Seminar on modern multinational operations

In the Serbian Armed Forces Peacekeeping Operations Centre today, a seminar on the modern multinational operations has been held with participation of the world-renowned experts in this field such as Milos Strugar, Special Adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and until recently the Deputy Chief of UNIFIL mission in Lebanon, Julian Harston, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in missions in Haiti and in the Western Sahara and a former director of the UN Division for the Middle East and Africa, as well as Colonel Milivoje Pajovic, Chief of the Peacekeeping Operations Centre.

The purpose of the seminar was to examine the concept of modern peacekeeping operations, which are essentially multidimensional, having in mind the civilian, military and police component whose size depends on the mandate of the specific mission.

Opening the seminar, Colonel Pajovic said that there are currently 214 of our soldiers participating in the UN and the EU missions, and that during the previous year the number of the Serbian peacekeepers deployed to the missions around the world was the same as their number throughout the whole past decade. Besides, he added, the Centre develops also the academic support for our presence in missions around the world.

Speaking about modern peacekeeping operations, as well as how they differ from the traditional understanding, Julian Harston highlighted an integrated approach that has developed in the UN over the last decades, noting that both the military and political components must be developed in parallel. He also pointed out that the challenges of peace operations today are very large, because very often the conflicts go beyond the borders of individual countries. In the continuation of the meeting, he drew special attention to the role of intelligence services in the UN operations.

Looking back at the history of the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon, Milos Strugar reminded of the nature of the conflict in that country as well as the most important events and documents of the United Nations related to this mission. Bearing in mind that he was able to collaborate with the members of the Serbian Armed Forces who are deployed in Lebanon, he assessed their work very positively, saying that they showed a high level of professionalism and knowledge, presenting their army, but also their country in the best possible way. What is the highest value of being in a mission for the members of our military, Strugar said, is that they come back from the mission richer for the experience that is valuable both for the defence system and for the future participants in the missions.

Today's seminar, besides the members of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, was attended by representatives of the Faculty of Security Studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior and the UN Office in Belgrade.