Training to Protect Civilians

Protection of Civilians has become one of the most important aspects of the mandates of peacekeeping operations. More recently, both the United Nations and the African Union have been engaged in strengthening their roles in addressing protection needs on the ground. As a result, training on protection has become of crucial importance in enhancing peacekeepers’ capacity to implement their mandates. This Policy & Practice Brief reviews recent policy developments in the field of PoC in peacekeeping operations, with a particular focus on training. By reviewing these developments, this paper aims to present recommendations for peacekeeping training centres that are considering developing and conducting training courses on PoC.

Introduction

In the last decade, the United Nations (UN) has included the protection of civilians (PoC) in most Security Council mandates on peacekeeping operations. However, peacekeepers still struggle to deliver systematic and consistent protection for civilians in the field. The 2009 UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)’s report on PoC in peacekeeping operations concluded that peacekeepers frequently do not possess the adequate understanding or skills to carry out the mandated protection tasks.¹ Thus, providing relevant and quality training on PoC to peacekeeping personnel before and during deployment has been identified as an important tool to improve protection in the field. The UN is now close to finalising its first PoC pre-deployment training package, while the African Union (AU) is currently in the process of conceptualising its needs and requirements in the field of PoC, including the development of training standards. Many centres engaged in the training of peacekeeping personnel are now also seeking to provide PoC training. However, there are several factors that must be taken into consideration to ensure that such training courses meaningfully contribute to the protection of civilians. One key concern is the fact that whilst policies and strategies for PoC within peacekeeping operations are underway, there is still no clear-cut and unified approach to PoC within and among the various international organisations engaged in peacekeeping operations.

This Policy & Practice Brief on PoC training for personnel in peacekeeping operations has a dual aim. Firstly, it seeks to provide the community of training centres with an overview of the current ongoing processes to clarify and strengthen the role of PoC within peacekeeping operations. These policy processes and their various outcomes constitute important sources of information for training centres that seek to increase the quality and relevance of their trainings on PoC. Secondly, it aims to provide direct and practical recommendations for training centres that are currently involved in, or aim to be involved in, designing, planning, preparing and delivering training on PoC.²

PoC in Peacekeeping Operations: Recent Developments

UN Policy Processes and Developments

PoC has been part of peacekeeping mandates since 1999, when the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was explicitly mandated to “take the necessary action within its capabilities and areas of deployment, to afford protection to civilians under imminent threat of physical violence.”³ Following UNAMSIL’s deployment, ten other UN peacekeeping operations have also been explicitly mandated to deliver PoC on the ground.

In recent UN peacekeeping operations – in Sudan, Chad, the DRC and elsewhere – PoC was included in Security Council mandates. However, the impact on the ground has varied highly. With a growing recognition of the gap between discourse and practice the DPKO/ and OCHA’s chose to jointly commission a report on PoC in the context of peacekeeping operations. The study, published in January 2010, concluded that UN peacekeeping missions lacked a clear definition and conceptual understanding of civilian protection, as well as comprehensive strategies for implementing their mandates.⁴

The DPKO/OCHA study encouraged a range of processes to increase clarity and develop a shared understanding of how to implement the difficult tasks of protecting civilians in peacekeeping missions. This was done in accordance with UN member states, in particular the major troop and police contributing countries. The processes are underway, and the outcome documents are still being revised. However, these draft documents already serve as important sources to show the likely development of the UN’s approach to PoC in peacekeeping operations.⁵

UN Draft Documents on PoC Operational Concept on the PoC in UN Peacekeeping Operations: the three-tiered approach to PoC (see Table1), contributes to delimit the understanding and operationalise PoC in UN peacekeeping operations. Draft Framework for Drafting Comprehensive PoC Strategies in UN Peacekeeping Operations: provides concrete guidance on how to assess, prioritise and address threats towards civilians in peacekeeping operations. Draft Matrix of Resources and Capability Requirements for Implementation of Protection of Civilians Mandates in UN Peacekeeping Operations: this document gives a hands-on inventory of activities to improve PoC delivery in missions. Draft Pre-Deployment Training Curriculum for PoC together with the scenario-based exercises: provide a four-module training package for civilian, police and military personnel prior to deployment to a peacekeeping mission.

