Civilian Secondments
Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) supports promoting effective Rule of Law, Governance, Stabilisation, Confidence Building and Normalisation in post conflict and fragile states.
Currently the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) through the Stabilisation Unit and on behalf of HMG supports the secondment of UK civilian experts to:
The EU Police Mission in Afghanistan (EUPol Afghanistan)
The EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM Georgia)
The EU Integrated Rule of Law Mission for Iraq, (EUJUST LEX Iraq)
The EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX Kosovo)
The EU Police Co-ordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support (EUPol COPPS)
The EU Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUPM Bosnia)
The International Civilian Office Kosovo (ICO Kosovo)
The EU Special Representative in Kosovo (EUSR Kosovo)
The Council of the European Union
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
What do secondees do?
Civilian roles fall into the following categories:
- border monitoring
- running field offices and missions
- human rights
- rule of law
- media
- programme management
- police mentoring/advising
- police training
- political affairs
- good governance
- promoting democracy
Recruitment and Selection
Each multilateral mission advertises their vacancies to Member States. Member States, through their international authority (which for the UK is the FCO), decide which roles they wish to support based on their strategic priorities for that mission. Deployments Team in the Stabilisation Unit (SU) are responsible for advertising and recruiting for those roles.
Adverts are published to the Civilian Stabilisation Group and on the Foreign and Commonwealth website (see Non-UK based positions). Only UK nationals are eligible to apply for these roles. Interested applicants are requested to complete an application form (which is attached to the advert) and submit their CV. Deployments Team will review applications and decide which candidate to nominate to the respective multilateral organisation. That multilateral institution will interview and decide which Member State’s candidate is suitable for the vacancy.
Pre-deployment Training
Successful candidates are required to undertake pre-deployment training prior to deployment which is administered by a Deputy Deployment Manager (DDM) who is responsible for the mission to which they are being deployed. The DDM will arrange with individuals to undertake a medical assessment, a hostile environment training course and receive a briefing which is facilitated by the SU.
For secondees deploying to missions that require kit and equipment, the SU holds a stock of kit and equipment which will be provided to secondees prior to deployment.
Tour Length
Secondments are on a fixed term 1 year contract with the FCO. An extension may be requested but must come from the respective mission authority.
OSCE
Positions in the OSCE vary from the standard secondment process. OSCE vacancies are advertised on the OSCE website. The FCO does not pay a salary for these roles. Instead the OSCE pays a Board and Lodging Allowance (BLA) to successful candidates. Specific roles the FCO are looking to recruit a UK candidate for are advertised on the FCO website. The FCO, through their International Organisations Department, invite interested individuals to complete the OSCE application form (also found on the employment page of the OSCE website) and for BLA applications submit it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and FCO seconded position to the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
