15/07/2015 - This contribution is based on the current international scene, also with regard to the theaters in which our Armed Forces are involved in various capacities, and the legislative proposals that, in recent months, have received an echo media, attracting the interest of the writer both as a jurist attentive to military issues, and as a "politician" and who, albeit in opposite directions, highlight the centrality and ever-increasing importance that civil cooperation must (or should) assume - military and offer the starting point for some reflections, considerations and proposals.

I refer, in particular:

  1. at legge of popular initiative concerning the "Establishment and financing methods of the Department of Non-armed and nonviolent Civil Defense", promoted by movements, groups and various associations, members of the "Another defense is possible" campaign;
  2. to the proposal launched by the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Dario Franceschini who, in an interview with 'The Guardian', last March, asked to create a UN peacekeeping force to protect the world heritage sites risk from ISIS.

As for the first, it is a bill that, filed with the Supreme Court of Cassation in July last year, has seen the 50.000 signatures reached just in recent days, with the relative delivery of all the file in the Chamber of Deputies.

Before entering into the merits of the aforementioned proposal, it is curious to note, on the one hand, that the above-mentioned signature collection began, as mentioned, just over a year ago, on the occasion of the first "Republic Day that repudiates the war", celebrated just the 2 June; on the other, his (of the proposed law) "political cover" that, since then, would have as main reference, on behalf of the Institutions, the current President of the Chamber, the Hon. Laura Boldrini.

In addition to the aforementioned, scrolling through the pages of the reference website (http://www.difesacivilenonviolenta.org/grazie-alle-firme-da-tutta-italia-unaltra-difesa-e-oggi-piu-vicina-e-possibile /), it seems that, to join the initiative, they were also "dozens of Mayors of large and small cities (Rome, Milan, Naples, Genoa, Reggio Emilia, Pavia, Modena, Messina, Vicenza, Livorno, Cagliari ...) and of many Municipal Councils, such as the Legislative Assembly of Emilia Romagna".

Entering the merits, however, the bill in question consists of only four articles: the most interesting for the purpose of this contribution is the article 1 that explains the nature and purpose of this new tool that should be even alternative (mind you) : not complementary) to armed defense.

In the 1 paragraph, in fact, it is stated that " In compliance with the constitutional principle of the repudiation of the war, referred to in Article 11 of the Constitution of the Italian Republic, and in order to favor the fulfillment of the mandatory duties of political, economic and social solidarity, referred to in Article 2 of the Constitution, and the fulfillment of the duty of defense of the homeland referred to in Article 52 of the Constitution, is recognized at the institutional level a form of defense alternative to the military called "civil defense, not armed and nonviolent", as an instrument of defense that does not involve the use of weapons and alternative to the military one".

Subsequently, in the paragraph 2, it is specified that "For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, the "Department of civil defense, unarmed and non-violent", on which they depend: 1) is established at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Civil Corps of Peace, whose experimentation is included in the Law 27 December 2013, n. 147 which provides for the establishment of a contingent to engage in non-governmental peace actions in areas of conflict or at risk of conflict or in areas of environmental emergency; 2) the Research Institute on Peace and Disarmament, to be set up with the appropriate subsequent Law", While, in the subsequent paragraph, which "For the purposes referred to in Article 1 Paragraph 1 of this law, the" Department of non-armed and non-violent civil defense "must provide for forms of interaction and cooperation with:

  1. the Civil Protection Department as the reference body of the National Civil Protection Service governed by the 12 Law July 2012, n. 100 and subsequent modifications and additions
  2. the Department of firefighters, public assistance and civil defense incardinated at the Ministry of the Interior;
  3. the Department of Youth and National Civil Service regulated by the DPCM 21 June 2012, in particular with the establishment of a "National Council of civil defense, unarmed and nonviolent" among the aforementioned Departments with joint tasks of address and comparison to be regulated with subsequent Regulations issued by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in concert with the Ministry of the Interior ".

