Page 120 - RSDG Year of 2022 CREST

128 EAGLE AND CARBINE
United Nations Comprehensive Protection of Civilians Course
Maj Dan Lee-Mikus
In preparation for deployment as Plans Officer on Op NEWCOMBE ROTO 5 I attended the United Nations Comprehensive Protection of Civilians Course (UNCPOCC), delivered by the Peacekeeping School in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan, it turns out, is a long way from Fife. I flew from Edinburgh to Istanbul, then from Istanbul to Almaty, a large industrial city on the eastern edge of the vast country, close to the borders with Kyrgyzstan and China, and at an altitude of 1000m. I arrived in the city at 6am local time, corresponding to midnight UK time, so spent the first day trying to fend off sleep until evening. Kazakhstan is investing vigorously in UN Peacekeeping. It aims to create a regional centre of excellence in its school in Almaty, where military, police and civilian staff from nations in the region and beyond will come to train prior to deployment on UN missions. The content of the courses is fixed by the UN and assumes no prior military knowledge. The first week of the course is generic military education (think Values and Standards MATT 6 in old money), and little reference is made to the subject of protecting civilians. The second week introduced an exercise scenario which required the staff to generate a situation brief, a risk assessment, and a draft Course of Action. There were some excellent guest lecturers, including a memorable one from a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ICRC approach to operational theatres is inevitably
The Ile Alatau National Park is full of people who leap out and hassle you to pose for photos, then charge you $5 to send you the results. Here with a police officer from Kyrgyzstan.
3200m altitude in the Ile Alatau National Park
Cultural entertainment; apparently they are paras.