Summary 
In June 2002, two training courses on the special needs of women and children in conflict and post-conflict situations were organized by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). With this peacekeeping mission operating on both sides of the border, one seminar was offered in Asmara from 17 to 19 June 2002 and a second course was held in Addis Ababa from 21 to 24 June 2002. 

All evaluations and recommendations in this report are based on UNITAR’s observations during the two seminars and, in particular, on oral and written comments received from the participants, who were encouraged to give feed-back to UNITAR throughout the courses and to complete a evaluation questionnaire at the end of each seminar. The full text of this evaluation report (including statistics) can be downloaded here.

Purposes of the Seminars
The purposes of the seminars were to:

Familiarize civilian peacekeeping staff with the specific needs of women and children during armed conflict, repatriation, resettlement, reintegration as well as post-conflict reconstruction efforts;
Analyze international legal standards that provide protection for women and children in conflict situations;
Refresh the participants' knowledge in selected areas of humanitarian, refugee and international human rights law;
Raise their awareness for the the demographic structure of war torn-societies;
Make them understand the important role that women play as partners in assistance operations, during reconstruction, reconciliation and peace-building;
Expose them to the culture, history and social norms of the host country's society with a focus on gender relations;
Provide training on the social behaviour required to deal with their local female counterparts in daily encounters in the field and in contacts with the local governmental and administrative structures;
Increase their understanding for the difficulties of operating in a cross-cultural environment and, thus, help them to become reliable and responsible members of multi-dimensional peacekeeping operations;
Look at the current reconstruction and development process in Ethiopia and Eritrea with a focus on women and children.

Though an independent UNITAR programme, the seminars should be seen in the context of related, ongoing UNMEE and UN training activities in the mission area, e.g. the gender and peacekeeping training for military staff, the child protection handbook developed by UNICEF and UNMEE, and the HIV/AIDS training of Ethiopian and Eritrean military officers. 

Participation
In total, 70 participants (38 in Asmara and 32 in Addis Ababa) attended the two courses. 57% of them were women. Since the number of staff interested in the course had been extremely high UNITAR organized two courses to provide as many staff members as possible with an opportunity to participate.

The participants had been nominated by UNMEE and selected in cooperation with UNITAR.  In line with the guidelines governing the training programme, most participants were junior or mid-level civilian UNMEE staff members. Many, but not all (which was intended) covered women's or children's issues as a part of their professional duties. Internationals and locals were equally represented. Although most participants worked at UNMEE Headquarters, several staff from field offices also attended the training. A limited number of UN staff members working for other parts of the UN system in the mission area were also admitted, as were some representatives of local women’s or human rights NGOs. Due to the small size of the UNMEE Headquarters in Addis Ababa, non-UNMEE participants actually constituted a majority of the participants who attended the course in Ethiopia.

Methodology and Training Material
The two UNITAR seminars were almost identical in content although some shorter training modules were only offered in one location due to the inability of trainers to be present at both seminars. UNITAR limited the length of the seminars to three days because UNMEE felt that for many staff members in a hectic field mission environment this would be the maximum amount of time they could be released from their normal duties. At the beginning of each course, every participant was given a binder of background reading material for further self-study, which contained academic essays, official UN documents, fact sheets, reports, case studies, public information material, printed versions of visual presentations used during the seminars, etc. This binder had been produced by UNITAR in close cooperation with the lecturers and their organizations. Additional material was distributed by most trainers during their own courses.

Interagency Cooperation
The successful implementation of these two courses was mainly due to a well-functioning cooperation between UNITAR, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in New York, and UNMEE. UNMEE's help proved to be vital in the selection of participants as well as in the administrative and logistical preparation of the two seminars in Asmara and Addis Ababa since there was a limit to the number of aspects that could be handled by UNITAR in Geneva, thousands of miles away from the training venue. Before and during the conduct of the courses in the mission area, UNMEE staff, in particular Training Focal Point Joyce Muruatetu and Human Rights Officer Elio Tamburi, willingly helped in the preparation of the training activities, which showed how useful and indispensable competent counterparts in the targeted peacekeeping mission are for UNITAR.

