CCOPAB holds VTC with UN Mine Action Specialist
Rio de Janeiro (RJ) – On August 2nd, the Brazilian Peace Operations Joint Training Center - Sergio Vieira de Mello Center - held a VTC during the Mine Action Course. The aim of this course is to prepare military personnel to be deployed in Colombia as part of the humanitarian demining mission under the aegis of the Organization of the American States (OAS). From New York City, GEN Gerson Menandro Garcia de Freitas (Military Advisor to the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN), COL Márcio Carneiro Barbosa (Assistant to the Military Advisor) and Mr. Alexander Riebl (IED Threat Mitigation Advisor) participated in this course.
GEN Menandro, who opened the event, began talking about the importance of the Brazilian participation in humanitarian demining mission. After that, Mr. Alexander Riebl talked about the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), which is related with Department of Peace Operations (DPO). He clarified his own challenges in the current context of peacekeeping missions.
COL Barbosa (Assistant to the Military Advisor) highlighted the relevant aspects of UNMAS. Besides that, he talked about the lessons learned in the humanitarian demining mission in Nicaragua.
It is important to highlight that the Mine Action Course is carried out in Spanish. Consequently, Mr. Alexander Riebl's participation involved the use of a simultaneous interpretation system, which was run by MAJ Israel Alves de Souza Júnior, 2IC of the Translators and Interpreters Section, assisted by LT Vagner Leite Rangel, also from the Translators and Interpreters Section. The simultaneous interpretation system allowed us to provide the students with simultaneous interpretation from English into Portuguese, fostering interaction as well as achieving the established goal.
TRANSLATION: LT RANGEL
