The European Union has been providing different types of support to the reform of the civilian security sector1 in Ukraine. The European Union Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Sector Reform in Ukraine (EUAM Ukraine) has been deployed since 2014. This mission aims ‘to achieve a civilian security sector that is efficient, accountable, and enjoys the trust of the public’ by providing strategic advice and hands-on support to the Ukrainian authorities. Through different cooperation programmes the EU Delegation to Ukraine has also been providing political and financial support to anti-corruption efforts, justice and law enforcement reforms, local governance, wider public administration reform as well as civil society efforts to monitor these reform processes.

The European External Action Service (EEAS) will carry out a Strategic Review of EUAM Ukraine in the autumn 2018. This Strategic Review process provides an opportunity to reflect on the different types of support provided so far by the EU institutions to civilian Security Sector Reform (SSR) in Ukraine and to brainstorm on the needs and options for future support.
The Civil Society Dialogue Network (CSDN) has been hosting a series of meetings enabling civil society to provide input into the Strategic Reviews of EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions. This meeting is a follow-up to a roundtable which took place in October 2016 in Brussels in view of the previous Strategic Review of EUAM Ukraine.

The goal of this CSDN meeting is to contribute to the EEAS strategic review of EUAM Ukraine, by gathering analysis and recommendations from civil society experts on EU support to civilian SSR in Ukraine.

The specific objectives are:

• To gather analysis on the current needs and challenges to civilian SSR in Ukraine;
• To gather recommendations on future EU support to civilian SSR in Ukraine.