In addition to the draft documents the UN has complementary tools to identify and describe concrete activities and tasks to effectively implement PoC on the ground. One example is the document Addressing Conflict-related Sexual violence: An Analytical Inventory of Peacekeeping Practice,⁶ which captures best practices and emerging elements for a more effective response by peacekeepers to the security concerns of women.

AU Policy Processes and Developments

Currently several initiatives are intended to develop and clarify the AU approach to PoC, and to provide guidance for the operationalisation and implementation of PoC in AU peace support operations. On the one hand, the AU intends to tailor its needs to its particular requirements and to the operating environment. On the other hand, because the understandings of PoC both within the UN and the AU are rooted in International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, their approaches share many similarities. The AU developments are further necessitated by the fact that many AU missions over time may be handed over to the UN. The AU will therefore need to make sure that their approach to PoC is coherent with that of the UN.⁷ The Draft Guidelines for the PoC in AU Peace Support Operations were developed by the AU Commission (AUC) in 2010.⁸ The Draft Guidelines for the strategic level are intended to assist in the formulation of guidance at both the operational and the tactical levels. However, it is important to note that the guidelines are still being discussed by the AU, and will be revised further as the future developments contribute with information and lessons learned from the field as well as new conceptual developments.

The Draft Guidelines gave the PoC agenda important momentum within the AU. In July 2010, the AU Assembly welcomed the efforts of the AUC to develop a framework of action and create guidelines on PoC. It further requested the Commission’s support to relevant AU organs to be able to take the necessary decisions in this regard.⁹ In October 2010, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) encouraged the AU Commission to mainstream the Draft Guidelines into the activities of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).¹⁰ In its 7th meeting, December 2010, the African Chiefs of Defence, in December 2010, they urged the commission to provide regular reporting on the further development of the AU Draft Guidelines on the PoC.¹¹

Following the AU Assembly’s request for strengthening the PoC initiatives at the AUC, the AU Commission PoC Working Group, led by the AU’s Humanitarian Affairs Division, was established. The objective of the working group is to clarify and sustain the approach to PoC in AU peace support operations. The working group aims to generate tools that bolster and support policy-making and trainings at the AU. These tools are still under discussion at the Commission presently, but one could expect that similar approaches undertaken by the UN would be considered by the working group.

Recently, the issue of PoC has continued to gain momentum at the AU level, and more clarity on policy developments is expected throughout 2011. In May 2011, the PSC discussed the PoC, emphasising the importance of the issue and urged the commission to finalise the Draft Guidelines. It is important to mention that the PSC also emphasised that the Draft guidelines should focus on drawing lessons from relevant experiences and welcomed some recent developments in the attempt to mainstream the Draft Guidelines into the work of AMISOM. It also requested the development of draft training guidelines for PoC.¹²

At the time of writing this brief, these initiatives remain on the drawing board and might change or be removed as the policy process moves forward. Nevertheless, it is evident that the policy processes that are planned or underway in the AU reflect the current processes in the UN to a large degree. Simultaneously, it is of key concern to the AU to develop policies that are meaningful to its structure and aligned to the experiences and expectations that the organisation has on the ground. This is particularly relevant in its efforts of ensuring that the Draft Guidelines are based on field experiences, as well as in the current attempts to mainstream PoC issues into AMISOM’s mandate.

While the various anticipated policy developments, guidelines, frameworks and inventories are still in the process of being developed, it is expected that they will provide crucial information to centres that are working to develop PoC trainings. Keeping abreast with the policy developments will ensure quality and relevance of trainings, even though the process of developing official UN and AU training material might not yet be completed.

PoC Concepts in the AU and the UN

Whilst both the UN and the AU current draft guidelines and policies are running in parallel, they both speak about similar concepts. At the moment both organizations have taken a tiered approach that largely draws on similar understandings of PoC tasks in peacekeeping operations.

