Civilian Crisis Management
What is civilian crisis management
Civilian crisis management refers to the actions of international organisations (e.g., the EU, the UN, NATO and the OSCE) aimed at supporting and strengthening the key functions of society in the host country by means such as training the authorities or observing the implementation of peace agreements. In crisis areas, it may also include temporarily carrying out tasks of the local police, local administration or other authorities. In addition to operations, civilian crisis management experts deployed by CMC Finland also serve in the secretariats and delegations of international organisations.
Finland has been actively involved in international civilian crisis management since the 1990s. In Finland, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is responsible for the political steering of civilian crisis management and makes decisions on in which operations Finnish experts will participate. The Ministry of the Interior is responsible for maintaining, developing and coordinating the national civilian crisis management capabilities. CMC Finland operates under the Ministry of the Interior and is responsible for all tasks related to civilian crisis management national capabilities.
Currently, there are a total of about 130 experts deployed by CMC Finland serving in civilian crisis management tasks at a time, for example, in operations of the EU, the UN, NATO and the OSCE. Experts in civilian crisis management are deployed to carry out, for instance, police, judicial, border management, customs, correctional services sector, international politics, human rights and communications related tasks in operations of international organisations and tasks in their secretariats.
Below you will find brief introductions of the key international organisations in whose tasks the experts posted by CMC Finland serve. In addition to these, Finnish experts are also deployed to civilian posts in NATO, the Council of Europe and the International Criminal Court.
For Finland, the key international civilian crisis management actor is the EU. Finland participates in civilian crisis management operations under the European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). In addition to EU civilian crisis management operations, CMC Finland deploys experts to the Offices of European Union Special Representatives and EU secretariats, such as the EU External Action Service.
Read more about EU operations: Missions and Operations | EEAS (europa.eu)
The UN has been conducting peacekeeping operations since 1948. Most UN peacekeeping operations have a civilian crisis management dimension, and many UN programmes and agencies implement projects considered as civilian crisis management. Finland participates in the civilian components of UN operations by helping to strengthen the police and rule of law capacity of the target country in particular. In addition to operations, Finnish experts can be posted to UN agencies.
Read more about UN operations: United Nations Peacekeeping
The OSCE is one of the largest regional security organisations in the world. In addition to conflict prevention, the organisation’s field operations are involved, inter alia, in missions promoting the rule of law, democracy and human rights, and supporting the status of minorities. In addition to field operations, CMC Finland deploys civilian crisis management experts to the OSCE Secretariat and its regional offices.
Read more about OSCE operations and regional offices: Where we are | OSCE
Finland’s participation in civilian crisis management
There are approximately 130 Finnish experts deployed to international tasks all the time. On the map updated on a monthly basis you can see where our experts are currently posted.
Click on the image to make it larger.
If you want to listen to the information of the civilian crisis management map with a reading program, you can download a pdf file here.
For more information on operations, see the interactive map on the front page.
