The Australian Government, in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), has produced a new documentary on the Protection of Civilians entitled Mandated to Protect.
The documentary was launched by His Excellency, Mr Gary Quinlan, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations, and Michael G Smith AO, Executive Director of the Centre, in New York on 3 November 2011.
Led by the Asia Pacific Civil-Military Centre of Excellence, the documentary was produced in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Agency for International Development, and UNITAR.
Introduced by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the documentary consists of interviews with UN mission planners, leaders, military commanders, police and civilian personnel, as well as consulting with notable academics and representatives from the ICRC, UN humanitarian agencies, the African Union and NGOs.
The documentary is designed to be an educational tool that may be used to introduce peacekeepers, policy makers and the general public to some of the complexities involved in discharging protection mandates. It examines the lessons learned and challenges faced by peacekeepers when it comes to implementing protection of civilian (POC) mandates. The result is a one-of-a-kind documentary that provides a repository of current and new thinking on POC.
The final product will be incorporated into UNITAR’s online training program, as well as being made available to all peacekeeping training centres around the world.
Following the official launch in New York, regional launches are planned to be held in Geneva, Sydney and Addis Ababa in the coming months.
UNITAR recently posted a newsletter article about the Documentary, available here.
Mandated to Protect is available to view online at the Centre’s YouTube Channel and is also embedded below.
(Please note this video contains images some may find distressing.)
Amy Rosnell is the Centre’s Protection of Civilians Officer in the Governance and Rule of Law Program.
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License.
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