The core task of OMA is to provide military expertise to the:
- Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), the Department of Field Support (DFS), and other parts of the Secretariat and the UN System when requested,
- Member States and
- Military components in the United Nations peacekeeping missions
OMA is made up of the Office of the Military Advisor, three Services and two Teams, as listed below. It employs 100 seconded military and 27 civilian staff from over 50 member states who work to support the efficient and effective delivery of military capabilities for United Nations peacekeeping operations.
The Force Generation Service
The Service comprises a force generation team, a Peacekeeping Capability Readiness System (PCRS) team and a military personnel team. The core functions are:
- Act as the principal military point of contact with troop-contributing countries conducting the force generation process, including the generation and rotation of all military contingents and individuals, and supporting the selection process for senior UN military appointments;
- Participate in the contingent-owned equipment negotiation process, conclude memorandums of understanding for the timely deployment of troops and, when necessary, for the force adjustment, and provide technical advice on contingent-owned equipment claims by Member States, as required;
- Initiate and maintain records of service and performance for individuals and statistics and country profiles for all UN military deployments;
- Maintain records of the troop-contributing countries certification on code and conduct, screening and human rights-compliance for each unit before deployment / rotation;
- Develop, in collaboration with the Department of Field Support, generic guidelines for troop-contributing countries and mission-specific military guidelines related to force requirements;
- Coordinate reconnaissance visits for troop-contributing countries providing contingents to peacekeeping operations;
- Conduct, with the support of the Department of Filed Support, assessment and advisory visits and pre-deployment visits to assess the capabilities and readiness of units before deployment;
- Maintain and update records of pledges made by Member States in the PCRS for the provision of troops, equipment and services to peacekeeping operations.
The Military Planning Service
The Service comprises three geographically based planning teams, a long-term planning team and specialist aviation and maritime operational planners. Its main functions are:
- Provide military-strategic planning advice to the Military Adviser;
- Conduct military-strategic planning for emerging and existing Department-led operations;
- Produce military guidance documents, including the command directive, military rules of engagement, military-strategic concepts of operation, and Statement of Unit Requirements;
- Monitor the military plans to reduce the time required to plan for major changes, including mission termination;
- Specify the force or operational requirements for individual military personnel, military formed units and unit equipment in new or revised concepts of operation and contingency plans.
The Current Military Operations Service
The Service comprises three geographically based teams. Its core functions are:
- Provide advice to the heads of the military components of Department-led operations on technical aspects of military operations, such as contingency planning, force rotations and operational reporting, in coordination with the integrated operational teams, to ensure that military aspects are properly integrated or coordinated;
- Interact with permanent missions of Member States on all military technical operational issues, significant incidents, accidents, injuries, deaths, repatriations and other current issues;
- Provide the Military Adviser and, through the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, senior leadership at UN Headquarters with military information and analysis related to current events;
- Coordinate visits by Member States, the military and police advisers community and senior military staff from Headquarters to peacekeeping operations, brief visiting military individuals, groups or delegations and coordinate the briefing and debriefing process for senior military officials in peacekeeping operations;
- Coordinate responses by the Office of Military Affairs to disciplinary issues involving military personnel.
Assessment Team
The core function of the Assessment Team is to gather, analyse and assess information on:
- The military situation in the areas of Department-led operations;
- Military threats to current and potential operations;
in close coordination with the United Nations Operations and Crisis Centre, Integrated Operational Teams, the Department of Safety and Security, Member States and other designated interlocutors.
Policy and Doctrine Team
The core functions of the Policy and Doctrine Team are:
- Contribute to the development of UN system-wide frameworks and doctrines relating to peacekeeping;
- Develop standards, policies and training material to strengthen performance of the military components deployed in peace operations;
- Serve as focal point for liaison and partnerships with military elements of international and regional organizations as well as for civil-military coordination with humanitarian organizations, think tanks, and United Nations agencies, funds and programmes.