27. 11. 2020 | POTC, PR, Security
This year marks the 20th anniversary of adopting the historic UN Security Council Resolution on Women, Peace and Security (1325), and the 25th anniversary of adopting the Beijing Declaration on Gender Equality. These two documents, together with other UN Security Council resolutions, form the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda.
Commemorating both achievements, the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia together with the Slovenian Peacekeeping Operations Training Centre (POTC) organized a virtual international conference “Women, Peace and Security” in the format of the Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) Initiative with the additional participation of representatives from the Western Balkan countries and Luxembourg on 26 November 2020.
The introductory speech was given by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Mr. Uroš Lampret, and Ms. Katja Geršak, CEP/POTC Executive Director. Ms. Christine Löw, director of the UN Women Liaison Office Geneva, as the keynote speaker reflected on the milestones and setbacks in the past years. She emphasized the importance of women’s equal and meaningful participation in peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding. The UN needs to aim towards making women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation a requirement in all mediation teams, political transitions, and the peace processes it leads or co-leads.
According to the reports of the countries, significant progress has been made in on gender mainstreaming in the area of peace and security, which is the result of raising public awareness of women’s equal participation, gender mainstreaming in various policies, increasing women’s involvement in international operations and missions, and preventing sexual violence against women and girls. The constant growth of the percentage of females serving in the national defense forces and their increased participation in international missions and operations has been highlighted throughout the conference. Today women perform a wide range of duties in the armed forces from leadership and command duties through staff duties to various specialist duties. It is important to raise public awareness, that military does not belong exclusively to men and that performance of female soldiers is as professional as one of their male colleagues. Throughout these years countries integrated the WPS Agenda into various lectures within their military education and training systems. Nowadays, we can expect women’s rights to be a part of military school curriculums, pre-deployment courses, and other specialized courses. In connection with the increased educational activities in that field, the need for translation of relevant gender perspective materials into countries’ native languages, has also increased in the past years.
The conference was a great opportunity to analyze, revise, and reflect on the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and the activities accomplished in that field over the past years. A collection of introductory speeches, contributions of participants, and conclusions of the conference will be published in a form of a compendium in the next weeks.
25. 11. 2020 | POTC, PR, Security
Peace Operations Training Centre has proudly implemented its first training, jointly supported by the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia. Several other experts have joined training that gathered twenty participants of different backgrounds. Due to the global situation, it was implemented fully online.
The training was organized as an opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1325 United Nations Security Council resolution on women, peace and security and the Beijing Declaration that was adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Participants have discussed the content and importance of the international documents that frame the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. Additional emphasis was put on understanding the difference between sex and gender and the importance of including women as representatives of half of humanity in all aspects of life. It was pointed out that when women are involved in decision-making, in research, in knowledge production, women do not get forgotten. Female lives and perspectives are brought out of the shadows. This is to benefit of women everywhere, and often, to the benefit of humanity as a whole.
With research, it was proven that the inclusion of women in peace deals and daily mission’ life brings only positive results. The process of women at the negotiating table not only makes it more likely that an agreement will be reached, it also makes it more likely that peace will last. Women frequently bring in issues to the peace-building agenda that male elites tend to overlook: inclusivity and accessibility of processes and institutions and the importance of local and informal spheres. Participants discussed how gender mainstreaming is settled in the EU CSDP missions and in different other international operations.
At the end several experts were invited to share their experiences from the international missions and operations of the EU, NATO, OSCE, and UN from Afghanistan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Lebanon, Palestine, South Sudan, and Ukraine. Participants have discussed how they can use their good practices of gender mainstreaming in their daily work (current and potentially in the mission abroad).
31. 10. 2020 | POTC, PR, Security
First training of Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC)
Gender equality and gender mainstreaming in peace operations and missions
Peacekeeping Operations Training Centre that is operating within CEP is happy to announce its first training dedicated to an important cross-cutting topic that was identified as a need by all three founding ministries – Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia – Gender equality and gender mainstreaming in peace operations and missions. Training is primarily organized as an opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1325 United Nations Security Council Resolution on Women, Peace and Security and 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration that was adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.
Pilot POTC training will be organized for experts who want to join international peace operation or mission, primarily for public servants from ministries of defence, internal and foreign affairs. Training is currently planned to be organized in a hybrid manner – with some participants and trainers present at POTC premises, while others will be welcome to join training digitally. Some trainers from abroad will join us digitally as well. All measures and suggestions to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 will be strictly respected.
Training on Gender equality and gender mainstreaming in peace operations and missions will be organized on 24 – 25 November 2020 and will conclude on 26 November with the regional expert meeting. The main objective of the meeting is to share best practices and to hear how 13 countries in the region are implementing the principles of the UN SC 1325 resolution and Beijing declaration into their defence policies.
Anyone interested in the training is welcome to join the training online.
For more information please turn to POTC contact point: [email protected] who will share the programme and more details.
20. 5. 2020 | POTC, PR
We are proud to announce that the constituent session of the Program Council of the Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC), consisting of State Secretary Mr Tone Kajzer from Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve RS, State Secretary Mr Franc Kangler from Ministrstvo za notranje zadeve, State Secretary Mr Uroš Lampret from Ministrstvo za obrambo RS/Slovenian Ministry of Defence and CEP Executive Director Ms Katja Geršak, was held on the 19th May 2020. The constituent session was followed by a solemn signing of the Rules of Procedure of the POTC Program Council and an agreement on the substantive priorities of the first year of operation of the POTC.
Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC) was established by the official decision of the Slovenian Government, issued on the 19th July 2019, following the expert opinion of an inter-ministerial working group set up by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior, in cooperation with CEP and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that carried out a comprehensive external expert evaluation and concluded that the establishment of a POTC could help in developing a comprehensive approach to training in peacekeeping operations and missions, and enable Slovenia in passing on its experience and knowledge in the field of such trainings through such a Center.
CEP Executive Director, Ms Geršak, thanked the State Secretaries for their contribution to this event. She stressed the importance of establishing a POTC as there are few such interdepartmental training centers in the world. It was also noted that in 2020, CEP will take over the coordination of a new EU project whose main activities will include conducting trainings in countries where European Union civilian missions operate, which will provide an opportunity to promote POTC and Slovenia in the next three years. All three State Secretaries welcomed the establishment of the POTC and signing of the Rules of Procedure.
State Secretary Kajzer pointed out that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that the POTC is extremely important for strengthening Slovenia’s credibility within the EU and for strengthening transatlantic relations. It will also enable a comprehensive approach in the field of training, consolidation of knowledge between departments as well as exploiting the synergies of all stakeholders. State Secretary Lampret emphasized the good experience of cooperation between the Ministry of Defense and Slovenian Armed Forces with CEP so far and looks forward to furthering joint work. Slovenia’s contribution to the UN is especially important to the Ministry of Defense, as they have always sought a balance of cooperation in areas that are important for Slovenia.
25. 7. 2019 | ENTRi, IECEU, LET4CAP, POTC, PR
Slovenia is now opening the Centre for Education and Training for Participation in Peacekeeping Operations and Missions at Centre for European Perspective (CEP)
Click here to read more about the project in Slovenian language. 
Centre for education and training for participation in peacekeeping operations and missions will be implementing certified trainings and education for soldiers, police officers, civilian personnel of the ministries and other civilian experts that can be deployed to peacekeeping operations and missions within the UN, EU, NATO and OSCE. Skills and knowledge that experts at the peacekeeping operations and missions need, are very specific and diverse and are closely linked to the needs of the international institutions and their cooperation. These most commonly refer to the work and life in a multicultural environment, protection of human rights, cooperation with local personnel, training of trainer’s skills, as well as techniques and skills for work in a hostile environment.
Centre for European Perspective (CEP) has been for over a decade actively involved in European projects that aim at improving the competences of Slovene and foreign experts, who are deployed to peacekeeping operations and missions of the UN, EU, NATO and OSCE. Through our projects we are enabling access to diverse trainings for Slovene experts in Slovenia, we are sharing expertise of our experts with rich international experiences and continue to learn from the best European partners. CEP has been currently working on three projects: ENTRi – Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management , LET4Cap – Law Enforcement Training for Capacity Building and EUPCST – European Union Police and Civilian Services Training, that are striving to align trainings among participating countries, or better said, training institutions across Europe. CEP has also gained valuable experiences though the research project that was financed through the Horizon 2020, IECEU – Improving the Effectiveness of Capabilities in EU Conflict Prevention.
Organization and implementation of trainings for participation in peacekeeping operations and missions would not be possible without the support and cooperation of the ministries of interior, foreign affairs and defense. All these years, the cooperation and coordination were done informally. As activities have largely increased, an inter-ministerial analysis in close cooperation with Ministry of defense, Ministry of interior and Ministry of foreign affairs about potential synergies in the field of training, proved – also due to the membership of Slovenia in UN, EU and NATO – that an inter-ministerial cooperation with CEP should be formalized. This was the basis for the establishment of the Centre for education and training for participation in peacekeeping operations and missions that will be operating within CEP.
22. 10. 2018 | HEAT, PR, Security
Civilians deployed in missions abroad can be subjected to potentially dangerous working conditions and hazardous situations. It is essential for them to be aware of the risks and challenges such a workplace embodies. That is precisely the focus point of the Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT), as it aims to educate civil experts on a wide range of topics and equip them to be more suited for the challenges that may occur in a conflict area. Three day training was organised by the Centre for European Perspective (CEP) in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Slovenia, Slovenian Police and Slovenian Armed Forces.
This year’s HEAT took place between the 16th and the 18th of October, and was organised in the Police training facility Gotenica, as it includes all the capabilities needed for a successful training. The event brought together 16 participants from three countries, representatives from the Slovene police force and Slovenian Armed Forces, other civil and security experts and a wide range of volunteers helping in the concluding simulation.
The participants were a part of a simulated European Union mission from their first step in the training, and worked together to resolve the crisis situation happening on their doorstep. They were subjected to multiple challenges that tested their experience in theory and practice. Working in smaller groups, participants improved their team dynamics, while their physical and cognitive capabilities were challenged to the breaking point by different circumstances, no different from a potential real mission. They were included in presentations, workshop and practical exercises on the topic of their personal security in the field, orientation skills, medical assistance, communication skills and many other useful technical capabilities. The peak of the training was a simulation with different scenarios that encompassed all the knowledge gained throughout the past days.
The training successfully concluded on Thursday evening with an evaluation session of the gained experience and a closing ceremony, also attended by Mr Vladimir Pocek, Head of Division for International Police Operations of the Slovenian Police. The participants all successfully finished the course and are equipped with new experiences, techniques and knowledge that will, if needed, prove to be beneficial to their current or future work posts.
