From mine awareness to radio communication: the OSCE and Austrian Armed Forces International Centre mark 10 years of collaboration
For over 10 years, the Austrian Armed Forces International Centre (AUTINT) has trained OSCE staff before they deployed for high-risk operations across the region under an agreement between the Organization and Austria’s Federal Minister of Defence and Sports in 2014. OSCE and AUTINT representatives met on 30 January to mark this decade of co-operation and reaffirm their ongoing collaboration.
“Our co-operation with the Austrian Armed Forces has been vital to strengthening the OSCE’s ability to deploy across the region. Training for high-risk environments has been essential to continue our operations while ensuring our staff’s safety, and we look forward to building on our existing relationship,” said Kate Fearon, Director of OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre.
“As the Commander of the Austrian Land Forces and Special Operations Forces I am deeply proud, because this year marks the 10th anniversary of the successful and fruitful cooperation between the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and us, the Austrian Armed Forces, in particular with the Austrian Armed Forces International Centre. This decade of cooperation has demonstrated the strong commitment of both parties to enhance the safety and effectiveness of international missions. As the global security situation remains volatile both parties look forward to many more years of productive collaboration,” said Lieutenant General Martin Dorfer.
Since 2014, the AUTINT has prepared OSCE staff to operate more safely and securely in conflict zones through one-week hostile environment awareness training courses. First aid, mine awareness, map reading, behaviour under-fire and complex risk situations, radio communication and stress management are among the practical skills the courses have offered to build staff members’ resilience towards difficult circumstances in the field. The training also includes lectures by subject-matter experts and realistic simulations run by field practitioners.
AUTINT’s courses, which initially focused mostly on training over a thousand members of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, has been expanded in 2022 to encompass all OSCE staff across the Organization. The courses are now tailored to the specific needs and challenges of OSCE field operations as well, as highlighted by a course that recently took place for the Mission to Skopje. Two upcoming courses at the AUTINT premises outside Vienna are already scheduled to take place in May and October 2025.
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