SWISSINT Stans
e-mail: info.swisspso@vtg.admin.ch
1. International Command SWISSINT as the superior national headquarters is responsible for the planning, assembly and command of all military contingents and individuals engaged in peace-support operations abroad. It is under the command of the Chief of the Armed Forces Joint Staff.
2. The Swiss Armed Forces have been involved in peace support missions since 1953. Currently a total of 295 men and women from the rank of first private to major general are serving for the cause of peace in 17 countries on four continents. The vast majority are militia personnel.
3. The hour of birth of Swiss military peace support was in 1953 when the Federal Council sent 146 armed military personnel to Korea to participate in the two commissions Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission in Korea) and NNSC (Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Korea). The NNRC interrupted its work again by the end of February 1954 as it had accomplished its mission of conducting and completing the exchange of prisoners. The NNSC still exists today, however with a different mandate, and is supported by the Swiss Armed Forces with five officers in Panmunjom.
4. Unarmed Swiss military observers have been deployed since 1990. There are currently 17 Swiss officers with captain’s rank or higher in UNTSO 
(Middle East, 11), MONUSCO (DR Congo, 3), BNUB (Burundi, 1) and UNMISS (South Sudan, 2). As extended arm of the UN Security Council on location they make an important contribution to peace in these areas of conflict.
5. Furthermore, the Swiss Armed Forces have been participating in the KOSOVO peace mission KFOR since 1999 on the basis of UN Resolution 1244 and the decision of the Federal Council of 23 June 1999. This mandate was limited by parliament to terminate by the end of 2014. SWISSCOY currently consists of 235 volunteers who are armed for self-protection and includes the following elements: support company (national logistic tasks and bi-national services), four LMT (liaison and monitoring teams), one infantry platoon (camp guard, general security and monitoring duties), one transport platoon (multinational), one engineer platoon (general construction projects of KFOR), military police (multi- and national) as well as one EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) team. In addition, one air transport detachment is on duty in Kosovo that has two helicopters, one of which serves as a technical reserve.
6. With regard to humanitarian demining Swiss nationals are working in various functions in Laos (1), Somaliland & Puntland (1), Southern-Sudan (1), Congo (2) and Western-Sahara (1). As administrative, financial, logistical or technical consultants for instance or as IMSMA specialist. New York is the base for another Swiss officer as an operation assistant in UNOPS (UN Office for Project Services).
Other officers are working as chief of situation centre at the operations centre of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) in Vienna (1), as course director and head of training in KAIPTC (Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre) in Ghana (2), as chief of the contact team and chief of the training of the SSR (Security Sector Reform) in southern Sudan (2).
7. Since the beginning of November 2004, Switzerland has been participating in the EUFOR ALTHEA mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina. 16 officers and non-commissioned officers currently form two what are known as liaison and observation teams (LOT) in Mostar and Trebinje. In addition four staff officers are working at the Regional Coordination Centre South and at EUFOR headquarters in camp Butmir in Sarajevo. In June 2011, Switzerland expanded its support of EUFOR to include a Mobile Training Team (MTT). Within this multinational team of experts, six specialists for small weapons, ammunition and languages are instructing the armed forces of Bosnia-Herzegovina in ammunition and weapons storage management. In every case, they are on location for temporally limited, specific training sequences.
8. The Swiss Armed Forces have been engaged in numerous UN peace missions in the past. The most important ones are compiled below, a detailed list of all missions with Swiss participation can be ordered by e-Mail.
The medical units that were deployed to Africa towards the end of the 1980s were an innovation for the, Swiss Armed Forces.
• 1989/90 in Namibia with an average of 150 Swiss nationals for the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG)
• 1991-94 1994 in the Western Sahara with up to 80 Swiss nationals for the Mission des Nations Unies pour le Referendum au Sahara Occidental (MINURSO).
From March 1995 to October 1998, two doctors, a medical assistant and three military observers worked for UNMOT in Tajikistan.
Furthermore, the Swiss Headquarters Unit (SHQSU) supported the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1996 to 2000 with an average of 55 unarmed yellow berets in land and air transports, vehicle maintenance, postal services, and medical consultation.
The Swiss Department of Defence deployed 26 men and women from December 1998 to March 1999 to the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM ).
Up to four members of the Swiss Armed Forces worked in Afghanistan for ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) from March 2003 to February 2008.
The Swiss Armed Forces sent military observers to the following missions: UNPROFOR (UN Protection Force, Ex-Yugoslavia), UNPREDEP (UN Preventive Deployment Force, Ex-Yugoslavia), UNMOP (UN Mission of Observers in Prevlaka, Croatia), UNMEE (UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea), UNOMIG (UN Observer Mission in Georgia) and UNMIN (UN Mission in Nepal).