Training for UNUnited Nations Missions

The United Nations (UNUnited Nations) is the central actor in international crisis and conflict management. In this respect, it is particularly well known for its peacekeeping operations, also called ‘blue helmet missions’. At the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College, staff officers and civilian leadership personnel are trained for these peacekeeping operations.

The core element of this training is the United Nations Staff Officers Course (UNSOC) in Hamburg, which is held three times a year. During this three-week course, staff officers and civilian leadership personnel from all over the world are prepared for staff assignments in UNUnited Nations headquarters. They learn about the specific challenges of UNUnited Nations peacekeeping missions and about the wide range of organisations and departments within the United Nations. 

The UNSOC is characterised by a unique spectrum of military, political, police-related, humanitarian and legal topics that are discussed with the course participants and facilitated by experienced and often high-ranking civilian and military lecturers and guest lecturers from Germany and abroad. 

‘The increase in knowledge is enormous!’

This is how Colonel (GSGesetzliche Schutzaufgaben) Axel Jancke, former head of the United Nations/European Union section at the responsible Faculty, describes the steep learning curve experienced by all course participants.

Who can attend the course?

What makes this course so special is the fact that it is attended by people from very diverse backgrounds. Aside from Bundeswehr officers, civilian leadership personnel from the FMoDFederal Ministry of Defence, the police and other governmental and nongovernmental organisations take part in the UNSOC. In addition to that, staff officers of foreign armed forces can participate in the course within the scope of training assistance. Participants do not necessarily have to be earmarked for a specific UNUnited Nations mission. Nevertheless, an upcoming assignment is often the reason for participation.

What topics are covered during the course?

Diversity is not only an apt description for the participants of the course but also with regard to its contents. The training spectrum ranges from the political-strategic level at the UNUnited Nations Headquarters in New York to the operational and tactical levels in mission countries, taking the multitude of local civilian actors and civil-military cooperation into consideration. The training focuses particularly on the tactical level of armed forces deployed on a mission. After a two-week input phase, the course participants are required to put their newly acquired knowledge into practice by taking part in a map exercise of several days. In a team, they have to solve typical problems of a fictional UNUnited Nations mission.

Who are the lecturers?

‘People with a wealth of experience from UNUnited Nations missions. Knowledge taken from practice for use in practice! Our lecturers and guest lecturers are top experts and absolutely diverse as to their backgrounds,’ says Colonel (GSGesetzliche Schutzaufgaben) Jancke with pride. For instance, the College is fortunate to have secured three former heads of UNUnited Nations peacekeeping operations as guest lecturers, among them Martin Kobler. In addition, lectures are given by a variety of civilian lecturers from international governmental and nongovernmental organisations and from the Federal Foreign Office. All lecturers of the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College teaching on this course are experienced staff and general staff officers who have served on several UNUnited Nations missions, in assignments at the UNUnited Nations Headquarters or with Germany’s Permanent Mission to the UNUnited Nations in New York. Moreover, guest lecturers employed in missions abroad regularly give online lectures directly from their mission countries. And last but not least, course participants, civilian leadership personnel among them, share their own mission experiences as well – such as Sandra Schuckmann-Honsel from the German Welthungerhilfe aid agency, who not long ago was a participant on the UNSOC and who has now become a guest lecturer reporting live from South Sudan.

At the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College, UNUnited Nations training is not only provided during the UNSOC. UNUnited Nations training also forms part of the two-year National and one-year International General/Admiral Staff Officer Course, where specific target groups are addressed in UNUnited Nations-related seminars of several weeks.

by Ines Blandau  email