Finally, the paragraph 4, are finally specified the tasks of this new and futuristic defense tool that, according to the proponents, should consist of " 1) defend the Constitution, affirming the civil and social rights enunciated in it, the Republic and the independence and freedom of the democratic institutions of the country; 2) prepare plans for non-armed civil defense and nonviolent, coordinate their implementation, and take care of research and experimentation, as well as forms of implementation of non-armed civil defense, including the necessary training and education of the population; 3) to carry out research activities for peace, the disarmament, for the gradual differentiation of production and the conversion to civilian industries of the defense sector and the just and lasting resolution of conflicts, and prepare studies for the gradual replacement of armed defense with civil nonviolent, provide for the training of personnel belonging to its structures; 4) to promote the prevention of armed conflicts, reconciliation, mediation, the promotion of human rights, international solidarity, education for peace in the world, inter-religious dialogue and in particular in areas at risk of conflict, in conflict or post-conflict; 5) to organize and direct the structures of the non-armed civil defense and non-violent and plan and coordinate the use of the means and personnel assigned to it; 6) to combat situations of social, cultural and environmental degradation and to defend the integrity of life, property, settlements and the environment from damage caused by natural disasters".

The notations to be advanced would be different, but, due to the need for space and contingency of topics, I limit myself to highlighting what is specified in art. 4, co. 4, n. 3, where it is mentioned gradual replacement of armed defense with nonviolent civil defense. It is now established that, even in the face of the laws 230 / 1998 and 64 / 2001, for "duty of defense" (Article 52 Cost.) We must relate to more forms of fulfillment: both in military and armed sense, both in a disarmed and non-military sense (therefore "civil"). But it is equally evident that the ordinary definition of "national defense" remains governed in l. 14 November 2000, n. 331, which attributes to the Armed Forces the "priority task of the defense of the State", and the task of operating "in order to achieve peace and security, in accordance with the rules of international law and the determinations of international organizations of which the Italy is part ". Furthermore, they must contribute "to the safeguarding of free institutions" as well as perform "specific tasks in circumstances of public calamity and in other cases of extraordinary necessity and urgency" which they fulfill with the forces that may be available, ie if they are not involved in the performance of the priority task. indicated by law. Consequently, as affirmed by a nearly unanimous doctrine in the matter, for national defense it is now necessary to understand the complex of military and civil arrangements, measures and actions that allow the nation to prevent and deal with crisis and emergency situations, both internal and international. as well as armed conflict.

Among other things, if it is true, as claimed by the proponents of this bill, that the art. 11 of our Constitution provides for the repudiation of war as an instrument of offense, does not exclude it, but as an instrument of defense, as also foreseen by the Charter of the United Nations (of which Italy is part) which in turn, while forbidding principle the use of force (Article 2), specifies that none of its provisions affect the natural right of individual and collective self-defense, and expressly provides for the possibility of using armed force to react to aggression (Article 51), or in case it is necessary to defend peace (Title VII).

It is therefore evident the current and necessary dichotomy between civil defense and military defense, but the promoters of the law seem to ignore that:

    1. already with the DPCM of 18 February 2004 a non-armed and non-violent civil defense consultancy committee (DCNAN) was set up at the Prime Minister's Office;
    2. that this Committee has highlighted what has been reiterated so far by the writer, that is the necessary complementarity - and not already alternate - of civil defense and military defense, also in the perspective of the Treaties and the international bodies of which Italy is part;
    3. that, precisely in order to harmonize military defense interventions within the framework of the rules dictated by the Atlantic alliance, with explicit reference to the tasks - for the residual truth - that the 1992 law also attributes to the Armed Forces in terms of civil protection (which in this case it must certainly be considered "civil defense"), there is a "military center for civil defense" at the Defense Staff which annually organizes civil-military cooperation courses.
    4. that, on the role of the military and civilians in conflict areas, especially with regard to the conflict prevention phase, but also to the different forms of peacekeeping and peacebuilding In operational terms, these can not be traced back to the operational scope of the current SCN system. To put it in other terms, it is not considered possible to entrust the role of non-military peacekeepers entirely to civil service operators (even if specially trained), just as it is undeniable that some projects and some subjects involved in the civil service system still constitute today. privileged references for the conduct of peace operations, reconciliation, prevention, management and transformation of conflicts.

