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We – the military & police peacekeepers – are color blind. We are not able to recognize skin colors; only camaraderie. If you save my “skin” I trust you, regardless the pigmentation of your “skin”, and I will save yours. What I am looking for is the competency, not the melanin. Skin colors are justContinuar lendo “Peacekeepers are “color blind””

Up until about 2008, the wars also had a Forward Line of Own Troops (FLOT) in our living rooms, more specifically – in from of the TV set. It was common to hear the buzzwords “if you control the media contents, you have access to the hearts and brains of your audiences”. The military didContinuar lendo “Social networks at the FLOT”

Nas missões de Apoio à Paz por vezes acontecem coisas muito preocupantes, mas que, quando recordadas muitos anos depois, não deixam de ter um toque de pitoresco, com algum humor à mistura. Recordo um camarada brasileiro, Observador Militar da UNPROFOR na Bósnia Herzegovina, tal como eu, que havia sido aprisionado por forças Sérvias e usadoContinuar lendo “Estórias de missão – O heroísmo Bossa Nova”

During the last year of Bosnia’s War, I had to interview several people to understand and report the population’s feeling regarding the ongoing conflict. Regardless of the ethnic group, age, gender or social condition, the population had had enough of the war. They all recognized the disagreements between the different ethnic groups, but that warContinuar lendo “Dayton babies get to power in Bosnia”

25 years ago, on the 25th July 1995, about one week after the fall of Srebrenica’s UN Safe Area, the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) attacked and took yet another UN Safe Area – Zepa. Not many people remember the fall of Zepa, but it was quite a disastrous situation for the Bosnian Muslins and theContinuar lendo “We’ve all remembered Srebrenica, but what about Zepa?”

During the Bosnian War (1992-1995) the World learned about the United Nations blue helmets contingents deployed in the battle fields. Not many people knew about the small branch of United Nations Military Observers (UNMO) that were constantly travelling unarmed, across the confrontation lines, counting and reporting the amount of shells fired, the exchange of corpsesContinuar lendo “UNPROFOR radar monitoring of the Bosnian War”

Both NATO and the UN use the same acronym – CIMIC – to address matters related to Civilian and Military interaction trying to help the Host Nation population in a Peace Support Operation. However, do not let the similarity full you; for NATO, CIMIC means Civil Military Cooperation whilst for the UN, CIMIC stands forContinuar lendo “There’s a difference between NATO and UN CIMIC”

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) issued a global call related to the ongoing global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, requesting that appropriate military and civil defence assets be made available for the transport of urgently needed humanitarian and medical items. NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) respondedContinuar lendo “NATO Allies agree to support the UN call for airlift assistance”

In the job description of UN Military Observers and Military Advisors, one can find one last bullet point saying – “The incumbent must have a valid driving license”. Most people don’t pay much attention to it but, in fact, it is one of the most important items in an UNMO/MILAD “tool kit”. Why? Because theyContinuar lendo “Driving in UN mission areas”