THE ROLE PLAYED BY THE ARMED FORCES FOR PROTECTION OF THE CIVILIAN POPULATION AS PART OF HUMANITARIAN CRISES MANAGEMENT. THE ROMANIAN APPROACH

Abstract

Th e actions of the military structures to protect the civilian population have evolved from air defence operations to complex missions of “human security”, based on prevention and intervention in any civil emergency situation facing a community. Our prospective undertakings have highlighted the necessity to integrate traditional civil defence actions with modern actions taken to manage emergencies against all kinds of hazards. Th e profound transformations of contemporary society and of the military body, in the context of the new risks and threats to the international security environment, required the remodelling of the role of the military instrument. Th e consequences of the combined military and non-military risks and threats can seriously aff ect the capacity to respond to evolutionary forms of their manifestation by diminishing the human, technical, material and fi nancial resources, the sudden decrease of the standard of living and the citizens’ trust in the state institutions with a decisional role in the fi eld of national security. Th us, in order to accomplish the specifi c missions of these circumstances, the main question is: under what conditions can the armed forces cooperate with the civil protection structures, as well as with the other elements of national public security and safety system, focused on fi ghting against risk and threats specifi c to emergency situations? In this respect, this paper intends to present a number of particular aspects regarding the role and relevance of military intervention in humanitarian crisis management for the protection of the civilian population along with other specialist structures.

Keywords

• Armed Forces
• population protection
• military intervention
• humanitarian
• crises management
• civil-military integration