Table 1

UN Tiered Approach13	AU Tiered Approach, as per Draft Guidelines14
Protection through political process; Providing protection from physical violence; and Establishing a protective environment.	PoC as part of the political process; Physical protection; Rights-based protection; and Establishment of a secure environment.

Training on Protection: a Recent, but Powerful Trend

With the increasing importance that PoC is receiving within the peacekeeping field, the question of how peacekeepers are delivering on peacekeeping mandates becomes crucial. Following the on-going development of policies on PoC, peacekeepers must improve their capacity to respond to needs on the ground. In order to achieve this, better and more relevant training on PoC is a key requirement. To this end, various initiatives are being developed to provide trainings for military, civilian and police components that are engaged in peacekeeping operations.

AU Developments: As previously mentioned, the AU is currently developing its policies on PoC and increasing the understanding and approaches taken in the field. As such, discussions on training approaches are still seen as part of a more general process of conceptualisation and clarification of roles and responsibilities. One could expect more guidance in terms of the requirements for training for African peacekeepers might arise from the AUC Working Group on PoC. The recent request of the AU PSC to the development of training guidelines on PoC would give strong guidance not only for AU training approaches, but also, and most importantly to African training centres that are engaged in PoC trainings, through the African Peace Support Trainers Association (APSTA). However, the completion of such guidelines still lies some time into the future.

UN Developments: While the AU is making strides toward developing PoC trainings and guidelines, it is the UN that has come furthest in developing training material on PoC. Following the recommendation of the 2010 Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations to develop training on PoC as part of the process to increase and improve overall effectiveness by PoC activities, the DPKO Integrated Training Service (ITS) has embarked on a process to gather feedback from practitioners and develop training modules on PoC. In March 2011, a workshop was organised, in partnership with the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), to discuss and support DPKO Integrated Training Service (ITS) training modules to ensure a targeted and efficient approach.

The Draft Pre-Deployment Training Curriculum on the Protection of Civilians presented at the workshop consists of four modules, each with its separate focus.

• Module 1: This module is intended to provide a general overview of the protection of civilians and deals with the rationale behind attacks against civilians, the nature of threats they are faced with, the responsibilities of various actors and a brief explanation of the recent increased interest in PoC.
• Module 2: The second module provides an introduction to the international legal dimensions of PoC including the key policy documents. It emphasises the authorities, obligations, and prohibitions that apply to peacekeepers – particularly with regard to the use of force. It also provides advice on where to seek legal guidance on such issues.
• Module 3: The third module is a guide to the Draft Operational Concept on the Protection of Civilians in UN Peacekeeping Operations. The module is intended to instruct trainees on how to understand the different “tiers” of PoC activities, as well as the “phases” of a crisis and the adaptations that they are required of PoC actors. This module also elaborates the meaning of key language in PoC mandates and the challenges of delivering protection in complex environments.
• Module 4: The last module serves as a guide to the Framework for Drafting Mission-Wide PoC Strategies in UN Peacekeeping Operations – and its practical implications. This module emphasises the identification of protection threats and vulnerabilities and how different types and levels of PoC risks affect the response. It also highlights the importance of operational level information sharing and public information efforts, and of mission-wide operation planning for PoC.
• Although the modules build upon each other, it is not necessary for all trainees to go through all modules. While staff at headquarter level might find that modules 1-3 cover their training needs, operational staff might want to focus most closely on modules 2-4.

In addition to the training modules, DPKO ITS is developing a number of scenario-based exercises aimed at training various actors i.e., military, police and civilian within peacekeeping missions to enable them to carry out their tasks related to PoC. Through the scenario-based exercises, participants gain experience in making context-specific judgements to bolster the protection of civilians. Fictional case studies based on real mission situations are intended to train actors from a variety of backgrounds and ultimately enable them to carry out their PoC tasks. There are 12 scenarios, grouped into three sub-sets according to theme and complexity.

