Peace & Stability Journal Volume 8, Issue 2 | Page 24

Abstract
This article addresses the Protection of Civilians (POC) strate-
gy at the Brigade level, as developed during the Viking Exercise
2018 by the military component of the Brazilian site. After de-
scribing the Viking Exercise 2018 and operations at the remote
site in Brazil, the article will discuss considerations about the
military component, notably the POC planning activities of
the Commander and staff officers. The article explains the POC
strategy, its doctrinal bases, and inherent operational activities,
while also assessing its potential effectiveness if applied in real
conflict situations. Finally, the article attests to the validity of
the simulation training, as experienced by all participants in the
Viking exercise.
Introduction
In a statement to the American Holocaust Museum in 2002, 1
Canadian General Roméo Dallaire, Commander of the small
military component of the United Nations mission established
in Rwanda during the genocide, raised a few questions that re-
mained in his mind years after the tragic event. "Did I do all that
I could? Did I have all the necessary tools?"
After interacting with participants in the Viking exercise 2018,
it was apparent that similar questions permeate the minds of
several military, police and civilians with experience in peace-
keeping missions and / or conflict areas. Unfortunately, it is
quite common to witness at least one situation in which POC
could not be fully or partially ensured. This fact raises similar
questions to the ones posed by the Canadian general in the
minds of other observers.
In this context, and taking advantage of the opportunity pro-
vided by the Viking exercise 2018 to deepen the understanding
of peacekeeping operations in a simulated environment with
emphasis on POC, this article intends to address POC-related
procedures developed in the scope of the military component at
the Brazilian exercise site.
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Viking Exercise 2018
The Viking exercise 2018 (logo above) 2 was the eighth edition
of the multinational, multidimensional and integrated sim-
ulation exercise of peacekeeping operations organized by the
Swedish Armed Forces. This exercise is recognized as the largest
in the world , bringing together military, police and civilians
from over 60 countries. The Viking exercise also included the
institutional participation of the United Nations (UN) and the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) among some 80
other governmental, non-governmental organizations (NGO)
and international organizations.
The simulation in which the participants of the exercise were
trained was contextualized in a framework of employing Peace
Forces under the direction of the UN and the NATO in the fic-
tional country "Bogaland". The actions taken to pacify and sta-
bilize the hypothetical country were carried out from six remote
sites established in Brazil, Bulgaria, Finland, Ireland, Serbia, and
Sweden. All sites were interconnected under the coordination
of the simulated UN mission headquarters in Sweden.
In line with real mandates of current UN peacekeeping mis-
sions, POC was one of the central subjects of the exercise. The
main documents that supported the simulation addressed the
POC issue emphatically, making it a priority for the mission
and one of the central tasks mandatory for all components of
the exercise. In this regard, some relevant sections are repro-
duced below.