New York, 14 December 2021. The two NATO Centers of Excellence for Assistance to Security Forces (SFA COE) and for Stability Police (SP COE) were presented today during a meeting hosted at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN in New York, with the participation of the Directors of the two Centres, Col. Massimo Di Pietro and Col. Giuseppe De Magistris, and representatives of the Department for Nations Peacekeeping Operations United (DPO) and the Defense Attachés and Military Advisors of the Permanent Missions of Italy (represented by Gen. D. Fabrizio Parrulli), Austria, Finland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The meeting – opened by the Italian Deputy Permanent Representative, Amb. Stefano Stefanile, and by the Head of the NATO Liaison Office at the UN, Amb. Michal Miarka – outlined the main activities of the two Centers in the training sector and light was shed on the potential for collaboration between each center and the relevant United Nations entities.
The Center for Assistance to Security Forces, based in Cesano di Roma, is a crucial NATO hub for coordination activities and operational support for the Alliance’s efforts for stabilization and reconstruction in crisis scenarios. Inaugurated in 2019, it has Italy, Albania and Slovenia as its sponsor states and operates under the coordination of the Italian Army. In order to broaden its scope of action and guarantee the greatest possible inclusiveness, the Center also collaborates with universities and civil society organizations, conducting training activities for instructors and technical personnel from other nations employed in peace operations.
The Center for Stability Police is a multinational military body led by the Carabinieri with 8 countries participanting (Czech Republic, France, Greece, Poland, Romania, Spain, the Netherlands and Türkiye), besides Italy. The Stability Police is one of the key functions of the Atlantic Alliance’s operations, aimed at strengthening or replacing the security forces of the host country that are not able to carry out tasks of maintaining public order and safety, ensuring compliance with the law and the correct operation of local institutions.
The meeting included a discussion session with the delegation of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPO), led by Col. Stephanie Tutton, head of the NATO Liaison Office at the UN, and the military expert at the EU Delegation to the UN, Col. Antonio Coppola.
Italy’s prominence within the two Centers of Excellence is in line with our country’s important contribution to peacekeeping and security activities, which at UN level corresponds to Italy’s ranking first as contributor of peacekeepers among Western countries, seventh as contributor to the peacekeeping budget and to its role as proactive partner in the training activities of UN personnel employed in peacekeeping missions.
