Participants of Stockholm Seminar in September 1997

Participants of the Moscow Conference in March 1998

The second meeting was a conference organized by Professor Salmin, President of the Russian Public Policy Centre in Moscow in March 1998. The main discussion focused on the role of regional organizations in peace operations covering primarily the evolving roles of NATO as well as that of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Other issues addressed were international and national legal constraints and possibilities, as well as complexities related to the civil-military relations. On the agenda was a visit to the Vystrel Peacekeeping Academy and the Commonwealth of Independent States HQ for Military Cooperation & Coordination, where briefings and presentations on training and education was held.

Exchanging ideas and views at the  Pretoria Seminar  November 1999 Dr Cilliers, Executive Director of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa organized the fourth seminar in November 1999. Faced with tremendous challenges to peace and stability on the Africa continent, the seminar focused on issues related to capacity building in the African context. The result was a rich discussion of the nature of African conflicts, trends in peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance, challenges to peace posed by the outsourcing of security, security sector reform, regional capacity-building, and doctrinal development. The seminar participants who visited the South Africa Army College, were briefed on Exercise Blue Crane and training facilities at the Army College. Participants of the Carlisle Seminar in May 2000 In May 2000 the US Army Peacekeeping Institute and its Director, Colonel Oliver, hosted a seminar, the fifth session in the series, in Carlisle, USA. The topic of the seminar was the Doctrinal Dimension of Peace Keeping and Peace Support. Within that overall field a range of aspects were discussed; national approaches to PK & PSOs, risks to peacekeepers, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, public security and the crucial element of training. Working groups were organized which assessed a range of sub-issues, from how does one determine success or end state of a UN operation to how can the military element most constructively assist the civilian component in a peacekeeping operation.   Visiting the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping Training Grounds, New Delhi September 2000 General Nambiar, Director of the United Service Institute of India, New Delhi, hosted the sixth seminar in September 2000. The overall theme of the seminar was United Nations Peacekeeping in 2015: A Perspective. The main issues discussed during the session were; regional perspectives, conduct of peacekeeping operations in intra-state war, mandate for greater use of force, preventive diplomacy, humanitarian emergencies and interventions, civil-military relations and finally, an increased role for developing countries in peacekeeping. We warmly welcomed that the sixth seminar in the Challenges Project was equally the first and launching seminar of the newly established United Service Institution of India's Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping. Key Note Addresses, Tokyo Seminar March 2001 On March 15-16, 2001, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan hosted the seventh session in Tokyo in cooperation with the United Nations Department for Peacekeeping Operations. The focus of the seminar was on Safety and Security of United Nations and Associated Personnel Working in a Conflict Zone. In particular, the aspects assesed include; the changing threats to safety and security, safety and security issues in the Field, Actions at UN Headquarters, Considerations by the Security Council and the General Assembly. The Challenges discussion was informed by firsthand accounts of several peacekeepers who had been involved in security incidents including being detained by armed elements. The Seminar findings was noted in the Report of the Secretary General dated 28 May 2001   Participants of the Cornwallis Seminar, May/June 2001     Mr Alex Morrison, President of the Pearson Peace Keeping Centre, Cornwallis, Canada, a long-standing contributor to and financial sponsor of the Challenges Project, hosted the eighth seminar in the series between 28 May - 1 June 2001. The seminar topics were Human Rights and Gender Issues in Peacekeeping, the latter of the two as suggested by the UNDPKO Training and Evaluation Service. Case studies informing the seminar included the operations conducted in Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo and East Timor. The seminar ran parallel with a visit to the PPC by the Military and Police Advisors based in New York. The two groups had one joint afternoon session discussing Humanitarian Interventions. Humanitarian Interventions.   Buenos Aires Seminar Participants   The ninth seminar in the Challenges series was hosted by General Mugnolo of the Argentine Armed Forces Joint Staff and CAECOPAZ Peacekeeping Training Center in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina. The seminar discussion focused on How to Determine Success in and of a PKO? and Training & Education. Visits to intra-American Exercise Cabanas 2001 taking place in Salta in northern Argentina and CENCAMEX, the CIVPOL Training Centre for Foreign Missions was organized. Following the ninth seminar, the Concluding Report Intellectual Task Force (CRITF) was kindly hosted by our Argentinean colleagues between August 25 - September 3. During the opening days of its work session the participants gratefully recieved insights shared by Ambassador Brahimi, Ambassador Chief Mbanefo, Chairman of the Special Committee on PK, Mr. Yoshikawa, Deputy Chair of the Special Committee on PK, Major General de Vergara, Chief of Joint Staff of Joint Operations of Argentina, and Major General Ford, Military Advisor, UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations.     Visiting Exercise Cabanas in Salta Aug. 2001 Forthcoming: On April 25 2002, a Formal Presentation and Meeting will be held at the United Nations New York. The Challenges Concluding Report will be presented to the wider membership of the United Nations. Australian Project Colleagues and Project Coordinator, Canberra, May 2001 The Follow Up Seminar is being planned for November 2002 in Australia.