CoESPU Magazine nr. 2-2018

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 Mediterranean region”. In light of these challenges, from 24thto 25thApril 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.
On July 20th 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.