The inventory of peacekeeping practice to address conflict-related sexual violence and the accompanying scenario-based training modules have been developed to prepare peacekeepers to recognise sexual violence and react appropriately. They constitute a tool that can be used by military, police and civilian personnel in the process of operationalising and implementing PoC. Since they are complementary to DPKO’s PoC modules, they should ideally be integrated into one course. Over time, initiatives of this character can contribute creating a complete toolkit that peacekeepers may use in their efforts to protect civilians in peacekeeping operations.

Training Centres Engagement: Various African training centres have started developing training modules on PoC for African peacekeepers. Institutions like the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), International Peace and Support Training Centre (IPSTC) and others, have embarked on the creation of pilot trainings that target both civilian and military personnel in peacekeeping operations. Two examples of these trainings are presented below:

• KAIPTC – As part of a process and an understanding that peacekeepers are often not adequately skilled to deal with PoC tasks, KAIPTC organised, in partnership with other African and non-African training centres,¹⁵ a pilot course on PoC in December 2010 in Accra, Ghana. The training focused on national governmental and non-governmental institutions concerned with PoC. The Regional Economic Communities were also invited. The course had a broad approach and attempted to present how PoC can be applied into an African context.
• IPSTC – In March 2011, IPSTC organised its own training on PoC. It can be seen as a follow-up from the initiatives that culminated in the December 2010 training in Accra. This training was targeted at staff already deployed in peacekeeping operations, personnel working on the planning of peacekeeping operations at the national and international levels, and personnel from the protection clusters – consisting mostly of personnel from UN agencies, humanitarian NGOs, etc. Participants were drawn from the East African context. The course dealt mostly with the issue of physical protection.

Trainings not Particularly Directed to Peacekeepers: Whilst this brief focuses on those developments and training on PoC that are related to peacekeeping operations, it is important to briefly mention some of the trainings that are intended for other actors involved in areas where a peacekeeping mission is deployed. Whilst they are not directly linked to the peacekeeping efforts, they do support the overall PoC agenda by reaching out to diverse actors as 1) humanitarian organizations and agencies as well as, 2) state and non-state armed actors.

• Humanitarian Protection: Numerous humanitarian actors, including the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), run trainings on humanitarian protection or internally displaced persons (IDPs) protection activities. These range from awareness-raising to more practical trainings on specific activities and protection tasks. These trainings typically target national and local stakeholders in countries of internal displacement, in particular authorities and civil society organizations, national human rights institutions, and members of UN country teams and international organisations. Humanitarian protection forms part of the wider PoC peacekeeping concept (tier 3 – see table 1, UN Tiered Approach), and such trainings are likely to contribute to raise the overall level of protection within the environment where the peacekeeping operation is deployed.
• International Humanitarian Law: The ICRC conducts trainings on International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights for weapon bearers, including state and non-state armed actors, police and military. Increased awareness and observance of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law is key to improving the PoC in armed conflict.

Recommendations for Training on PoC

The following recommendations are a result of various interactions that the authors have had in the past years with the training community, PoC practitioners, the UN and the AU. These recommendations are intended to provide support to the various training centres that currently are, or plan to be, engaged in the development and conduct of trainings on PoC for peacekeepers.¹⁶

1. Stay informed on the latest policy developments on PoC

Understanding and following the policy processes on PoC, and ensuring that the training material is informed by these processes, will allow the training to be more in sync with the requirements of the institutions involved in peacekeeping and thus more relevant to the recipients of the training.

The AU and UN policy processes are still underway, and it is highly imperative to understand that the draft guidelines and operational concepts may be subject to change. The changes in these documents and approaches will impact on and be reflected in the way the trainings are designed and conducted. The implementation of PoC trainings need to follow the development of policies in this field. Waiting for clarity of policies may result in higher quality tailored trainings.

2. Convey to the participants a comprehensive understanding of PoC

The tiered approaches to PoC are aimed to give more clarity to the concept and allow better understanding of the protective actions being developed. However, some of the training centres that have recently engaged in developing trainings on protection have opted to focus solely on one specific tier of protection. Whilst this brief does not recommend any kind of specific action towards either a broader or narrower approach, we do believe it is important to note that there are strong links between the different PoC tiers, and that they are considered mutually reinforcing. As such, if a narrower approach to PoC is chosen, the training centre should do a thorough assessment with regard to the risks and limitations of implementing this approach. If training centres adopt a narrow focus on PoC, trainers should nevertheless ensure that participants understand the broader PoC context, including the other tiers of PoC.

