Strange Bedfellows Revisited: NGOs and the Military in Stability Operations

Prof. Dr. D.J. Winslow

Context

A problem that confronts the military is the wide range of competence NGOs demonstrate.

Different and Separate

NGOs have felt uneasy with military forces.

Military leaders often regard NGOs as undisciplined and their operations as uncoordinated and disjointed.

Different but no longer separate

Humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations are now in every area of conflict.

Outline

1. the individual,

2. organizational structure and culture,

3. tasks and ways of accomplishing them,

4. definitions of success and time frames,

5. abilities to exert influence and control information,

6. control of resources.

The Individual

Age Gender Nationality Education

Individual motivation

“I have been on many tours, I do it for the money. I don’t believe in peace, in helping people who don’t want to help themselves.”

- Soldier in Bosnia

Organizational structure and culture

a. organizational goals b. organizational structurec. approaches to violenced. approach to nationalisme. decision making styles

Organizational structure and culture

An anti military and anti weapons bias persists in relief organizations because militarization and violence are still the primary causes of much of the suffering that these agencies are attempting to relieve.

Organizational structure and culture

Humanitarian space = NEUTRALITY = HUMANITTY = IMPARTIALITY

Organizational structure and culture

The military are hierarchical, authoritarian, centralized, large and robust, while UNHCR is flat, consensus-based with highly decentralized field offices.

Tasks and ways of accomplishing them

The military cannot take the place of humanitarian organizations, which have their own objectives and methods and their own know-how.

Tasks and ways of accomplishing them

a PRT in Afghanistan constitutes a forum in which diverging civilian expert, military and national interests may collide, producing a potential for a ‘clash of mindsets’

Tasks and ways of accomplishing them

Another term widely used by the military component was ‘coordination’, a rationalization of meticulous control of the PRT’s work. This led to vigorous reporting, the introduction of an energetic meeting schedule inside the camp, and the production of dozens of standard operating procedures, which provided robust guidelines for all aspects of acceptable behaviour in the camp, from proper clothing to medical evacuations.

Tasks and ways of accomplishing them

“I was never given classes on how to sit down with a sheik that I had only seen on CNN two days earlier. And now all of a sudden he claims I am a new sheik in town.”

-Captain in OIF

Tasks and ways of accomplishing them

Because of security issues, military personnel find themselves in armed camps, behind fortified walls and barbed wire

Definitions of success and time frames

“A mission may be considered a success if my troops sustain no casualties and I am able to bring them all home safely – even if the actual mandate was not completely fulfilled.”

- Officer

Definitions of success and time frames

Officers just have time to acclimatize themselves to local values, culture and politics and then they are gone.

By contrast, it is not unusual for civilians with UNPROFOR to be in their post for three years.

Abilities to exert influence and control information

Relief agencies have relationships with parties on the ground and with other national governments, and compete with each other for influence and financing.

Abilities to exert influence and control information

“Both of us come from very strong cultures and both of us think we’re right and know how to do things best. Who’s going to take the first step?”

- Relief worker

Abilities to exert influence and control information

“You go where governments or U.N. agencies want you to go to get your share of contracts that otherwise would go to other agencies”

- Relief worker

Control of resources

“They have all that equipment here, money, people. Why not build roads, improve streets, build infrastructure?

As it is, they’re spending all this money to be locked up behind walls”

- Relief worker

Control of resources

We had arranged to halt humanitarian aid to the town until the mayor accepted the return of ethnic minorities.

Our efforts were undermined when an NGO announced a major donation to the town.

With this NGO’s money they mayor was able to ignore pressure to accept minority returns.

It should not be a concern for humanitarian actors if a beneficiary community is supportive of the Taliban. The aid must be needs-based and regardless of gender, linguistic, religious, and political or any other consideration

Control of resources

Conclusions

TRANSITION

The Role of CMOC in Humanitarian Assistance

Introduce the concept of a Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC) for foreign humanitarian assistance.

Foreign humanitarian assistance operations are conducted to relieve or reduce the results of natural or man-made disasters or other endemic conditions such as human suffering, disease, or privation that might present a serious threat to life or that can result in great damage to or loss of property.

JP 3-07.6

According to the UN:

A complex emergency, is “a humanitarian crisis in a country, region, or society where there is a total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting from internal or external conflict and which requires an international response that goes beyond the mandate or capacity of any single agency and/or the ongoing UN country programme.”

CMOC

The purpose of a CMOC is to coordinate and facilitate the United States’ and any multinational force’s humanitarian operations with those of international and local relief agencies and with the affected country authorities.

Military forces are often the supporting organization rather than the lead agency

UN Inter-Agency Guidelines

A humanitarian operation using military assets must retain its civilian nature and character

The operation must remain under the overall authority of a humanitarian organization

The military asset should operate unarmed an be civilian in appearance

Large-scale involvement of military personnel in the direct delivery of humanitarian assistance should be avoided

CMOC activities include:

Liaison with host nation Government officials

Coordinate with allied forces Coordinate with NGO(s) Facilitate local contracts Resolve issues involving local

population, contractors, and government

Coordination is everything

Strengths Challenges – what is obvious to an American is

not necessarily obvious or important to another.

- sheer number of agencies that need to be coordinated. “It’s like herding turkeys”

Western models assume western-style rational choice. Choices are shaped by culture and environment

All units involved in Civil Military Ops fall under U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM); they are responsible for the military’s unconventional operations that include, among others, civil affairs and psychological operations

CMOCs are usually staffed by personnel from Civil Affairs (CA) units in the Army or the Civil Affairs Group (CAG) in the Marine Corps

Who staffs CMOCs?

Between ‘Military Official’ and Civilian ‘Crisis Management Expert’

The constitution of such mental structures is usually developed by specific professional institutions and training prior to field missions

due to their long(er)-term commitment to crisis management civilians may have a different approach

Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DART) OFDA team that validates request for military support Also advises and educates relief organizations about the

military

Humanitarian Assistance Survey Team (HAST) COCOM’s assessment of existing conditions after a disaster

and the need for military forces. Usually focus on the requirements for military support to the

relief effort and the ability of the affected country to handle the deployment of follow-on forces (e.g., airport or seaport capabilities)

DART and HAST