Page 3 - Coespu Magazine 2018-2

The last three months of 2018 have been a time of relevant change,
with the UN strategic vision sharply focused on the real chance of
sustaining peace worldwide, as opposed to fundamental global security
challenges: the radicalisation, the fight against international terrorism
and the trafficking of human beings in the so called “enlarged
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Mediterranean region”. In light of these challenges, from 24 to 25
April the United Nations called a two-day, high-level meeting on peace
building and sustaining peace to assess the efforts so far undertaken
and the future opportunities to strengthen the UN’s work. The
prevention was at the top of the operating strategies, taking into
account the human and economic costs of managing conflicts, which
have reached levels that are overwhelming the international system: the number of wars has more
than tripled since 2010, and the global humanitarian appeal in 2017 was a record $ 23.5 billion.
During the meeting it was recognized the need of a renewed approach, aiming at significantly
bolstering the international effort to prevent the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of
conflicts.
Ahead of this time and since its inception, CoESPU has always worked in close cooperation with
the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations in order to better assist UN efforts to support
global peace and stabilization, in accordance with an Aide-Mémoire and a formal Memorandum of
Understanding, respectively signed in March 2007 and June 2010. The efficiency and effectiveness
of this consolidate cooperation are periodically verified through the bilateral signature of Action
Points, aiming to boost and improve, when necessary, the original agreements.
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On July 20 at the UN Headquarters in New York, I signed, together with Major General Luis
Carrilho, UN Police Advisor, at the presence of Mr. Alexander Zuev, UN Assistant Secretary-
General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions, the 2018 Actions Points to further strengthen
mutual engagement and renew the UN DPKO-CoESPU partnership, helping to promote a more
peaceful world by supporting the current UN strategic vision and global efforts, sharply focused on
the real chance of sustaining peace worldwide.
Concerning peace operations, it was highlight the benefits of a strong cooperation and coordination
between military and civilian actors, including the police, by addressing crucial aspects, such as
peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, stabilization, counterinsurgency, reconstruction and
development aid.
Against this background, in this second issue of our periodical we have tried to deep the principle
aspects and challenges for civil-military cooperation within the framework of a comprehensive
approach to complex peace operations, thanks to the high professional articles delivered by external
specialists, lecturers and contributors, and aiming to better understand UN-CIMIC guidelines and
field actions into the UN mission’s overall vision and strategy, in support of every peace process.
Hoping that our efforts will match your expectations, I welcome you to discover all the news
mentioned inside this CoESPU Magazine issue.
Wishing you a happy reading, I invite you all to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and also
on our institutional website www.coespu.org.

Giovanni Pietro Barbano
Brigadier General

CoESPU Director