Well, of all this, the proponents of the above mentioned law, and their political referents, do not seem to take into account: on the other hand, in the legislative text there is no mention of any interaction or synergy with the Ministry of Defense or, however, with military authorities.

Furthermore, such a proposal does not even take into account the current international scenarios (the crisis in Ukraine, the different situations in the Middle East and the North African region, as well as the unsettled instability in the SAHEL region, to name a few ).

In this regard, in a recent speech, carried out in Rome, during a workshop on "Civilian-Military Integration in the planning, Admiral Luigi Binelli Mantelli, at the time Chief of Defense General Staff, underlined the importance of an increasingly growing "comprehensive approach", That is, a holistic and coordinated approach not only between the EU countries but, within them, between the civil and military components, especially in political-strategic structures in Brussels, to face, resolve or at least mitigate the increasingly dynamic and complex crises that characterize the European and world scenario (in this sense, they testify to the importance of effective civil-military integration, for example, European operations in the Horn of Africa, such as EUNAVFOR Atalanta, EUTM Somalia , EUCAP NESTOR).

Against this, we reiterate the total inappropriateness and inconsistency with the reality of the bill, which, among other things, has already been brought to the attention of our Parliament and which, as mentioned, seems to have exceptional political support.

With this in mind, it appears to offer the right summary as affirmed already a few years ago by Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Competition, which is the thing we must strive for today,".

In a diametrically opposed way, instead, it seems to go the proposal of Minister Franceschini (who has already had the "applause" of the Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, and already under consideration of the VII Senate Commission), mentioned above and object here brief considerations that are inspired by the sad consideration that armed conflicts have constituted and are one of the main causes of damage and destruction of cultural and world heritage, not only for reasons of need to achieve a military objective but also because, in the subject's strategy aggressor, the attack on cultural heritage is equivalent to the attempt to annul the identity and historical memory of the enemy (from the very ancient "Carthago delenda est"To today's smolders of Isis). Well, following the Geneva Conventions of the 1949 and the Hague of the 1954 (and the II Protocol of the 1999), attacks on cultural heritage are now seriously violating international humanitarian law and, in the context of conflict, they can be considered national crimes, war crimes or even crimes against humanity: these considerations not separated from the reflection that Italy holds half of all the cultural heritage of the world and the highest number of assets considered "heritage of the world" 'humanity', in addition to the fact that, with its Armed Forces, is one of the first UN contributors for participation in peace support missions, have precisely led the Defense General Staff to draw up a directive that delineasse in general the salient elements of the norms, conventions and protocols intervening in the matter in order to spread within the Armed Forces the preventive and ionatory in force. This formation is certainly propaedeutic to what our military, in turn, must provide abroad, in the missions in which they are engaged, and who see, among their tasks, also those of training and mentoring: Therefore, precisely with regard to Cultural Heritage, the need for an ever greater and intense civil-military cooperation appears even more evident, also for the particular subject matter dealt with and the specific professional skills required.

In view of Minister Franceschini's proposal, given the considerations made so far, it is believed that our Armed Forces may well be the point of reference, even within the UN, in the theoretical and practical preparation of future - and desirable - helmets blue teams specialized in the defense of Cultural Heritage, in a natural context of civil-military cooperation especially, in this case, with professionals and civil entities belonging to the world of art and culture.

Marco Valerio Verni

[The author, lawyer of the Court of Rome, is an expert in criminal law, military criminal law and international humanitarian law. Officer on leave (Role Commissioners) of the Italian Red Cross Military Corps is a qualified advisor to the Armed Forces for the application of the DIU in armed conflicts and a member of the International Relations Sector of the Order of Lawyers of Rome.]