Comprehensive Protection of Civilians (CPOC) Course in Beijing

Szöveg: Ensign Erika Szabóné Varga | 2018. december 5. 8:19

The United Nations organised a professional course with the title ”Comprehensive Protection of Civilians” in the capital of China. The twenty-four delegates of the nineteen invited countries came mainly from the African and Asian countries; the sole representative of the European area was Captain Áron Magony from the personnel of the HDF Civil-Military Co-operation and Psychological Operations Centre (HDF CMCPOC).

The overall aim of the training conducted in the Beijing Peace Operations Centre was preparing the participants supporting the protection of civilians with enhanced understanding of the application rules of military forces, whilst avoiding reducing the effectiveness of the military operations.

The course consisted of two parts: it started with a three-day theoretic block, and was closed with a two-day practice. The theoretic training began with the explanation of the most important concepts related to the protection of civilians, and then lectures followed about the legal background of the UN-operations, the structure, the organisations of the world organisation, about the tasks of the military missions, and also about the fundamental principles of the application of military forces during the UN-operations. In addition, they were presented with the methods, which can be applied during the UN-operations for analysing and addressing the threats affecting the civil population.

During the practice the students were involved – under the auspices of the United Nations –in various developing and planning work in the staff of a Chinese battalion intended to be deployed in the territory of a fictitious country. According to the scenario, the primary goal of the UN-forces was the protection of civilians.

During the practice they were tasked to analyse with the methods learned the major threats to the civilian actors in the area of operation (AO), and to make proposals to the commander of the battalion to address these.

Captain Áron Magony has already served in many areas of operation. "The participation in this and in similar courses not only deepens our knowledge about the new type of challenges and their responses, but it also contributes greatly to the preparedness of the Hungarian soldiers for more professional peace mission tasks" – he said.