EU-Cambodia partnership brings multi-agency CBRN response exercise to enhance preparedness to respond to CBRN incidents and attacks in advance of the 2023 Southeast Asian Games and ASEAN Para Games
As first time host to the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) and ASEAN Para Games, the Kingdom of Cambodia has committed to ensuring a safe and secure sporting environment at Morodok Techo National Stadium and other critical sites that will gather large numbers of spectators from the country and the wider ASEAN region. One contingency that must be prepared for is the possibility of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) incident or attack that could result in large numbers of causalities. Effectively responding to such an event requires multi-agency planning, training and exercise to ensure a rapid and coordinated response.
To address this need, the European Union CBRN Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence Initiative (EU CBRN CoE), has, for the last six months, worked hand-in-hand with Cambodia’s National Authority for the Prohibition of Chemical, Nuclear, Biological and Radiological Weapons (NACW), Ministry of Defense, with the technical support of European experts from Slovakia’s International Security and Emergency Management Institute (ISEMI), to help formulate national CBRN response plans and standard operating procedures, and to provide hands-on training for the country’s multi-agency CBRN Response Team.
On 31 March 2023, this long-term cooperation culminated in high-level event bringing together national authorities from NACW and relevant line ministries, alongside officials from the EU and the United Nations (UN), to showcase Cambodia’s CBRN Response Team’s enhanced capacity to rapidly identify and respond to a potential CBRN attack at Morodok Techo National Stadium. The exercise demonstrated a rapid and coordinated response between front-line officers from NACW, the Police Security Department, the Police Fire Department, the National Gendarmerie, the Bodyguard Service of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Health, the Central Security Department of the Ministry of Interior and other relevant operational entities.
Closing remarks delivered by H.E. General Phorn Nara, Secretary General, NACW, Ministry of Defense, Cambodia, Mr. Tihamér Czika, Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Union to the Kingdom of Cambodia, Dr. Marian Kolencik, Lead CBRN Trainer, ISEMI, and Dr. Alexander Hamilton, CBRN CoE Regional Coordinator for Southeast Asia, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), emphasized the importance of this technical cooperation, and underscored the EU’s long-term commitment to strengthening CBRN risk mitigation capacity in Cambodia and the wider ASEAN region.
EU CBRN CoE: Advancing cooperation to strengthen CBRN risk mitigation
The European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence Initiative (EU CBRN CoE), jointly implemented by the EU and UNICRI, is working to build a safer and more secure world through cooperation with 64 Partner Countries across 8 regions. The “SEA Games CBRN Response Training” featured in this article, supported by EU CBRN CoE Project 62, “On-Site Technical Support to the Regional Secretariat in Southeast Asia”, represents an example of how ad hoc, tailored support is being mobilized to address urgent security challenges in EU CBRN CoE Partner Countries.
For more information on the EU CBRN CoE, please see: https://cbrn-risk-mitigation.network.europa.eu/index_en