In designing, developing and implementing the training modules UNITAR worked closely with other international organizations, in particular with UNHCR, UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). UNICEF acted as an ad hoc co-sponsor of the courses by paying the travel costs of its lecturers. Very substantial in-kind contributions (staff working time, ground and air transport in the mission area, equipment and supplies) were made by UNMEE.

 

TRAINING MODULES

UNMEE'S HUMAN RIGHTS MANDATE AND ACTIVITIES
Franklyn B. Kargbo, UNMEE Chief Human Rights Officer (in Asmara)
Elio Tamburi, UNMEE Human Rights Officer (in Addis Ababa)
Both Mr. Kargbo and Mr. Tamburi reminded the participants how the Brahimi Report had urged all peacekeeping missions to include a human rights component, that UNMEE was the first operation established after this report, and that human rights were now fully integrated into UNMEE, with a Human Rights Officer in each sector HQ. They outlined UNMEE's activities in the area of human rights, which are to monitor the human rights situation of prisoners of war and of civilians affected by the conflict (especially Eritreans living in Ethiopia and vice versa), to train UNMEE staff members in human rights (currently military personnel only, with civilians soon to be included), and to coordinate all human rights activities in the Temporary Security Zone established along the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The audience also learned about UNMEE's approach to solving human rights problems, which is to enter into confidential consultations with the concerned government, a procedure that was described as – admittedly – not very transparent, but extremely effective.

GENDER AND PEACEKEEPING
Marlene Nilsson, Junior Professional Officer, Peacekeeping Best Practices Unit, United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations
Ms. Nilsson discussed stereotypes of "male" and "female" behaviour, and of gender roles and gender choices, all with the aim of making the participants culturally sensitive and responsible, and of raising their awareness for the fact that men and women may experience their roles as refugees, combatants, landmine victims or sexually abused persons in a completely different manner. Ms. Nilsson also explained the concept of gender mainstreaming, which is a global strategy to ensure that the (often different) concerns and needs of men and women are taken into account in the UN's work. She described the first step of this strategy, which is to analyze the effects on men and women of all decisions taken in an organization and appealed to UNMEE staff to start using this technique in their own work in a conscious manner and with immediate effect.

WOMEN AND WAR - THE SITUATION, RIGHTS AND NEEDS OF WOMEN IN ARMED CONFLICT
Monika Kämpf, Women and War Project, ICRC
Ms. Kämpf described the ICRC's mandate and its Women and War project, which is based around a study conducted over three years to analyze the impact of armed conflict on women in order to heighten the awareness of the plight of women and of the protection to which they are entitled. Through a series of emotionally strong, at times shocking video clips produced by the ICRC the participants were made acutely aware of the multi-faceted reality of the role of women in conflict situations, who experience war in a multitude of ways, be it as refugees or victims of mines or rape as well as guerilla fighters, courageous humanitarian activists or children forced to manage a complete household. These circumstances force women into unfamiliar roles and demand strong coping skills from them. Ms. Kämpf also pledged that the ICRC, as a matter of policy, takes women's needs into consideration in every aspect of its work. Lastly, the participants were briefed on the most important elements of international humanitarian law, such as its main norms, its legal characteristics, the behaviour prohibited by international humanitarian law and the difference between international humanitarian law and human rights.

THE PROTECTION OF REFUGEES AND RETURNEES: THE SITUATION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN
Isabelle Misic, Protection Officer, UNHCR Eritrea (in Asmara)
Ron Pouwels, Regional Child Protection Officer, UNHCR Nairobi (in Addis Ababa)
Ms. Misic and Mr. Pouwels familiarized the participants with the definition of a refugee (as opposed to an internally displaced person or a migrant) and examined the various refugee-creating situations (reasons for persecution), UNHCR's mandate (providing protection and promoting solutions) as well as its three preferred "durable solutions" for refugees: voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement. They emphasized crucial elements of refugee protection such as respect for non-refoulement, admission to safety, effective access to a fair status determination procedure (individual or group determination) and humane treatment of all refugees. Particular care was taken to create awareness on the protection and specific needs of refugee women and for the fact that persecution can be gender-specific. The trainers also analyzed and categorized the rights in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and discussed key protection concerns of refugee children: separated refugee children, education, military recruitment of children, sexual exploitation, detention of refugee children, and documentation and registration. Lastly, they presented an overview of UNHCR's strategies and activities targeted at refugee and returnee children in the UNMEE mission area. 

