Ministry of Defense receives the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UN WOMEN, Ms. MICHELE BACHELET, at CCOPAB
Ms. MICHELLE BACHELET, former president of Chile, who is the Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women (which supports Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) was received by the Minister of Defense, Celso Amorim, at the Brazilian Peacekeeping Operations Joint Center (CCOPAB) on December 16, 2011.
General Enzo Martins Peri, Army Commander; General Marco Aurélio Gonçalves Mendes, Politics, Strategy and International Affairs Secretary of the Ministry of Defense; Lieutenant General Oswaldo de Jesus Ferreira, 1st Army Division Commander, among other civilian and military authorities were present. During the visit, a Letter of Intent between the Brazilian Ministry of Defense and the UN Women related to the proposal of cooperation in the area of gender, peace and security was signed. Among the activities foreseen, it is important to highlight the joint work between CCOPAB and the UN Women Brazil and Southern Cone Office when training peacekeeping troops in gender issues. In order to accomplish that, a Memorandum of Understanding shall be signed between the parties.
At this opportunity, Col Pedro Aurélio de Pessôa, CCOPAB Commander, gave a lecture about the Center, presenting its mission and the main activities accomplished during the year. It was also highlighted that the visit was being carried out on the same day the Center was ending its 2011 activities, concluding two courses for peacekeeping missions: the Training Course of the Maritime Task Force (MTF) for UNIFIL and the Training Course for Staff for MINUSTAH; and also the Humanitarian Demining Course, which prepares officers to be part of a group of International Monitors in Colombia (GMI-CO).
