Brazilian military integrated COpPazNav’s Mobile Training Team
By Agência Marinha de Notícias – Huehuetoca, MexicoThe Brazilian Navy’s Naval Peace Operations Center (COpPazNav) sent a Mobile Training Team (EMT) to Mexico, composed of Sea and War Captains (Technical Staff) Monica Thüler, Carla Daniel and Nilza Barros, to conduct the Gender Advisor Course from February 5 to 9, which aims to prepare military personnel who will act as gender advisors or focal points in United Nations (UN) peace operations.
The course was held at the facilities of Mexico’s Joint Peace Operations Training Center (CECOPAM) and was attended by 30 military personnel, including officers and non-commissioned officers from the Mexican Armed Forces, 19 women and 11 men, who are planning to work on a UN peacekeeping mission, either in an individual capacity or as part of Mexico’s Joint Engineer Company for Peace Operations (CICOMPAZ). The group of students also included some military personnel from CECOPAM itself, who took the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of issues related to the UN’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda, which emphasizes the importance of women’s participation in the process of achieving and maintaining peace in places of conflict.
The Gender Advisor course is based on UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 2242, which require member states to apply a gender perspective in military peacekeeping activities. Also on the basis of these resolutions, the UN has set the standard that each military unit deployed in a peacekeeping mission should have at least one gender focal point.
In the field, the Gender Advisors work to promote female participation in all areas related to peace missions, which includes not only physical presence, but also an active voice and influence in decisions and processes. Another front on which the Counsellors work is preventing and responding to conflict-related sexual violence.
According to Brazil’s Military Defense Attaché in Mexico, Colonel Marcio de Lima Ribeiro, Mexico has made major investments in the area of peace operations, especially in preparing its units. According to the Military Attaché, the expectations for the arrival of the COpPazNav EMT were high, given that the country’s Armed Forces are focused on meeting the current requirements of gender parity and transversalization.
Captain Pedro Martinez, a member of CICOMPAZ, said that despite the training the members of the company had already received, the experience and practice shared by the COpPazNav instructors helped them to better understand many aspects of the task performed by a Gender Advisor.
In the words of the Director of CECOPAM, Colonel Jose Marcellino Badillo Betancourt, “the Mexican Armed Forces have had female soldiers in their ranks since the 1990s, but the big leap was made in 2007, when women were allowed to enter the Military Academy. We are currently facing another major advance in terms of women’s participation in the military: serving in peace missions.”
The course ended in a ceremony presided over by the Center’s Director and attended by a representative of the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA), Lieutenant Colonel Leopoldo Tenorio Torres, who thanked Brazil for its support at this important time when Mexico is preparing its first contingent to be deployed on a peacekeeping mission. He believes that the partnership is proving fruitful and hopes that the countries will be able to forge even closer ties when it comes to preparing and training military personnel.
According to Sea and War Captain Carla Daniel, “the course was a unique experience. The students were eager to learn and were very dedicated. The quality of the work presented was surprising. In addition, we were treated with great deference by CECOPAM, and the Brazilian flag was raised every day”.
COpPazNav
The Naval Peace Operations Center (COpPazNav – Centro de Operações de Paz de Caráter Naval) was created in 2008 and prepares military personnel from the Brazilian Navy (MB), other Armed Forces, Assisting Forces and military personnel from Friendly Nations, as well as civilians from the Naval Force itself and other agencies and institutions, for peace operations.
COpPazNav plays a very important role as a center for depositing and disseminating knowledge and experience acquired in the context of peace and humanitarian operations, contributing to the MB’s Operational Sector. It is also the vector for organizing and executing national and international MB events in the field of peace and humanitarian operations, contributing to the thinking and formulation of doctrine for such operations.
In 2020, 2021 and 2023, COpPazNav received certificates of recognition from the UN for three of its courses: the Naval Peace Operations Course (UN MTF); the International Riverine Peace Operations Course (UN MRU); and the Peace Operations Intelligence Course (UN MPKIO). These certificates attest to the excellence of the work carried out by COpPazNav in the international community, consolidating its vocation as a reference center in training for United Nations peacekeeping missions. COpPazNav is currently the only Center in the world to hold certification for the first two courses (UN MTF and UN MRU) and, together with the Center in Kenya, is one of only two Centers with certification for the Intelligence Course.
“Each Peace Operations Center in the world is unique in its experience and that’s why partnerships like this are unique opportunities to exchange knowledge and grow. In addition to the international certificates issued by the UN training sector for three of our courses, we have female instructors who have worked as Gender Advisors at MINUSCA, which is what sets COpPazNav apart and which motivated Mexico’s invitation to send our Mobile Training Team. We were very honored by the invitation and very well received by all the CECOPAM military personnel. We are planning new opportunities for partnerships between the two centers,” said COpPazNav Commander, Frigate Captain Tarick Taets.
Source: Agência Marinha de Notícias *** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***