PrintWorking Group on Civil-Military Relations in Nonpermissive Environments
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Facilitated by the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Guidelines seek to mitigate frictions between military and NGO personnel over the preservation of humanitarian space in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Principles in the Guidelines include ensuring that military personnel wear uniforms when conducting relief activities to avoid being mistaken for nongovernmental humanitarian organization representatives. Conversely, it recommends that, to the extent practical, humanitarian relief personnel avoid traveling in U.S. Armed Forces vehicles, with the exception of liaison personnel.
Program Specialists
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Senior Program Officer, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations
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Senior Program Officer, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations
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In March 2005, USIP hosted the launch of the Working Group on Civilian-Military Relations in Non-Permissive Environments. It has served as a venue for discussion on the challenges posed by operations where combat and reconstruction and relief are occurring simultaneously. Facilitated by USIP, the Working Group brings together representatives from the U.S. military, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, and major U.S. humanitarian assistance organizations. The non-governmental delegation is led by InterAction, the umbrella agency for U.S. humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In July 2007, the Working Group released an unprecedented set of recommended guidelines entitled “Guidelines for Relations Between U.S. Armed Forces and Non-Governmental Humanitarian Organizations.” The Guidelines have been disseminated throughout the world.
After the promulgation of the Guidelines, the Working Group has been focusing on:
Guidelines Education: Working Group sessions with the regional Combatant Commands (CoComs) in 2008 and 2009 have provided the CoComs with a deeper understanding of the Guidelines, the need to assess their effectiveness in the field, and benefits of the Guidelines for training and education for those deploying to current theaters of operation. A Tabletop exercise, prepared with input from members of the Working Group, will be published in 2009 for use in education and training by any government, international or non-governmental organization.
US Military Doctrine: Beginning with the vetting of the Army's new Stability Operations doctrine (FM 3-07) and ongoing work to review Joint Publications such as "Interorganizational Coordination During Joint Operations," (JP 3-08), the Working Group has provided a critical venue to help doctrine reflect the realities of current operations and the roles of specific actors in these operations.
USG Policy and Initiatives: The development of a civl-military relations policy between US AID and the Department of Defense, the establishment of AFRICOM, funding of stabilization and reconstruction activities under the 1206/1207 initiatives, and the new Quadriennial Defense Review are examples of policy and implementation initiatives that have been briefed formally and discussed under the neutral space provided for the Working Group.