First deployed in 1978 under Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426 - days after the invasion of Lebanon by Israeli forces and with the aim of monitoring their withdrawal- the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon is one of the longest serving UN peacekeeping missions in place.

Its mandate has evolved notably during its 36 years, with the introduction of UNSCR 1701 in 2006 marking a significant expansion of UNIFIL’s role. Its functions are rooted around 3 principal pillars: (1) controlling the cessation of hostilities; (2) assisting LAF in establishing a zone of exclusion for all armed personnel, goods, and weapons other than those of the Lebanese government and UNIFIL; and (3) assisting the Lebanese government to exercise its authority across the entire Lebanese territory.

It is fundamentally a traditional peacekeeping mission in character, rooted around a large military component of over 10,000 troops that includes the first Maritime Task Force to form part of a UN peacekeeping mission.

UNIFIL is deployed across the south of Lebanon, in an operational zone that stretches from the Litani River to the Blue Line on the southern limits with Israel. This line of withdrawal acts as a de facto division due to the lack of a border between these countries, and its monitoring and verification form the central role of the Mission.

UNIFIL is largely a traditional peacekeeping mission rooted in the conflict between two States: Israel and Lebanon.

One of the primary mechanisms for this is the Tripartite Forum. Initially implemented to coordinate the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the simultaneous deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces, it is the only instance of joint diplomacy between the two countries. It is chaired by the Force Commander, while the Tripartite Secretary is located within the DPCA.

The work of the Gender Unit within UNIFIL

The UNIFIL Gender Unit is the body responsible for mainstreaming a gender perspective into the work of the mission. It is based at the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura, and coordinates its work across the Mission, engaging with both civilian and military components at command and tactical levels in the field.

In relation to the military component, the Mission is subject to two directives from the Force Commander (2010 and 2013) that guide the gender perspective in the Mission. According to Mission officials, on the first day of the last Head of Mission’s mandate an announcement appeared on the computer screen of all personnel stating the relevance of gender training and the decision to make the course obligatory.

For this reason, gender training is obligatory for all military personnel. While not all military contingents would have received gender training prior to deployment, at least 2 gender focal points will be present in each battalion or company – with more in larger ones - and they generally begin this on-mission training with the gender unit within around two weeks of arriving at the Mission.

They receive a 3-day gender-training course at the sector command level – where all battalions/offices are represented in Military Gender Task Forces whose role it is to ensure UNIFIL’s military operations are gender sensitive. One of the roles of the gender focal points is to assure that all gender training is available in the national languages of all troop contributors in an effort to overcome the language barrier and increase the level of interest and engagement. It is also the battalion commanders themselves that sign training certificates with their gender focal point as a form of generating ownership of gender issues at the battalion levels.

Civilian personnel are also subject to a directive – issued by Mission Support (head of training and personnel) - making prior completion of the gender mainstreaming course a prerequisite for engaging in any external travel.

Conduct and Discipline in the Mission

With security passes in hand and accompanied by the UNIFIL Gender Officer, the RESDAL team passed through the military checkpoint into the militarized zone in the south of Lebanon on the way to Naqoura – UNIFIL headquarters.

Given the tensions and sensitivities of the area, no access is permitted to foreigners without prior clearance of the Lebanese Armed Forces, while RESDAL is the first organisation from Latin America to be granted authorisation for such a visit to UNIFIL.

Following a welcome from the Chief of Civil Affairs, Adam Albagir, the team engaged in meetings with the leading officials from the Conduct and Discipline Team (RCDT), which is composed of civilian and military personnel. It’s a well developed office, where their work ranges from the registration of cases to investigations.

Among other issues, points to highlight include the additional complexities of the situation resulting from the surge of Syrian refugees in the country, which add to the existing Palestinian refugee camps. There are now 1,050,000 Syrian refugees registered in Lebanon, but official estimates place the actual figure at 1,500,000. These groups are very vulnerable, and within the predatory economy that has arisen there has been an increasing use of ‘survival sex’ and the practice of marrying-off minors.

A risk-assessment carried out by UNIFIL established an increased concern over the possibility of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), with a 3-pronged strategy put in place based around prevention, enforcement, and assistance to victims.

Measures include practices in place for the safeguarding of evidence and preliminary fact-finding enquiries, allowing for a comprehensive report to be passed on to contributing countries should any cases of SEA occur.

Alongside this, UNIFIL is the only mission to have supported the creation of a countrywide SEA prevention network, providing local focal points and direct channels of communication for the local population to communicate any concerns

As a zone for meeting and for parting, the old and constantly renewed Lebanese diaspora means many of its inhabitants have lived in other countries or have close relatives there. So, beyond the inter-confessional divisions or merely those separating the social classes, many Lebanese find in adherence to one of these national teams a form of expressing their idea of globalisation.

In Tyre it was Brazilian support that predominated, followed by Germany, Argentina, Spain and, to a lesser extent, France and Italy. Then traveling north to Beirut, the phenomenon was repeated, but while Brazilian flags continued to be present, the other countries mentioned appeared far more often. Flags were found hanging from cars and houses, balloons, and especially in restaurants, bars and hotels. The prices of flags varied according to size, ranging from 5 to 40 dollars. There were few restaurants or bars displaying the flags of all 32 participating countries, and it was also for this reason that the number of Latin American flags was striking.

Consulates and embassies, for what they told us, sought to promote their teams and find a place for fans to gather.