CMAC will be held at the Q Theatre in Queanbeyan, New South Wales 28-29 May 2012. A strong line-up of keynote speakers are confirmed with over 150 attendees already registered.

Among those attending the conference are His Excellency, Ambassador Nasir Ahmed Andisha, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Andrew Hewett, Executive Director of Oxfam Australia and Tom Parks, Regional Director for Conflict and Governance, Asia Foundation.

Numbers are filling up fast, please register your interest now.

REGISTER HERE

CMAC is an open conference with no cost to attend.

Further details regarding the CMAC conference can be obtained by contacting Elizabeth Medley at elizabeth.medley@acmc.gov.au or +61 2 6160 2236.

In the latest of a series of interviews conducted at the Civil-Military Interaction Conference (CMIS) in Sydney in December 2011, the Australian Civil-Military Centre presents a short interview recorded with Dr. T. X. Hammes, a senior research fellow at the Center for Strategic Research, Institute for National Security Studies at the National Defence University in the United States.

Dr Hammes talks on the military’s use of private military and security companies. Drawing on his extensive experience in the field, he calls for greater scrutiny and better accountability of contractors employed to provide security and logistical operations in conflict zones.

Dr Hammes served for 30 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, including operations in Somalia and Iraq. He has a Doctorate of Philosophy in Modern History from Oxford University and has lectured widely at U.S. and International Staff and War Colleges.

The interview is available for viewing on the Centre’s YouTube channel here.

The Australian Civil-Military Centre is hosting its second annual Civil-Military Affairs Conference (CMAC) this year in Queanbeyan, New South Wales 28-29 May 2012, with a welcome reception and pre-registration at Crowne Plaza, Canberra, on the evening of Sunday 27 May 2012.

Register here

The theme of this year’s CMAC is Peace and Stabilisation Operations: Learning from the past to meet tomorrow’s challenges and will seek to highlight the key successes and challenges from stabilisation operations in Asia, the Pacific and Africa.

Drawing on these lessons learned, the conference will identify key considerations for effective stabilisation operations and examine practical and innovative solutions to improve these missions in practice.

The conference will also discuss the key factors for effective stabilisation operations, including the challenges of civil-military collaboration, highlight new initiatives and capability developments which are improving international community-approaches to stabilisation operations and advance practical, innovative solutions to improve stabilisation operations in practice.

CMAC 2012 draft program

CMAC is an open conference with no cost to attend.

The 8th International Lessons Learned Conference will be held from 3-6 December 2012 in Sydney, Australia.

To be co-hosted by the Australian Civil-Military Centre and the Australian Defence Force’s Headquarters Joint Operations, the conference will bring together the international lessons learned community to share and discuss evaluation methodologies and lessons identified through real-time analysis of recent and ongoing missions in countries such as Afghanistan, Haiti, East Timor, Solomon Islands and Japan.

The overall theme for the conference is ‘Transitions’. A call for papers will be across four areas:

• humanitarian assistance in complex emergencies;
• stabilisation and reconstruction;
• peace keeping, peace making (conflict prevention) and peace building; and
• counter-insurgency.

Submissions will be peer reviewed by Australian lessons learned practitioners and will be selected on merit. Further details will be announced when papers are called.

The call for papers will be made in late April 2012. Please check the International Lessons Learned website for more details.

The Australian Civil-Military Centre in cooperation with the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law recently hosted its fifth Civil-Military Interaction Workshop (CMIW) at the Australian Emergency Management Institute, Mt Macedon, Victoria from 4-9 March 2012.

The workshop provides an opportunity for civilian and military personnel to develop a high level of understanding about the conduct of civil-military operations and how they can maximize the benefits of their interactions in humanitarian and disaster relief operations.

Participants listen to presenter at CMIW 2012

The course attracted participants from a range of Australian government and non-government organisations as well as from overseas countries including China, the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific Islands, USA and South-East Asia.

Keynote speakers included Rick Towle, Regional Representative for UNHCR who provided the UNHCR view on civil military operations and Willem van Dullerman, Special Assistant of the Chief of Staff, UN DPKO Office of Military Affairs, who provided the UN Integrated Training Service perspective on supporting civil-military interaction.

Other topics covered included the role of the UN, understanding cultural differences, the protection of civilians, civil-military cooperation, gender and the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross and a range of case studies including lessons learned from East Timor and Afghanistan.

