LTCOL Cooper with Commander Einbu of Norway and Colonel Rotonen of Finland. [20110613_WN_T1026461_002.jpg ]
16 June 2011
New Zealand Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Helen Cooper is the first woman to deploy to a command role in sixty years of United Nations Treaty Supervisory Organisation (UNTSO) peacekeeping operations in the Middle East.
Based in Southern Lebanon, LTCOL Cooper is both New Zealand’s Senior National Officer and an UNTSO Station Chief, which means she’s responsible for 52 UNMOs (UN Observers) from countries as diverse as Italy, China, Russia, Argentina and Nepal.
Helen says there was initial fascination about having a “woman boss” in a largely male environment, but it soon wore off: “If you do your job competently, it just becomes normal. Some nations don’t send women to the area, but fortunately New Zealand, Australia and Scandinavian countries decided to,” she adds.
As Logistics Commander in Timor-Leste in 2002, Helen had experience in a command position but she says the situation in the Middle East is more complex, and she feels there is still a lot to learn. “Deploying here is like being given a large jigsaw puzzle to complete. After six months, it feels as if it’s about 80% filled in”, she says.
Established in 1948 to monitor a cease-fire after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, UNTSO is one of the world’s oldest peacekeeping missions. It is also the New Zealand Defence Force’s longest overseas commitment. Currently eight Defence Force personnel serve at UNTSO, and are based in either Syria, Israel, or Southern Lebanon. As unarmed Observers they join several other nations in ensuring various peace agreements and cease fires are observed and any violations are reported.
Because UNTSO is a relatively small mission it staff come under the operational control of two larger UN Forces; the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in Syria and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
Things have been relatively peaceful in Helen’s area of operations during the first six months of her deployment, however the marking of what Palestinians call the Day of Catastrophe, sparked a massive riot last month and was of some concern to UNTSO: “We knew it was going to be a big day and the UNMOs were busy watching and reporting to the Duty Cell, who then report to UNIFIL. On the day about 8,000 Palestinians went down to the “blue line” with approximately 250 crossing into Israeli territory and trying to knock down the technical fence. Reportedly, 125 people were injured and ten were killed.”
When Helen is not working she is a mum to two children (aged 23 months and seven) who live with her and her husband in the ancient city of Tyre. She says it has been great to be able to bring her family to the deployment.