On 15 November, SIPRI held a launch event for the new SIPRI Research Policy Paper ‘Delivering the Compact: Towards a More Capable and Gender-balanced EU Civilian CSDP’.
During the event, Timo Smit, Senior Researcher in SIPRI’s Peace Operations and Conflict Management Programme and author of the report, presented new research into the progress made by European Union (EU) member states on two critical aspects of the 2018 Civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) Compact: their commitments to contribute more personnel to civilian CSDP missions and to promote better representation of women at all levels. Smit also presented policy recommendations on ways to strengthen the commitments on national contributions and women’s representation in the new Civilian CSDP Compact, which EU member states intend to adopt by mid 2023 when the current compact expires.
The report was launched on the eve of the fourth Annual Review Conference on implementation of the Civilian CSDP Compact.
An expert panel discussion on the research findings followed the presentation and took stock of the implementation of the compact commitments. The discussion also focused on the opportunities presented by the new compact. The panellists used future needs and previous experience to explore how the commitments on increasing secondments and women’s representations in missions can be strengthened in the new compact, which will remain critical to the effectiveness and credibility of civilian CSDP. The expert panel was composed of representatives from the European External Action Service and the European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management.
The event was held in collaboration with the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU, which hosted the event, and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Read the full SIPRI Research Policy Paper here. As part of the research on civilian crisis management, SIPRI released a video series highlighting the complexity of challenges affecting civilian crisis management today and the efforts to strengthen the civilian CSDP beyond 2023. Watch the video series on SIPRI's YouTube channel.