Peacekeeping

The United Nations University-University of Ulster feasibility study which preceded the establishment of INCORE highlighted a number of problems which hindered the ability of international organisations to deal with the effects of ethnic conflicts. One of these problems was the variability of training available to peacekeepers. As a response to this, INCORE, along with partners from the University of Limerick and the Austrian Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution, carried out a major project into the Training and Preparation of Military and Civilian Peacekeepers. Published in 1996, the recommendations of the Report were based on the experiences of peacekeepers themselves and called for the standardisation of training programmes for civilian peacekeepers. The report also highlighted the need for military personnel to be aware of contact skills and, at a senior level, participate in the peacekeeping training programmes of other states.

The report was launched at a conference at INCORE's headquarters in June 1996. The proceedings of the conference are available in occasional paper form under Research Reports, as are a number of the papers including Dr. Gregory Tillett, Conflict Resolution for Military Peacekeepers, Dr. Tom Woodhouse & Dr. Oliver Ramsbotham, Terra Incognita: Here Be Dragons. Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution in Contemporary Conflict - Some relationships reconsidered, and Lt Col Colm Doyle, Lt Gen Satish Nambiar and Lt Gen Lars-Eric Wahlgren, The Training and Preparation of Peacekeepers: The Military View.