3. Harmonisation is key, but in the appropriate time

Coordination between training centres is crucial in order to ensure a harmonised approach to PoC trainings, and has been one of the driving aspects of associations like APSTA. Harmonisation bolsters training centres’ capacity to ensure that trainings are up to the required standards, and that actors in the field are equipped with the skills that are necessary for them to conduct PoC activities.

However, currently, there are two important challenges to the effect of harmonisation. Firstly, since policy processes are not completed, there is still lack of clarity with regards to the actual training standards and requirements. Secondly, for the same reasons, the amount of products to be harmonised is still small. Harmonisation, thus risks becoming the imposition of one policy product rather than ensuring that the set of PoC products are interlinked and compatible.

These challenges must be closely considered to avoid a “rushed” process of harmonisation without making sure all the actors are clear on what they are trying to harmonise, and with which objectives. Thus, harmonisation should be seen as the final step in the process of developing policies and training on PoC.

4. Mix the participants

A wide and diverse range of actors are involved in PoC. Since they deal with protection in different ways, they also require different skills. Due to the comprehensive approaches to PoC in the UN and the AU, it is strongly preferable to train civilian, police and military in the same groups. Instead of separating actors by function (civilian, military, police) they should be separated according to the level within which they are working, i.e. tactical/field, operational/planning/programming and senior leaders. In this way, the various actors can relate to each other and understand their different and interrelated roles in implementing PoC. Cooperating across functions is an important prerequisite for good protection work. Being confronted with this during training will prepare participants for one of many challenges facing them in the field.

5. Know the audience and their requirements

Defining and knowing the training audience is crucial for designing the training. Know the requirements of the participants to make sure the training is relevant for them. For example, in UN peacekeeping missions, senior mission leaders, sector commanders and other actors at their level of management and command need training on how to develop good protection strategies, as well as their role in articulating clear intent and providing guidance and instruction for their subordinates to follow. For soldiers at the tactical level or for civilian personnel, data collection might be one of the most important PoC skills. PoC is a complicated endeavour where numerous actors are involved. It is a task in which host government, local communities, parties to the conflict, humanitarian NGOs and human rights actors, and others all need to be engaged in order to succeed.

6. Adapt the training to the context

It is important to relate the training to specific contexts in which the trainees will most likely be operating. Whilst every mission context is different, it is important that participants are stimulated to reflect on the actual threats facing the civilian population on the ground. However, there is no intrinsic tension between general versus tailored courses. Both general and tailored aspects are relevant, but each has its own needs and objectives. There are several ways of addressing this issue:

Pre-deployment training should be generic and prepare the participants for different contexts and challenges, making them versatile and able to perform PoC tasks in different environments. Here, the scenario-based exercises are well-suited to give participants a generic, but at the same time hands-on approach to PoC in the field.

Mission-specific pre-deployment training is particularly useful for senior leadership. Currently, they only receive generic training before they are assigned to a mission. An additional mission-specific pre-deployment training – tailored to the specific post to which they have been assigned – will prepare them for the challenges they will face in the mission.

In-mission training can be especially effective as it can be used as an opportunity to create dialogue among the key managers and commanders that will need to take critical decisions in a crisis. This type of training can also contribute to build team spirit and create new informal and soft networks that can be critical for crisis management. For example, a biannual training that involves all battalion commanders and equivalent police and civilian staff in a specific province or region, sector/brigade HQ and equivalent civilian and police staff, as well as select mission HQ staff, can be extremely valuable in this regard. Such trainings can be meaningfully facilitated by one of the African peacekeeping training centres.

