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The Civilian Personnel of Peace-Keeping/Humanitarian Operations and Election Monitoring Missions Training Course

1-19 July 2002

Peace-keeping was pioneered and developed by the United Nations as one of the means for maintaining international peace and security. Since cold war tensions have subsided, peace has been threatened by resurgent ethnic and nationalist conflicts in many regions. Consequently, United Nations peace-keeping operations have grown rapidly in number and complexity. “Traditional” peace-keeping, has given way to complex, integrated operations which require a combination of political, military and humanitarian action.

These multidimensional operations require qualified and readily available civilian personnel and their growing complexity calls for a large group of professionals willing to undertake such assignments. International and regional organisations, Member States and NGOs are making efforts to respond quickly to crises and initiatives have been taken to improve preparedness, training and standby capacity of their personnel. However, as stressed in many UN documents, we face a real need for suitable training for civilian peace-keepers.

The aim of the course is to train a limited number of participants for the tasks usually assigned to the civilian component of peace-keeping/humanitarian operations and election monitoring missions. The Course maintains strong links with international institutions, such as the United Nations, the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Specific co-operation arrangements have been established with: the United Nations Department of Peace-keeping Operations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the United Nations Volunteers.

Level: professional

Location: Pisa, Italy

Participants: The course is open to no more than 40 participants. Applicants must have a university degree in any field or the equivalent of 5-year working experience in relevant fields. They must be fluent in English. Applicants will be selected on the basis of the information provided in their curriculum vitae and in an ad hoc application form. The selection will be made by a special Commission whose judgement is final. At the end of the course participants who have attended at least 75% of the lessons will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

Tuition, fee, lodging: 1,000 EURO (includes tuition fee, reference material and lunch on class days). A limited number of scholarships is provided. Some scholarships will cover the tuition fees and a very few will cover lodging and full board expenses. In exceptional cases financial assistance, including a contribution towards travel expenses, may be provided. In the assignment of the scholarships, preference will be given to nationals from non-OECD countries. Registration form can be found at: http://www.itp.sssup.it/docs/AF_pk2002.pdf (PDF file). Deadline of application: 9 April 2002.

Contact Information:
International Training Programme for Conflict Management
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna
Via Carducci, 40
56127 Pisa
ITALY
Tel: +39-050-883 312
Fax: +39-050-883 506
E-mail: itp@sssup.it
Web: http://www.itp.sssup.it/