Civilian populations bear the greatest brunt of today’s complex and intractable conflicts. This changing nature of conflicts has necessitated both doctrinal and operational shifts in peace support operations. As part of Switzerland’s numerous effort to strengthen the protection of civilians, the Swiss Confederation, through its Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports/DDPS, funded the PoC22-2, as it has done for past editions.
The course sought to enhance the capacity of participants to effectively implement PoC mandates in Peace Operations to mitigate the effects of conflicts on civilians. Participants received clarity on the role of different protection actors, and were equipped to identify PoC strategies at all levels, and how to translate conceptual and legal frameworks of PoC into appropriate actions at the tactical level.
Of the 30 participants, 12 were Military personnel, six (6) were Police Officers and 12 were Civilians. Sixteen participants were drawn from current mission areas including the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMMISS), the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS). The rest were active security service personnel likely to deploy on missions, Government agencies and NGOs working in the field.
Participants expressed the relevance of the course through their testimonials. Aida Mnyolmo from UNMISS said, “The training was very interesting and insightful since they applied a variety of teaching methods that were very interactive, involving case studies, videos, group discussions, scenario based exercises. These were all informative and practical as it related to our daily activities at the mission areas.”
Moses Dok Nach Kpeungu from MINUSMA also said, “This is a well packaged course that targets participants of diverse background. The level of knowledge that I have personally acquired from the course cannot be measured. I am convinced the course is going to positively impact a lot in my operational deployment currently and in the foreseeable future… KAIPTC is actually a Centre of Excellence in peacekeeping mission and support.”