Context
The Security Council first established the protection of civilians (CP) as an explicit mandate for a peacekeeping operation in 1999. Since then, the protection of civilians has continuously grown in importance, and today constitutes the priority mandate for many peace operations. In 2018, nine UN peace operations are mandated to protect civilians. The PoC has also become the essential criterion by which the success of a mission is measured, while being one of the most difficult mandates to implement.
The PdC is an effort of the whole Mission. The three components of peace operations (military, police and civil) all contribute to the implementation of the PoC mandate. The need for training for peace operations personnel is therefore great, and the provision of a quality training offer essential in view of the issues and challenges in terms of PoC.
As a Center of Excellence of the African Union and ECOWAS, the Alioune Blondin Beye Peacekeeping School offers a specialized and integrated course to meet the growing demand for training in POC.
But
The purpose of this internship is to provide comprehensive training on the protection of civilians for uniformed and civilian personnel of United Nations peacekeeping operations. This course highlights the complex relationships between protection tasks and clarifies the role and responsibilities of each of the actors in peace missions. He underlines the importance of the necessary collaboration between external actors and those of the Mission. The course provides conceptual and practical guidance on how to prevent and respond to protection threats at the operational and tactical levels.
Objectives
At the end of the course, participants will be able to:
· Explain the DOMP concept of Civil Protection, as well as the protection principles and structures.
· Recognize the essential role and value of the PoC in a UN peace operation at the tactical and operational levels.
· Describe the PoC environment in the context of UN peace operations, including key partners.
Explain the role and responsibilities of each component of a peacekeeping mission in the implementation of protection mandates, including the fundamental tasks of a PoC officer in terms of coordination, information sharing , liaison and advice.
· Plan and implement core POC tasks in coordination with other relevant actors, including risk analysis, development of strategies and action plans, effective implementation of protection actions and drafting reports.
Targets
The EMPABB POC course is primarily intended for staff of UN peacekeeping missions or those who may be deployed there. It is also intended for the operational staff of peace support missions of the African Union and ECOWAS. Humanitarian and development partners involved in protection actions linked to the Mission can also benefit from this training.
Each PdC course organized will be integrated and will aim to offer equal participation of civilian personnel and uniformed personnel (police / gendarme and military). The course will welcome 25 participants.
Priority will be given to personnel already deployed and who have not yet received full and specialized training from PdC. These include:
● Civilian personnel (license level or above)
● Military Observers
● Military Experts on Mission (MEOMs)
● Commanders of Military Units
● Commanders of the Constituted Police Units (FPU)
● Individual police officers
● Military Staff Officers
For personnel wearing uniforms, the minimum grade sought is that of captain.
The participation of women is encouraged, whether for individual civilian applications or for designations of uniformed personnel.
Prerequisites
To take part in this PdC course, you must:
● Have followed at least one training covering the essentials of the CPTM. The selected candidates who have not yet followed the CPTM will be referred to the course available online.
● Being able to speak French;
● Be medically able to participate in the whole course;
● Being currently recruited / deployed or likely to be recruited to serve in a peace operation, or for the benefit of an organization working directly in the area of POC in liaison with a peace mission.
Course structure
Module 1: Contextualizing the Protection of Civilians in Peace Operations
Module 2: Role and responsibilities of each component in the PoC mandate
Module 3: Implementation of the PoC
Module 4: Protection challenges
Scenario: Carana
Films: Mandated to protect; I shook the hand of the devil
Administration - logistics - organization
● Duration: 2 weeks
● Course / Travel / Accommodation / Food costs: Fully covered - accommodation at EMP-ABB.
● Team: 1 Course Director, 2 Temporary Instructors, External “Speakers” (MINUSMA PoC / Force / Civil Affairs, UNHCR / Cluster Protection, OCHA, Specialists - Former Unit Commanders, Senior Mission Managers) and experts.
