Pilot course: The New Peacekeeping Operations
The course consisted of four distinct parts. The first, as usual, consisted of a stage of e-learning in preparation for the residential parts (2 to 4).
The second examined the various political aspects of peace operations and analysed whether they should indeed be considered new. In this political part, the course also focused on the question of whether the EU's CSDP operations and missions should be considered peace operations. Although the EU says that such operations fall within the UN's remit, many participants were of the opinion that many of the missions and operations would actually qualify as peace operations, especially since they are mandated by the UN.
After this more semantic discussion, it was time to focus, in the third part, on different aspects of international humanitarian law and their application to both UN peacekeeping operations and CSDP missions and operations. In this part, the CASD worked closely together with several eminent professors from civilian universities.
The fourth and last part was a high-level session. For this session, the ESDC participants were joined by over 200 other participants in the room at CASD and some 1000 through teleconference in various military academies and colleges throughout Italy. The main lectures of the day included a highly appreciated contribution by the President of the International Criminal Court, Ms Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi. She gave an excellent overview of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, how it functions and the challenges it deals with.
After a closing speech by the President of CASD, Lieutenant General Massimiliano Del Casale, in which he referred to the long-standing excellent cooperation with the ESDC, it was time for the Italian Minister of Defence to take the floor for her closing speech, in which she not only gave an overview of Italy's commitment to peacekeeping operations and the European Union's CSDP mission, but also shared her vision of how these operations can contribute to the fight against terrorism if they are part of a bigger, more integrated approach.