CHILDREN IN AND AFTER CONFLICT
Sarah Norton-Staal, Regional Child Protection Officer, UNICEF Nairobi
Fatuma Ibrahim, Save the Children Sweden, Nairobi (in Addis Ababa)
Within the framework of this training module, the historical evolution of the protection of children in international law (Geneva Conventions, 1951 Refugee Convention, 1959 Declaration on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Rights of the Child) and the humanitarian principles guiding the work of organizations such as UNICEF were presented. The trainers explained which children are particularly at risk during politically volatile situations (those who are poor, uneducated, unaccompanied or possess no birth registration) and which preventative and protective measures ought to be taken. Participants were told bluntly that the arrival of an international peacekeeping mission may actually create new problems as was made evident by the occurrences of child abuse in refugee camps in West Africa or the increase in child prostitution and street children in Eritrea. Ms. Norton-Staal and Ms. Ibrahim called upon peacekeepers to see child protection as a vital part of their mandate and reminded them of the main protection issues requiring attention in a post-conflict situation, namely the danger of mines, lack of access to social services, sexual exploitation, lack of shelter, insufficient and disrupted medical care and education, child labour, psycho-social traumata due to conflict, the difficult adjustment to a new community, poverty, and the sudden increase in the number of orphans and child-headed households. 

CHILDREN IN AND AFTER CONFLICT: HIV AND AIDS (training module offered in Asmara only)
Temesghen Araya, National Programme Officer for HIV/AIDS, UNICEF Eritrea
Mr. Araya presented statistics highlighting the current AIDS situation globally, in Africa, and in Eritrea. He also explained how Eritrea had developed a national response to this situation, which consists of policy development, the creation of testing facilities, the training of medical staff and AIDS counsellors, the active involvement of the grassroots level, the organization of HIV carriers in self-help groups, AIDS education for the general public, and the systematic testing of all donated blood.

CHILDREN IN AND AFTER CONFLICT: LANDMINES (training module offered in Asmara only)
Hanoch Barlevi, Mine Awareness Officer, UNICEF Eritrea
Mr. Barlevi initially presented the guiding principles of the UNMEE Mine Action Coordination Centre, which are strict neutrality, a humanitarian approach, the national ownership of the programme, the sustainability of all projects and their integration with other relevant UNMEE activities. He then listed the activities of the UNMEE Mine Action Coordination Centre in the heavily mined Temporary Security Zone, which include mine risk education, marking and mapping of mine locations, mine clearance, stockpile destruction, assistance to mine victims and advocacy. Lastly, Mr. Barlevi reminded the participants that children are the most likely victims of mines and that a Community Mine Risk Education Programme had been developed to educate children about the danger of mines in local schools.

EVALUATION FINDINGS OF HEALTH ASSISTANCE TO WOMEN IN ZULA IDP CAMP, WITH SPECIAL FOCUS ON VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE (training module offered in Asmara only)
Tsehainesh Tekle, "Citizens for Peace in Eritrea"
Although the precise facts and figures would most likely be the matter of a hot dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, it is alleged that widespread rape of Eritrean women took place in the Eritrean region of Senafe while it was occupied by Ethiopian forces. Ms. Tekle of the Eritrean non-governmental organization Citizens for Peace in Eritrea narrated how her NGO had offered counselling and medical support to the victims, who were initially thankful for the assistance and freely talked about their experiences. When a more substantial project was about to be launched a year later the aid workers were suddenly confronted with a total denial. Ms. Tekle suggested that this could only have been the result of a communal cover-up orchestrated by men (and older women) who instructed the victims to pretend that the incidents never happened, to suppress their feelings, to carry on with their life and - as the social "reward" - to remain "respected" (and marriageable) in a traditional community where an admission of rape by even one woman would have stigmatized the whole village. This presentation offered a sobering look at the situation of many women in traditional, rural communities, which is still far removed from all ideals (and rights) of equality, human dignity and empowerment.