One of the key aims of the workshop is to develop an understanding of how different organisations work and their capabilities. This was exercised in a practical scenario where participants utilised learnings from the workshop to plan a response to a fictitious humanitarian crisis.

Overall, the workshop showcased a range of perspectives that participants might find in the field in humanitarian, stabilisation and peacekeeping operations.

The next CMIW is scheduled for early 2013.

For further information, please contact Rob Hathaway rob.hathaway@acmc,gov.au or Steven Pringle steven.pringle@acmc.gov.au

University of Wollongong Conference 15-16 December, 2011.

'Inmates begin hunger strikes protesting against increasingly punitive measures in foreign military prisons'.

In international military operations, what rights and responsibilities affect a country’s defence and police forces when they take detainees? If there are no fixed international standards, then what practices might be acceptable? In light of recent international armed conflicts, the application of fixed international standards has been plaguing the minds of IHL practitioners in reference to: extra-ordinary rendition, rendition, arbitrary arrest, freedom from torture and ill-treatment (commonly referred to as cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment), detention and transfer of detainees, and the right to a fair trial. The Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention based at the University of Wollongong, was funded by the Centre in 2010 to investigate the topic ‘Best Practice Interoperable Guidelines for Military and Police for Apprehension Detention and Transfer of Non-State Actors engaged in hostilities,’ the project is led by Professor’s Greg Rose, Stuart Kaye and Bruce Oswald

Over the course of the past 18 months the researchers have been investigating national detention practices including legal authorities, procedures, standards and transfers, examining case studies from the United States of America, Afghanistan, Australia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Canada, Iraq, India, Israel, Sri Lanka and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The project aims to address the need to clarify international standards and to explore new approaches to formulate procedures on the powers of both military and police personnel to apprehend and detain persons engaged in violence during international military operations as well as the process of transitioning detention responsibility to either the indigenous or international authorities.

The two day conference and workshop held 15-16 December 2011 ‘Detention of Non-State Actors Engaged in Hostilities: The Future Law’ explored the emerging law concerning detention of non-state actors engaged in hostilities, focusing on the legal aspects of the powers to detain, processes of transferring the detainee to either another armed force of the local law enforcement authorities, and the legal regimes applicable to this category of non-international armed conflict. The first day of the event approached the issues from a conceptual perspective by addressing the identification of legal dilemmas, issues of legal interpretation and analysis of threshold questions, using in the form of an open conference to canvass these theoretical issues within the field. The workshop held the following day adopted a practical approach and discussed national procedures and explored practical issues concerning the development of consensus to underpin new international standards. The workshop included participants from Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Israel, NATO, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, USA, the United Nations, and the ICRC.

The research has shown that differences between the kinds of international military operations would necessitate different approaches e.g. in non-international armed conflict (NIAC), counterinsurgency, humanitarian interventions, international peacekeeping and regional assistance operations. In some cases, where local sovereign laws are not functional, an international approach to harmonized detention procedures for visiting armed forces could be helpful in providing guidance, so long as it remains flexible enough to allow adaption to operational and legal circumstances. Despite the presence of common articles principles and sentiments in non-international armed conflict and international armed conflict under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, several gaps have arisen between the two categories. Some gaps identified in the December conference were:

• Thresholds for defining armed groups and direct participation
• Legal tools to reconcile conflicts between international human rights and humanitarian laws
• Standards for treatment for spies and saboteurs under the Geneva Conventions
• Prescriptions for detainee rights to information
• Procedures for detaining in foreign waters
• Procedures for and responsibilities in handing over custody to a foreign power

Conference proceedings will be made available to the Copenhagen Process which is for its use in preparing a draft common legal platform. Published research outputs flowing from the conference and workshop will include: a volume of edited papers from the proceedings; a monograph setting out the analysis by the research team concerning legal challenges and opportunities regarding detention in international military operations; and a set of recommendations for consideration in detention management.

For further information on this research study please contact Olivia Cribb at olivia.cribb@acmc.gov.au.

The Australian Civil-Military Centre is a consistent supporter of efforts to ensure better protection of civilians in peacekeeping operations by developing supporting documents and practical tools for training peacekeepers. Examples include the recent documentary Mandated to Protect, a factsheet on POC and the discussion paper by Alison Giffen, Enhancing the Protection of Civilians in Peace Operations: From Policy to Practice for the Centre’s 2011 Civil-Military Affairs Conference (CMAC).

