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"Employment of the FPU in the Protection of Civilians in
Areas of Crisis" was the theme for the international workshop
organized and hosted by CoESPU, the 24-25 of February,
2011.
The initiative was a joint venture between CoESPU and the United
States Institute for Peace (USIP).
The workshop highlighted the best practices relative to the
protection of civilians and was captured in final extensive
document [open document].
Many experts (former UN Police Commissioners, former UN FPU
Coordinators, UN DPKO representatives and former MSU commanders)
participated in the event and their presentations and remarks were
collected in order to set forth an Inventory of Best
Practices/Lessons Learned from different peacekeeping missions on
this topic.
To summarize the content of the document, it is of paramount
importance to bear in mind that the "Operational Concept on the
Protection of Civilians in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations"
is organized around a three-tiered approach:
Tier 1 - Protection through an effective peace process
Related to all the activities undertaken by the mission that
contribute to the POC it was identified that preventing the
reoccurrence of violations in regards to civilians is paramount. In
this stage the FPUs focus their effort on working with the local
population to identify security threats and in identifying tasks
and to assign specific roles and responsibilities to overcome
targeted challenges.
Tier 2 - Protection from physical violence
This includes any of the mission's efforts to prevent/deter,
pre-empt, or respond to situations in which civilians are under
threat of physical violence.
In this framework the FPUs contribution should be to prevent
actions against the civilian population by assessing, monitoring
and providing early warning on possible violent and aggressive
intents of potential perpetrators of crimes and human rights
violations.
It was noted that the FPUs preemption activity, as well the
operational action in case of imminent threat to civilians, should
be closely synchronized with the military contingents.
In order to contribute to the success of the FPU in carrying out
their mission, the mandate and the operational policy should be
clear and unequivocal as much as possible.
The capability of FPUs should include an enhanced and effective
info-gathering activities with specific evidence collection and
exploitation plans, all contributing to an enabled and effective
operation through the ordinary operational planning activity.
Tier 3 - Establishing a protective environment
This tier focuses on promotion of legal protection, facilitation of
humanitarian assistance and advocacy and support to national
institutions.
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