EVALUATION

Selected Comments from Participants
The participants completed a detailed evaluation questionnaire at the end of the seminars. Although most questions came with a pre-defined set of answers that participants could tick off, many participants made use of the "Any comments?" sections on the questionnaire and added more specific comments, some of which are summarized or reproduced below:

General:
"The team that worked on the preparation needs to be congratulated for a well-organized programme."
"I am completely satisfied and consider this training as very useful and fruitful."
"Participants should have been reminded to be more punctual!"
"More high-level staff members should be encouraged to attend."
"This type of training should also be given to military peacekeeping staff and United Nations Military Observers because they are the ones who have the closest contact with the locals."
"I am grateful to UNITAR for coming up with this wonderful programme! I hope it will continue and that all peacekeeping missions will have a chance to receive this training."
"I don't work in the peacekeeping mission, but I found several of the subjects very relevant to my work. I didn't feel left out at all. A very positive learning and sharing experience!"
"I don't think the programme needs any improvement. It was very well prepared and organized."
"Participants should have been reminded to be more punctual!"

Training modules and lecturers:
"Trainers were well equipped with information, knowledge and technical support. They all deserve an applause and thanks."
"Trainers were very cooperative and willing to elaborate on certain topics when asked. All were patient, tolerant, approachable and encouraged participation."
"The trainers were fully prepared and guided the participants smoothly through the topics."
"Participants willingly contributed to enrich and share knowledge and information."
"The trainers were not only 'very good', they were 'excellent'! They all managed to capture our attention and took us back to the reality of the ordeal of women refugees etc. This is the first training that was not boring at all!"
"The UNICEF presentation was professional, knowledgeable and clear."
"Was impressed by the ICRC's short and memorable films: seeing is believing! They should be broadcast publicly!"
"The DPKO training module finally helped me stop confusing 'sex' and 'gender'!"
"Some lecturers tried to cover too many topics and thus got a bit lost, jumping from topic to topic. Others had better skills in leading and directing the groups' discussions."
"Very good handouts and documents."

Course objectives:
"Overly ambitious list of objectives, but my expectations were still met."
"There was a lot of interaction; we learned a lot; examples clearly related to the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict were used."
"In a longer course, more time should be devoted to legal analysis, demographic aspects, intercultural awareness and practical social behaviour in the host country."
"Such training should actually happen as a part of national mission preparation training before staff's departure for the mission area and it should be made part of every induction programme in all peacekeeping missions!"
"The training is not only interesting but also valuable in achieving UN goals. Please continue offering this course to others and to give advanced or refresher training to those who have already participated."

Topics or items that could be included in the future:
Introduction to human rights law
Intercultural communication and awareness training for humanitarian workers;
Visit to a refugee camp or field project.

Recommendations 
Based on UNITAR's own observations and on the participants' feedback, the following six recommendations can be made:
Urgently continue offering courses like these to all relevant peacekeeping operations, including those that are “traditional” missions with a strong military component.
Ensure that training like this is offered to all types of personnel in a peacekeeping operation, by UNITAR or whichever part of the UN system is competent to deal with the targeted type of staff.
Encourage more senior-level staff members of peacekeeping missions to attend these courses.
Continue offering two courses per peacekeeping operation in different locations if there are enough participants and if the mission area is large enough for staff members to benefit from the availability of two training hubs.
Consider re-running a training course at a peacekeeping operation already served earlier if enough potential participants for a new course can be found.
Use the current seminar model of three days’ duration as the standard version to be recommended to all future target missions.

 

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