The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

MEMBER STATES

The most important players in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are the member countries themselves.

A POLITICAL AND MILITARY ALLIANCE

Security in our daily lives is key to our well-being. NATO’s purpose is to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.

POLITICAL – NATO promotes democratic values and enables members to consult and cooperate on defence and security-related issues to solve problems, build trust and, in the long run, prevent conflict.

MILITARY – NATO is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes. If diplomatic efforts fail, it has the military power to undertake crisis-management operations. These are carried out under the collective defence clause of NATO’s founding treaty – Article 5 of the Washington Treaty or under a United Nations mandate, alone or in cooperation with other countries and international organisations.

COLLECTIVE DEFENCE

NATO is committed to the principle that an attack against one or several of its members is considered as an attack against all. This is the principle of collective defence, which is enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.

So far, Article 5 has been invoked once – in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001.

THE TRANSATLANTIC LINK

NATO is an alliance of countries from Europe and North America. It provides a unique link between these two continents, enabling them to consult and cooperate in the field of defence and security, and conduct multinational crisis-management operations together.

THE 2010 STRATEGIC CONCEPT

Strategic Concepts lay down the Alliance’s core tasks and principles, its values, the evolving security environment and the Alliance’s strategic objectives for the next decade. The 2010 Strategic Concept defines NATO’s cores tasks as: collective defence, crisis-management and cooperative security.

DIVERSITY AT NATO 

A diverse workforce is our asset

As an international organization, NATO is characterized by diversity. It is made up of people with different backgrounds, cultures, work styles, values and ways of thinking. We benefit greatly from this variety of thought, energy and insight in fulfilling our mandate, and thus we invite differences and seek them out. We strive to create an environment that maximizes potential and appreciates the diversity of every employee. This is all the more important as the changing international security environment broadens the range of competencies and skills required.

Differences need to be managed

For diversity to live up to its full potential, it needs to be managed. To achieve the right mix of competencies, strategic human resource management ensures that skilled and competent staff are available, and assesses their merit using objective, relevant and transparent criteria. We strive to optimize both performance and staff satisfaction. NATO offers equal opportunities to all members of staff based on individual merit.

Diversity is about us

Diversity refers to the differences between human individuals. It recognizes the benefits and contributions provided by a mixed workforce. Valuing diversity means respecting and appreciating those who are different from ourselves.

Equal opportunities make professional advancement equally available to all staff, regardless of any characteristics unrelated to the skills and abilities required for job performance. To provide equality of opportunity it is often necessary to treat people differently, in ways that are fair and tailored to their needs.

To make this a reality the International Staff of NATO adopted a Policy on Diversity and Equal Opportunities in 2003.