On Monday, the 7th of November, 25 trainees will join us at Jable Castle for the two-day International Humanitarian Law & Military Practice Developments Training for Military Personnel.
The two-day training will cover topics such as international humanitarian law, future disruptive technologies in the military field, neurocognitive science in military and intelligence operations, practical application of IHL, Slovenia’s defence capabilities connected to space and how digital technologies shape wars and geopolitical dynamics.
The training will also include a visit to the Noordung Center in Vitanje where we’ll take a closer look at Slovenia’s defence capabilities connected to space.
Several established lecturers will join us live or via teleconference, including:
prof. dr. Vasilka Sancin, University of Ljubljana;
dr. Simona Soare, European Union Institute for Security Studies;
dr. James Giordano, Institute for Biodefense Research;
Lt. Col. Maximilian Katz, NATO School Oberammergau;
Breda Bunič, Ministry of Defence;
and dr. Julian Ringhof, European Council on Foreign Relations.
The aim of the training is to go over current and future challenges of everyone working in the field of human rights and to take a closer look at military practice developments that are influencing events of today and tomorrow.
This past Friday (October 21st) the Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC), in collaboration with the Slovenian Ministry of Defence, successfully organised a refresher course for civil experts on the topic of Stabilisation and Reconstruction at Grad Jable.
The goal of the course was to review and upgrade the knowledge of civilian experts on civil-military cooperation happening on Slovenian missions abroad.
All in all 35 civilian experts attended the Stabilisation and Reconstruction refresher course. Diverse lecturers, who have returned from international missions, shared their insights from the ground, including:
presenting the changes in the international arena such as the fallout of the Afghanistan retreat;
the current work of Slovenians on international missions and operations like the cooperation in the Western Balkans;
past work done for KFOR;
many more topics and future post openings.
Afterwards, the civilian experts were engaged in a lively debate with the presenting experts, mainly wanting to know more about new developments from international missions and highlighting the importance of civilian experts on missions. The knowledge and experience shared during the course will hopefully contribute to future mission success.
Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC) would like to thank the Slovenian Ministry of Defence for their input and collaboration on this course.
Centre for European Perspective (CEP) together with the Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC) presents
Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) 2022: Aftermovie.
Take a look at what 18 participants from different police and gendarmerie institutions across Europe have been up to during our HEAT course in Gotenica, Slovenia. Green forests and pristine nature provided an almost idylic backdrop for both theoretical and practical exercises where the trainees under a professional expert guidance honed their skills in orienteering, evacuation planing, 4×4 driving, negotiating, stress management and so much more.
Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC), in collaboration with the Slovenian Ministry of Defence, will organize a refresher course for civil experts on the topic of Stabilisation and Reconstruction at Grad Jable on Friday, October 21st.
The goal of the course is to review and upgrade the knowledge of civilian experts on civil-military cooperation.
The whole-day course will cover diverse topics, including but not limited to:
familiarisation with the changed international situation;
the current work of Slovenian personnel on international missions and operations (MOM);
Slovenia’s vision in regard to participation in international missions and operations (MOM)
the basic working principles of international missions and operations (MOM) such as cooperation with representatives of different cultures, technical knowledge, personal safety, etc.
In the course, 6 civilian experts will share their knowledge from recent mission experience, followed by a debate and a Q&A section.
From the 18th to the 23rd of September 2022, 18 participants from 10 countries participated in the Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) in the Police Training Centre of Gotenica in the lush forests of southern Slovenia.
The activities were carried out by the Centre for European Perspective (CEP), with support from the Slovenian Police and the Slovenian Armed Forces. The training was organised under the auspices of the projects Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC) and the European Union Police and Civilian Services Training (EUPCST).
This year’s HEAT was an intensive 5-day course that aimed to train professionals on how to effectively deal with risks-associated and emergency/critical situations while deployed in hostile environments abroad.
The courses in Gotenica were a unique opportunity for participants to:
improve their knowledge about multiple threats present in hostile field environments and learn how to deal with them effectively;
rehearse and practice safety and security procedures accordingly with a specific threat;
strengthen individual skills in dealing with different stressful situations;
and strengthen group dynamics while dealing with multiple stressful situations.
The courses culminated in a complex multi-stage one-day simulation where the participants put their acquired knowledge and newfound skills to the test. The simulation even included some unforeseen events that surprised the participants and gave them an invaluable learning experience in a high-pressure environment.
This year’s HEAT included participants from diverse governmental institutions from 10 European countries: Cyprus, Estonia, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Activities, sharing of best practices, workshops and practical exercises facilitated by experts from the Slovenian Police, Slovenian Armed Forces, a psychologist and other experts contributed to a multidisciplinary approach to the challenges that individuals and institutions might face when deployed in a potentially hostile environment. The participants all successfully and enthusiastically finished the course, expressing their satisfaction over the new knowledge, techniques and experience that will, if needed, prove to be beneficial to their current or future work postings.
The POTC team brought the second set of 4-day workshops for 19 local representatives from 6 municipalities around Prijedor to an end. As the end of the second module was also the end of the Workshop on EU Project Proposal Writing, the participants were awarded Certificates of participation. Local participants are now equipped and familiarised with the following topics:
