The Defence Academy was honoured to welcome a visit from Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh.
The visit enabled The Duchess to observe part of the Human Security in Military Operations course. This course qualifies personnel as Defence Human Security Advisors and ensures those service personnel, deployed as Gender Advisors or Gender and Child Protection Officers, in support of United Nations (UN) and NATO operations, are appropriately trained.
The Duchess champions the UN’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI), particularly for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
Upon arrival Air Vice-Marshal Mark Flewin, Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Military Strategy), Joanne Crouch, Assistant Head Human Security in Defence, and Martin Jeffries, Head of the Defence Leadership and Business Centre, briefed Her Royal Highness on how the Academy contributes to the WPS agenda.
The Duchess took the opportunity to observe a presentation by Megan Bastick from the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF). Her presentation, titled ‘Women Peace and Security and National Action Plans’, covered how and why National Action Plans can be a beneficial mechanism through which to integrate WPS into the military domain.
After the presentation Her Royal Highness, and a select group of course members, discussed their areas of interest, reason for attending the course and how they expect to apply their learning to their roles. This then fueled syndicate discussions between the course members, observed by The Duchess.
Warrant Officer Class 2 Dervan Butler, a course member, said of the visit:
"We must not take for granted the power in having meaningful conversations on current issues facing the world today. These conversations are the start in finding solutions; however, we must build on these conversations with actions or make progress towards actions, in order to facilitate change.
“The visit today achieved just that. Thank you."
Martin Jefferies added:
“We were delighted to welcome Her Royal Highness back to the Defence Academy to observe the Human Security in Military Operations course. The Duchess of Edinburgh is particularly interested in this key part of the defence mission, that seeks to protect the most vulnerable during times of conflict and engaged most productively with the students during her visit.”
By visiting the Academy, speaking with course director Major Peter Chilvers, course members, and observing discussions, The Duchess was able to get a clear understanding of the Defence Academy’s contribution to both WPS and PSVI through its training and education programmes.
The United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year, something the Academy hopes to commemorate with a series of events. The first happened in February with the inaugural Human Security Conference.