Australia and Thailand co-host Indo-Pacific Regional Peacekeeping Exercise

Australia and Thailand are co-hosting a peacekeeping exercise involving over 100 participants from the Indo–Pacific region from 9-20 May 2016 in Bangsaen, Thailand.

Commander Australian Defence College, Major General Simone Wilkie, who is in Thailand to open PIRAP JABIRU 2016, said the exercise is a fantastic opportunity to bring together representatives from 22 Indo-Pacific militaries, police forces, and non-governmental organisations to consider the current issues facing peacekeepers and to identify strategies to meet the future challenges.

“The true value of the PIRAP JABIRU series is that it enables participants to develop a much deeper understanding of contemporary multi-dimensional UN Missions and most importantly how we can work together to achieve optimal results,” MAJGEN Wilkie said.

MAJGEN Wilkie also said that Exercise PIRAP JABIRU 2016 provides the Australian Defence Force and international attendees with the opportunity to consider the evolving nature of peace operations and help to maintain successful regional collaboration in the future.

“Today’s missions are concerned with ensuring stability, promoting good governance and human rights, providing humanitarian assistance and assisting in the disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration of former combatants.

“Participants will be tested by realistic scenario-based problems that reflect contemporary UN operations including how to protect vulnerable populations such as women and children, understanding peacekeepers’ rights and obligations under international and domestic law and how to maintain logistics support in often austere environments. Participants will work together to develop comprehensive approaches to these problems,” she said.

The PIRAP JABIRU biennial series, which commenced in 1998, reflects Australia’s close bilateral ties with Thailand, including a strong history of peacekeeping cooperation.

“Thailand is a very important security partner for Australia. We share similar approaches to regional security and a history of cooperation, including in recent operations in Timor-Leste, the Gulf of Aden and operations in Sudan and South Sudan,” MAJGEN Wilkie said.

This year marks the 69^th anniversary of Australia’s first contribution to UN peacekeeping missions, including in; Korea, Lebanon, Cyprus, Cambodia, Rwanda, Timor-Leste, Sudan and South Sudan.

Media Note:

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