“Coordination between civilian and military actors is essential during an emergency response”
“The increasing number and scale of humanitarian emergencies, in both natural disaster and conflict settings, has led to more situations where military forces and civilian relief agencies are operating in the same environment.”
John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator and United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs
What is UN-CMCoord?
United Nations Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination (UN-CMCoord) is the essential dialogue and interaction between civilian and military 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 is a shared responsibility facilitated by liaison and common training. Key elements include planning, information sharing and task division.
What is CMCS?
The focal point for UN-CMCoord in the United Nations System is the Civil-Military Coordination Section (CMCS) of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the Section provides the international community with a range of services, including development and facilitation of guidelines and other related documents, the UN-CMCoord training programme, support to military exercises, UN-CMCoord officers deployment and a range of other related operational and field support activities.