7. Teach the facts – face the dilemmas

The manner in which PoC trainings are delivered is of crucial importance. Some issues, such as the legal aspects of protection, or the meaning of PoC mandate language, are prescriptive and can be taught “from the blackboard”. Other issues, such as the challenges facing protection actors who need to balance the objective of protecting civilians and other tasks, should be more open to discussion and debate. The UN PoC training package is designed to give peacekeepers an understanding of the range of authorities, considerations and expectations of the UN in terms of its PoC mandate. However, it does not eliminate the need for peacekeepers to exercise good judgement in the field based on context-specific analysis. The challenges facing protection actors are numerous and there is seldom one correct answer to a problem. Stimulating debate among trainees about how to address protection threats can raise their awareness of this fact. Difficult dilemmas should not be an excuse for inaction.

Conclusion

The emergence of PoC as a key component of AU and UN peacekeeping mandates and the finalisation of current policy processes presents both opportunities and challenges for the actors involved in peacekeeping operations. In terms of opportunities, development of PoC policies provides more clarity as to what the UN, the AU and the international community at large expect when it comes to the protection of civilians during crisis and in conflict areas. Thus, PoC development should contribute to improve the operationalisation and implementation of PoC in the field. In terms of challenges, it means that actors involved in PoC will be held to higher – or better defined – standards than before. This challenge, however, is of a positive nature that should stimulate PoC actors to focus and increase their efforts.

Both these aspects of recent development are important to keep in mind for training institutions that seek to develop curricula and courses on PoC for peacekeepers. It is our hope that this Policy & Practice Brief, through specific recommendations, will contribute in stimulating training centres in the development of better and more meaningful trainings. And ultimately, that it will contribute to better protection for civilians in conflict and crisis areas where peacekeeping operations are deployed.

Endnotes

1. Holt, Victoria; Taylor, Glyn (2009) Protecting Civilians in the Context of UN Peacekeeping Operations: Successes, Setbacks and Remaining Challenges, United Nations, p.4.
2. It is important to note that this Policy & Practice Brief focuses on PoC policy and training developments for UN and AU Peacekeeping operations. It acknowledges that PoC has been a task conducted by several humanitarian actors, including the International Committee of the Red Cross. The fact that these actors are not directly focused in the Brief does not ignore their importance in this field. Instead, the aim is to focus on one new area of development in the PoC debate that is not frequently mainstreamed at all levels. As such, this brief should be seen as complementary to existing debates.
3. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1270 (1999) S/RES/1270.
4. Holt, Victoria; Taylor, Glyn. (2009) Op Cit. p. 6-9.
5. For more information see de Coning, Cedric H., Walter Lotze, Zinurine Alghali, Lamii Kromah (2010). Conference Proceedings: Report of the Workshop on Mission-Wide Protection Strategies on the Protection of Civilians in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. Oslo, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes. 26 pages. Security in Practice 9 · 2010.
6. UNIFEM, DPKO, and UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (2011) Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: An Analytical Inventory of Peacekeeping Practice. New York: United Nations.
7. AU Staff (2011) Email interview with one author on 12 April 2011.
8. The Draft Guidelines were developed at the African Union commission International Symposium on the Protection of Civilians in Conflict Zones (Addis Ababa, March 2010), with the assistance of the Australian government and the Asia-Pacific Civil-Military Centre of Excellence.
9. Assembly of the African Union 25 – 27 July (2010) Kampala, Uganda. Assembly/AU/Dec.289-331(XV).
10. AU Peace and Security Council, 245th Meeting, 15 October (2010) PSC/MIN/1(CCXXXXV).
11. Declaration. 7th Meeting of the African Chiefs of Defence, 7 December (2010), Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
12. African Union Peace and Security Council, 279th Meeting Press Statement. 18 May (2011) PSC/PR/BR.(CCLXXIX).
13. Holt, Victoria; Taylor, Glyn. Op. Cit.
14. Draft AU Guidelines for the Protection of Civilians by Peace Support Missions.
15. International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC), the Legon Centre for International Affairs & Diplomacy (LECIAD), the National Defence College Nigeria (NDC), the Southern African Development Community – Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre (RPTC), and the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR).
16. It is important to note that the recommendations should be viewed as such, and are not intended to be used as clear prescriptions for what training centres should or should not do.