Dr Christer Pursiainen

Senior Adviser

CBSS Secretariat

christer.pursiainen@cbss.org

CBSS Presentation on Civil Security

Copenhagen 3 February 2010

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Aim of the presentation

• Discussing some conceptual issues related to ”civil security”

• Presenting the issues that the CBSS is working with within the civil security priority– law inforcement– social dimensions of civil security– civil protection and nuclear safety

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Civil Security ”trends”

• Since the 1970s the concept of security has been ”enlarged” or ”enwidened” to non-military (civil) threats

• The issues at stake:– What is a non-military/civil ”security” threat?– Who is the object of the threat?– Who should do what?

• The answers have varied greatly since the 1970s• Each period is profoundly affected by some dramatic

events

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Civil Security ”trends”

• 1970s: trends and themes– The main ”background” event/trend:

• the 1973 oil crisis• Third World poverty a major theme through the media

– non-military security threats (energy supply, global poverty) becoming a security theme

– academic/UN discourses on the ”non-stateness” of security

• the objects of the threat are not only states but the ”international society”, moving the focus from ”national security” to ”global security”

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Civil Security ”trends”

• 1980s: trends and themes– major ”background” events:

• Three Mile Island (Harrisburg) NPP accident 1979 and, finally, Chernobyl 1986

• Several major oil spills– environmental pollution, nuclear safety, becoming

permanent security issues– at the end of the decade, the ”human security”

discourse• not the state but a society or an individual is the

object of protection

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Civil Security ”trends”

• 1990s: trends and themes • major ”background” events:

– the end of the Cold War 1989-1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union 1991

• the ”human security” discourse reaching its apex

– defining the goal of security as ”a good life”

– the state is not the only provider of security, the role of non-state actors as security providers, empowering the people

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Civil Security ”trends”

• 1990s: trends and themes (cont.)• towards the end of decade: the ”new security”

threats, soft security vs. hard security discourses– environment, nuclear safety, communicable

diseases, illegal migration, cross-border crime, corruption main themes

– the discourse that international/transnational cooperation needed for ”cross-border threats”

• the ”securitisation” discourse as a counter/analytical reaction to the ”enlargement” of security

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Civil Security ”trends”

• 2000s: trends and themes• major ”background” events/trends:

– 9/11 2001, Madrid 2004 and London 2005 terrorist attacks

– Tsunami 2004– Hurricane Katrina 2005– IPCC reports: AR3 (2001) and AR4 (2007)– pandemics (bird flue etc.)

• terrorism, climate change, large-scale natural disasters, pandemics as major global threats, with ”terrorism as a priority” focus

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Civil Security ”trends”

• 2000s: trends and themes (cont.) • pollution, illegal migration, organised crime as

major regional or cross-border threats • the borderline between ”safety” and ”security”

becoming overlapping or more obscure, ”crisis management” becoming a central theme for ”safecurity”

• protecting ”vital societal functions” and ”critical infrastructures”

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Civil Security ”trends”

• 2010: trends and themes?• Major ”background” events/trends?

• The first ”background” event: Haiti 2010• Radiological terrorism?• Man-made, technological, natural disasters?• Pandemics? • IPCC AR5, climate change –related crises

• From ”terrorism as a priority” to ”all-hazard” approach?• From ”protection” to ”resilience”?• From international civil security cooperation towards

civil security (EU/regional) integration?

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Five CBSS priority areas

• Environment• Economic Development• Energy• Education and Culture• Civil Security & Human Dimension

– The work takes place in expert structures

– Duplication with other existing bodies is avoided, or if working in the same field, synergy is created

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CBSS Civil Security

• CBSS Expert Groups + more independent expert structures within the ”CBSS family”

– Law enforcement networks– ”Social dimension” networks of civil security– Civil protection and Nuclear Safety networks

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CBSS Civil Security

• Law enforcement:– Baltic Sea Region Border Control Cooperation

• Border guards, increasingly the customs and police, Frontex and DG Mare the closest EU partners

• Regular ’summits’, meetings, training, joint concrete operations• Main issues: illegal immigration, druck smuggling, trafficking in

stolen goods, trafficking in human beings, identifying forged documents etc.

– Baltic Sea States’ Prosecutors General Network• State Prosecutors’ annual meeting, Eurojust from the EU• Working group on environmental crimes• Main issues: joint investigation teams, cross-border cooperation in

legal affairs (information change, manuals etc.

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CBSS Civil Security

• Law enforcement (cont.):– Baltic Sea Task Force on Organised Crime

• Operatic Committee meetings and BSTF-OC Annual Meeting• Some projects but concrete operational cooperation is fading out as

Europol-Russia cooperation develops

– CBSS Senior Official Group on Tax (Crime) Cooperation• Meetings 1-3 per year• Cross-border tax fraud and tax avoidance (e.g. related to labour

hiring, trade etc.)

– CBSS Expert Group on Customs and Border Crossing Aspects

• Some civil security aspects (goods instead of people) but mainly economic cooperation in order to enhance border crossing

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CBSS Civil Security

• ”Social dimension” of civil security– CBSS Expert Group on Children at Risk

• main issues: child trafficking, child sexual abuse and exploitation, children as perpetrators etc.

• education, training, surveys

– CBSS Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings

• trafficking in adults• Large (often UN supported) projects on education of

consular staff, law enforcement authorities, support networks,

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CBSS Civil Security

• Civil protection and Nuclear Safety– Baltic Sea States’ Civil Protection Network

• Annual (Rescue) Directors General and senior expert meetings, some project cooperation

• Main issues: public safety, floods, storms, critical infrastructures, accidents, prevention etc.

– CBSS Expert Group on Nuclear and Radiation Safety• Regular meeting, exchange of monitoring data (every 10 minutes),

harmonisation, training, laboratory cooperation,• Competent euthorities from the CBSS and Observer States, DG

TREN from the EU• Main issues: all nuclear and radiation safety issues, including

NPPs, environmental radiation and radiological terrorism

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Thank you for your attention!

For more information, please contact: christer.pursiainen@cbss.org

or consult:www.cbss.org