21 March 2017

Defence Force Skills in Demand for United Nations Training

New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) experience and skills have again been sought out to help train future United Nations peacekeepers.

Three NZDF personnel will be instructors at a major three-week peacekeeping training in Nepal, involving about 120 participants from 30 countries.

Lieutenant Colonel Jane Derbyshire will focus on the application of gender in military operations, a subject which includes the protection of civilians, especially women and girls, as part of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Flight Sergeant Joe Regan will be involved in the field training exercise, and Lieutenant Commander Andrew Wells will help conduct the staff training exercise.

“My role will be to assist in training operational planners and tactical troops in how to integrate a gender perspective to bring about a more sustainable peace in UN missions,” Lieutenant Colonel Derbyshire said.

“The NZDF team is looking forward to the opportunity to work with this multi-national audience. New Zealand supports regional efforts to increase the capacity of Asia-Pacific nations in undertaking peacekeeping operations. We have also contributed to the UN’s campaign to raise global awareness of the integral role that women play in peace and security.”

The Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) Capstone Multinational Peacekeeping Exercise will be held at Nepal’s Birendra Peace Operations Training Centre from 17 March to 3 April. The centre, which was established by the Nepalese Army as a peacekeeping training camp in 1986, delivers training under the guidelines of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

In late 2015 and again last year one of the NZDF’s most experienced female commanders, Lieutenant Colonel Helen Cooper, was invited to deliver a module on the impact females have on military operations to students at the prestigious Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Ghana. Her presentation focused on the benefits female leaders bring to peace and security operations, and outlined the lessons she had learned as a female commander on operations.

ENDS

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