Published on 1 February 2026

Swiss Expert Pool for Civilian Peacebuilding

Every year, Switzerland deploys around 200 civilian experts to different international organisations working to promote peace and human rights. The experts may be based at head office or directly in the field with peacebuilding missions in crisis-hit areas. The Swiss Expert Pool for Civilian Peacebuilding (SEF) was created in 2000 and is an effective instrument in Switzerland's peace and human rights policy.

Swiss experts were deployed to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine from 2014 to 2022. — © OSCE / Evegniy Maloletka

Rebuilding well-functioning structures based on the rule of law after a conflict lies at the heart of efforts to restore people's security and their trust in state authorities. With their specific know-how, civilian experts support this development of the rule of law as well as compliance with human rights and international law. They carry out dialogue mediation and advise election commissions or take part in election observation missions themselves. They also support the local judicial and police authorities.

On average, some 100 experts are deployed at any given time. The SEP's most important partner organisations are the UN, OSCE and EU. One example is Switzerland's participation in the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine from 2014 to 2022; another is its current work to bolster the EU border protection agency Frontex with regard to respect for the fundamental rights of migrants. Swiss police officers have been seconded to the UN in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan as well as experts deployed as election observers for the OSCE, Organisation of American States (OAS) and EU.

• Current deployments of Swiss civilian peacebuilding experts

  PDF440.33 kB28 November 2025

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Duty of Care to Seconded Civilian Personnel set out the responsibilities between sending states, international partner organisations and the experts themselves. The precautionary measures lay the foundation for staff to prepare well for their work and carry it out effectively while minimising risks as far as possible.

The drafting of these guidelines, which involved a network of sending countries and institutions as well as international organisations, represents a milestone in the development of a common understanding of personnel welfare in the field of civilian peace support.

In addition to the OSCE and SEP, the guidelines' co-signatories include the British Stabilisation Unit, Swedish Folke Bernadotte Academy, German Centre for International Peace Operations, Finnish Crisis Management Centre and Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The network meets regularly for an international roundtable to further develop the dialogue on the duty of care.

• Voluntary Guidelines on the Duty of Care to Seconded Civilian Personnel

  PDF2.84 MB29 July 2025

Switzerland working for peace – a series of portraits

The SEP deploys specialists to international organisations. In this short film, three people on missions abroad show you how they work, train and provide support.

• Portrait of a UNDP programme officer for social cohesion in Iraq

  “I am currently working as a programme officer at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Iraq in the organisation's division for promoting social cohesion. In Iraq, the UNDP aims to address the social, ethnic, religious and political rifts that emerged during the war. This means that I travel to the provinces which were most affected by the ‘Islamic State’ group's reign of terror between 2014 and 2017.

  In order to strengthen social peace between the communities, local women's peace groups were set up and given training. These groups are now organising projects like the peace marathon, where students of Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen descent all take part together. Another group runs a counselling centre for victims of sexual violence, which also focuses on online harassment.

  One of my tasks for the UNDP is to analyse the contribution these women's groups make to social peace. So I go out and talk with these peace activists and visit their projects. I'm really impressed by how Iraqi civil society is growing and is prepared to tackle its problems. But there is still a lot to do – like reintegrating former combatants and managing migration within Iraq, which is also happening because of climate change.”

  

  The UNDP's aim in Iraq is to address the social, ethnic and political rifts that emerged in society during the war and to bolster cohesion. — © FDFA

Links

• Peacekeeping operations, United Nations
• Switzerland and the OSCE
• Peacekeeping missions SWISSINT
• Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE
• 30 years of Swiss participation in election observations: Review and outlook

Documents

• Brochure "Expert Pool for Civilian Peacebuilding"

  PDF912.68 kB18 March 2025