Emergent task planner 2011
Their quality control allowed us to effectively tackle the new implementation challenges, such as recruiting international crime advisers. Here, I also have to thank the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) directorate for its vital assistance in cooperating and coordinating with Brussels institutions and refocusing the activities of our mandate to meet the needs of Ukrainian partners. Thirty-eight applications for the 13 CRT positions have already been submitted. The additional experts will join via both a regular call for contribution and the Civilian Response Team (CRT) mechanism. The objective is to have more than thirty additional experts from the EU Member States joining the EUAM’s International Crimes Effort the soonest to support our Ukrainian partners in delivering justice to the many victims. To carry out its new tasks on international crimes, EUAM has already identified a dozen staff members with qualifications in investigating and prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity. Many mission members got new tasks or were reassigned across units. Of course, these new activities required adapting our personnel structure. A second amendment to the mandate provides a framework for EUAM’s provision of strategic advice, mentoring, training, and hands-on support to Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General, regional prosecutor’s offices and law enforcement agencies regarding the investigation and prosecution of international crimes. The abovementioned border support teams were established with a first mandate revision. The decisions by the Council were prompt despite the fluidity and challenges posed by the situation. I cannot emphasise enough our appreciation for how rapidly this took place.
Since the start of the war, the European Council has revised the Mission’s mandate twice. ‘PRAVO Police’, an EU-funded programme implemented by the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in close coordination with EUAM, was also repurposed to provide emergency support to law enforcement and the rule of law agencies. The Mission reallocated 1.6 million euros to procure emergency materials: protective and first-aid equipment and food rations. Soon after the invasion, EUAM Ukraine also shifted its project funds to an emergency support package to directly assist partners such as the National Police of Ukraine (NPU), the State Border Guards Service (SBGS) and the Security Service (SSU). The teams' work is also evolving to support the broader efforts to facilitate Ukraine’s agricultural export and bilateral trade with the EU, the so-called EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes. Their mission was to observe and advise facilitating refugee flows to neighbouring member states and ongoing humanitarian aid in coordination with the EU Delegation and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency ( Frontex).
“Since the start of the war, the European Council has revised the Mission mandate twice”Īs early as the beginning of March, we initiated a border support activity, deploying teams to Ukraine’s border crossing points with Poland, Slovakia, and Romania. Despite the situation, the Mission stayed operational, immediately refocusing its activities to support its Ukrainian counterparts. Once established in our new but temporary office in Moldova, our team went straight back to work. As for EUBAM, EUAM staff showed great caution, proactivity, and composure during the entire operation. Some supporting administrative staff remained in Tunis, but the Mission management is now back in Libya.
When the Second Libyan Civil Wa r (2014-2020) started, we relocated our mission from Tripoli to Tunis. As former Head of the EU Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) in Libya, I had already experienced a country evacuation. Eventually, we arrived in Moldova, where we decided to set up a temporary headquarters.Īs an EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) mission, I believe the ability to remain flexible and adapt to quickly changing environments runs deep in our DNA. At first, our convoy was heading northwest, but traffic jams and reports of Russian military action near the planned evacuation route forced us to turn to the southwest. Also, staff numbers elsewhere had been reduced in the weeks before the invasion as a precautionary measure. Thanks to contingency planning, the personnel in Mariupol and Kharkiv had already been evacuated. On 24 February, when missiles and artillery first struck Kyiv and many other Ukrainian cities, EUAM Ukraine had to evacuate its international staff and part of its local staff in convoys. The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has exposed vulnerabilities in our European security environment.