Australia is also leading the charge in promoting POC on the world stage, recently co-hosting with Uruguay a workshop on POC and UN peacekeeping operations in New York on Thursday, 9 February 2012. The workshop, officially opened by His Excellency Mr Gary Quinlan, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations and His Excellency Mr José Luis Cancela, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Uruguay to the United Nations, was the fourth of a series.

Attendees heard from experts from the field representing the political, military and police components.  The second session heard from experts concerning the role of non-mission actors relating to POC. Australia has previously co-hosted three POC workshops with Uruguay in New York, to provide an ongoing forum for the peacekeeping community – particularly troop and police contributing countries – to share their experiences and lessons learned on POC and examine efforts to improve the implementation of POC mandates .

A summary of the workshop proceedings will be issued shortly.

Representatives from the Australian Civil-Military Centre recently attended the 11^th Joint AU-ICRC seminar on ‘the protection of civilians in armed conflicts and other situations of violence in Africa’, held at African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 14^th November 2011.

Attended by an array of senior representatives from the African Union, United Nations, government and non-government organisations, the seminar drew on the considerable experience of the keynote speakers and participants to consider the principal challenges and threats against the most vulnerable in any conflict or crisis – the civilian population.

Australia, as one of only three non-African Union nations represented at the seminar, found itself in a somewhat privileged position, with the Centre’s outgoing Executive Director, Major General (retd) Michael G. Smith invited to address the forum as a keynote speaker.

Australia’s Ambassador to the African Union, Her Excellency, Ms Lisa Filipetto and AFP secondee to the Centre, Superintendent Darren Rath also took an active role in the forum, with considerable interest in the work the Centre has undertaken internationally and a desire to share the Australian experience.

Discussions focused on preventative measures and the need to identify, develop and implement mitigation strategies before a situation descends into crisis. These discussions also emphasised the importance of preventative diplomacy, early warning systems and indicators, pre-emptive deployment, capacity building, support and mentoring and education.

The seminar also examined the legal frameworks, support and remedies available during conflict and other situations where violence is directed against civilians. The distinctions between the concepts of Protection of Civilians (POC) and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) were also carefully drawn and attracted much commentary and discussion.

The seminar also received a timely reminder of the importance of the topics being discussed when a number of key participants were called away to an emergency AU meeting of Defence Ministers and Chiefs of Defence Force, who gathered to develop a response to a developing crisis in the already conflicted and fragile Somali Republic.

The measure of trust in which Australia is held by the African Union also became increasingly apparent as the seminar progressed. In particular, the collaboration between the Centre and the African Union to produce the ‘Draft Guidelines for the Protection of Civilians by Peace Support Missions’  was commended by a number of the panellists and held out as an example of what can be achieved if there is the ‘will’.

To date, MAPSOP activities has been based on the theoretical, with participants in workshops and round tables responding to and planning for a stabilisation mission based on a fictional scenario created by the MAPSOP team.

Exercise VARO is designed to test the integrated, whole-of-government strategy developed by participants in previous MAPSOP activities.  It also intends to expose participants to a multiagency conflict management environment and validate the measures of effectiveness developed alongside the multiagency strategy.

The exercise will be facilitated by the MAPSOP team, with expert guidance and assistance from Mr Tony Hulton, a highly respected international practitioner who has recent experience in developing and executing real-time strategic plans for peace and stabilisation operations for the UK Government and associated agencies.

The exercise will provide participants with the opportunity to examine the inherent complexities of implementing a coherent, multiagency approach to peace and stabilisation operations in a real time situation.

Participants will also validate the concept of a strategic whole-of-government plan and gain a better understanding of processes and mechanisms that could enhance comprehensive and integrated multiagency planning and implementation for peace and stabilisation efforts.

It is expected participating departments and agencies will also benefit from a greater appreciation of the importance of coordination and communication between the strategic and operational levels in conflict management, and discussion of mechanisms to help bridge the strategic/operational divide.

For more information about Exercise VARO and the MAPSOP project, please contact Ms Gwen Cherne, MAPSOP Development and Research Manager at gwen.cherne@acmc.gov.au.