From 26 to 28 April, the Child Protection Team, in cooperation with the Integrated Training Service (ITS) and the Police Division of the United Nations Department of Peace Operations (DPO), conducted a workshop in Brühl, Germany, to validate the new specialized training materials on child protection for the UN Police. The three-day workshop was organized in collaboration with the Government of Germany.
Building upon their diverse experience in child protection, peacekeeping, training and policing, 17 Child Protection Advisers and UN Police personnel, including 10 women, from MINUSCA, MINUSMA, MONUSCO, UNMISS and UNSOM, national police trainers from Germany, Italy and Sweden, DPO representatives and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) jointly reviewed and provided feedback on the updated training package.
“These training modules aim at introducing child protection concepts and providing basic knowledge on situations that UN Police Officers will encounter once deployed, such as supporting child-sensitive arrest and detention,” noted Serena Tiberia, Child Protection Team Leader in DPO.
Launched in 2016 to promote a better understanding of the child protection mandate and enhance the capacity of UN Police personnel to support its implementation, the specialized training materials have been recently updated to reflect new developments that occurred during the past years.
Deploying personnel trained in child protection has become an increasingly crucial element for UN peace operations, and training in child protection is recognized as a key priority for the DPO.
“Protecting children is a core police task, both in a domestic and in a peacekeeping context. This relevant training programme will complement others, such as the specialized training materials for UN Police officers in UN peace operations and the protection of civilians and conflict-related sexual violence,” highlighted Stefan Schwarz, Police Training Officer in DPO.
Once finalized, the training materials will be disseminated to the Member States, including police-contributing countries, UN peace operations, and child protection training partners.
As of 28 February 2022, 90 per cent [ST1] of all Individual Police Officers deployed to United Nations missions were in MINUSCA, MINUSMA, MONUSCO and UNMISS, the four UN peacekeeping operations with a child protection mandate.
For more information, please contact: pbps-childprotection-unhq@un.org.
[ST1]1,774 out of 1,972 deployed as of 28 February 2022 (89.95 per cent).