’s two-year research and public affairs project ‘Civil–Military Coordination: The Search for Common Ground’. In order to promote an open and frank debate, the meeting was held under the Chatham House rule and participation was by invitation only. What follows is a summary of the discussion.