Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict – sharing experience with our Northern Allies

Estonian Armed Forces get the job done with minimal fuss and I love that.
Not my words, but those of Prince Harry when in Estonia last year, certainly another big fan of the Estonian military, having worked alongside them in Afghanistan.

His assessment of their service in Afghanistan would no doubt be shared by the thousands of other NATO, EU and UN troops Estonia have worked with in Lebanon, Kosovo, Mali, Bosnia, Iraq and the Central African Republic in the past decade too. Estonia’s regular military of roughly 6500 has proven itself versatile, capable, and motivated to support crisis response and peacekeeping wherever called upon.

At roughly the same time as Prince Harry’s visit last year, the UK held its Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.

As part of the 84-hour relay of events held by our Embassies across the world, we invited the Defence Forces and others to discuss Estonia training on gender issues in preparation for these myriad international duties.

Why did I suggest discussion on this?  Because both we and our Estonian Allies, with whom we are likely to deploy around the world in the framework of the new Joint Expeditionary Force, know that women and girls:

• are half of the societies we are trying to support.
• thus have an important and equal role to play in prevention and resolution of conflict, negotiating and keeping the peace, and post-conflict reconstruction
• are particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence, including rape and other forms of sexual abuse.

And they also know that rape and sexual abuse can affect men and boys too.
But our conversations revealed that existing gender-specific training was very far from adequate – Estonian officers, officials, police and civilians only received a couple of hours during pre-deployment preparations.
It was clear to me that sharing UK expertise on gender perspectives could help Estonia make an even better contribution to peace support operations, either alongside UK forces or when deploying with others.
That is why in January we ensured Estonian deployable experts became the first international partners to join our Stabilisation Unit courses on Women, Peace and Security.

That is why in June we arranged for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to visit London to discuss their upcoming 4-year National Action Plan on incorporating gender into peace and security efforts, setting a long-term intent for more gender training.

And that is why a few weeks ago we hosted the first ever dedicated training course on the Utility of Gender in Peace Operations in the Baltic States.

This brought together over 40 students, from the armed forces, ministries and police forces of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; everyone from Chief Commissioners and Colonels to junior infantry officers and legal advisers. More men signed up than women.

Trainers from the Peace Support Operations Training Centre, 77^th Brigade and International Organisation for Migration talked about civilian protection, the international legal framework, operational planning, and the role of international police. A syndicate exercise helped translate the theory into development of a practical response.

All students explained that the lessons learnt applied directly to their current or next roles, whether at home or abroad. If there was any proof I needed that we had plugged an important gap in training, this was it.

Future cooperation on 1325/PSVI can add extra strings to Estonia’s bow. This will stand the UK, NATO, EU and UN in good stead for future operations alongside this committed and effective deployer of military and civilian capability.
Thanks again to our Estonian partners for making this possible.