22.12.2016.

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The Western Balkans as a security exporter

In the Western Balkans, the awareness of the importance and potentials of civilian capacities for participation in peacekeeping missions is not sufficiently developed – concluded the first panel of the conference “Security Challenges as a Link between Citizens and Institutions”, which the Belgrade Center for Security Policy organized on 21 ...

In the Western Balkans, the awareness of the importance and potentials of civilian capacities for participation in peacekeeping missions is not sufficiently developed – concluded the first panel of the conference “Security Challenges as a Link between Citizens and Institutions”, which the Belgrade Center for Security Policy organized on 21 December 2016 in Belgrade.

At the conference, which was organized as the final event of the three-year project “Building Civilian Capacities from the Western Balkans in Peace Support Operations”, financially supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was pointed out that the countries of the region were for a long period of time the countries in which peacekeeping operation took place, but eventually they developed the capacity to contribute to peacekeeping in other countries.

“We have been trying to create a concept of super-soldier, and everybody still believes that changes can be made exclusively within the military component of the operations. But this is wrong – civilians should have a key role”, said Gordan Bosanac from the Croatian Centre for Peace Studies, adding that politicians do not have sufficient knowledge and skills of how to manage civilian capacities.

He stressed that armed forces are not doing a bad job, but that the civilian component of peacekeeping missions should acquire greater legitimacy.

“Until a change in the way of thinking happens, especially when it comes to decision makers, the concept of civilian participation in peacekeeping missions will not came into being and their enormous capacity will continue to be neglected,” said Bosanac and warned that a lack of political will is not the only problem, but also the fact that the budgetary funds are almost entirely directed to military forces.

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The Chief of the Training Section of the Peacekeeping Operations Centre of the Serbian Armed Forces Goran Topalović believes that the lack of awareness about the importance of the participation of civilians in missions is still the greatest problem.

“In our society, there is a distorted perception that a peace mission is equal to soldiers with helmets and rifles. When we say peace operations, we should primarily think of civilian capacities, and then of the armed forces,” Topalović said.

It was pointed out at the panel that peacekeeping missions should be understood as an extension of foreign policy, and that the reasons for the involvement of civilians are numerous.

“My personal experience in the missions in several countries showed me that our people enjoy great reputation in peacekeeping operations. In Serbia, over 10% of those participating in peacekeeping operations are women, while at the UN level women in peacekeeping missions constitute less than 2%. What civilians bring into peacekeeping operations cannot be replaced by soldiers,” Topalović concluded.

Although police officers in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been participating in peacekeeping missions since 2000, only in 2005 the legislative framework that regulates this area, including the civilian participation, was created. However, more than 10 years later, the necessary bylaws that would allow civilian participation have not been adopted – pointed out Sanjin Hamidičević from the Centre for Security Studies, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“More than 300 police officers and 1300 military officers from Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in peacekeeping missions, however, the civilian component has been completely neglected. Civilian missions enjoy great reputation, but it is a shame that we did not recognize their importance. They could significantly improve the international image of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but there is no national strategy for that,” said Hamidičević.

{image3}The Head of International Police Operations Division of the Ministry of Interior of Slovenia Vladimir Pocek stressed that Slovenia already has nearly 20 years of experience of civilian participation in peacekeeping missions.

“231 police officers have been trained for peacekeeping missions, which is a high number compared to other countries with greater opportunities. Since 2007, Slovenia has had the ability to send 20 police officers to missions and, since it is a great number for us, we are primarily focused on quality, not quantity. We need to focus on the region, because we can contribute there the most, due to our ties and shared history,” Pocek pointed out.

Panelists and the audience agreed that civilian capacities represent an untapped potential of the region and that a mutual exchange of experiences is necessary.

The event was organized with the support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union through the program of support to civil society and the European Fund for the Balkans through the regional program “Think end Link.” The views and opinions expressed here and at the panels do not necessarily represent the views of the Government of Norway, the European Union, the European Fund for the Balkans and other related organizations.

 

Tags: ..., &ldquo, &rdquo, balkans, bosnia, capacities, civilian, countries, european, exporter, forces, herzegovina, missions, officers, operations, participation, peacekeeping, police, security, western

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