Along with organizing and conducting training courses, Peace Operations Training Centre’s (POTC) regular activities also include monitoring trends in demand for new training content. We identified a number of potential new topics and have consulted national, European, and UN institutions on the most urgent and relevant training needs. We decided to develop a new comprehensive training on the protection of civilians (PoC) after consulting a number of stakeholders.

According to the Security Council Report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, armed conflict is continuously accompanied by high levels of civilian death, injury and psychological trauma, sexual violence, torture, and disappearance, as well as damaged and destroyed homes, schools, markets, hospitals and essential civilian infrastructure, such as electrical and water systems. Protection of civilians is a responsibility that includes military, police, and civilian functions within a peacekeeping mission and many missions have a mandate that includes PoC.

Personnel, deployed to peace operations and missions have consistently demonstrated a lack of understanding of their missions’ PoC mandates and the same lack of understanding is applicable to the core PoC tasks. We have hence developed a training format that will equip participants with a basic understanding of the PoC concept and its applications in peace operations and missions.

We are now inviting police and civilian personnel deployed or waiting to be deployed in IOM to our Protection of Civilians Training Course between 19 and 21 April 2022. The participants will address the PoC concept, elaborate on how conflict affects civilians and will identify different types of threats, perpetrators, and protection actors. They will also address the international legal framework on PoC, different tiers and/or operational phases of PoC, vulnerable groups, and special mechanisms for their protection. Check out the training program for more information.

Fill out the registration form to apply for participation before 12 April or contact [email protected] for any additional information on the new training.