We are trying to avoid a conflict between the Indian Army and the Pakistani Army
- Family Service and Sacrifice
- La importancia de las mujeres en las Operaciones de Paz
- Core values of blue helmets
- Mental health
- Logbook of two years of mission
Although his parents were teachers and did not come from a military background, Rear Admiral Guillermo Ríos was born in the city of Punta Alta, very close to Puerto Belgrano, the main Military Naval Base of the Argentine Republic, an influential geographical reference in his decision to enter the Naval Military School in 1983, the year after the Malvinas War.
That was the beginning of an extensive career that included multiple promotions in the Argentine Navy with outstanding participation in several United Nations Peace Missions. His first deployment was to the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1993 and 1994; later, between 1997 and 1998, he served as a Humanitarian Demining Supervisor with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Angola. In 2007, he joined the contingent as a military observer in the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) mission in the Middle East.
On 13 September 2022, after an arduous selection process, he took on the most important professional challenge of his life: leading the United Nations Mission in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), where he is in charge of 44 military observers of 13 different nationalities and 74 civilians, 49 of whom are local. His tenure began at UN headquarters, where he met with Secretary-General António Guterres, and then disembarked in his new dual role as Chief of Mission and Chief Observer, where he will remain until September this year.
‘The mission's military and civilian personnel operate on both sides of the border. One part is in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, where there are seven field stations. The other part of the mission is in Srinagar where I am now, the heart of Indian-administered Kashmir, far away from New Delhi, where there are three field stations. The mandate we have is to report to the Security Council, through the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, any new developments in terms of a ceasefire failure. We are here to try to avoid a conflict between the two armies, between the two armed forces’.
Family Service and Sacrifice
All personnel who decide to take part in UN peacekeeping operations understand that they will have to put family and personal matters on hold. In almost 20 months that Rear Admiral Ríos has been in charge of the Mission in India and Pakistan, he has only been able to return to Argentina once, on the occasion of the graduation of one of his three children. However, he was able to spend a few months in 2023 and a few months in 2024 with his wife in Islamabad.
This mission, being bipartite, requires personnel to be stationed for half a year on each side of the border, and when it is Pakistan's turn, the family of the personnel can accompany them. The rear admiral's children did not attend because they could not interrupt their university studies.
‘My family has always supported me in these kinds of matters, and I have to thank my wife very much, because when you go on these long absences, they are the ones who carry on the family routine. I have had to be alone on several missions, and on others where I have been able to take my family, I have been able to bring them with me. My children are grown up now, being away from the family is not easy, but now, unlike when I left for Cyprus in 1993, we communicate every day by video call and it feels like you are with them, which makes the distance more bearable,’ he said.
La importancia de las mujeres en las Operaciones de Paz
Gender parity is a priority for the UN across all parts of the organisation, and is sometimes more challenging to achieve in peacekeeping missions because deployments mean that women have to relegate family care tasks.
In this sense, Rear Admiral Ríos enthusiastically recounted that: ‘Currently, among the 44 observers, we have the first woman from the Argentinean Army in this mission. Argentina has been a forerunner in terms of the number of women in the Armed Forces, in high command echelons and in the participation in UN peace missions’.
She went on to emphasise: ‘Here in the Mission we have a 23% female deployment among the 44 observers, as well as a 23% female deployment among the 44 observers. Also in the field of local and international civilian personnel, the UN appeals to parity, and in the recruitments we make we seek the incorporation of women, and in view of the equality of capacity we give preponderance to women.
Last year I had the opportunity to speak on behalf of the military who are in charge of peace missions at a conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on gender parity and I highlighted that the contribution of women in certain countries is crucial because it allows them to get closer to the local population, especially with children and with other women, who feel a different level of confidence when communicating.
The presence of a female military observer makes it possible and facilitates this connection with the local female population, it is very noticeable every time we visit areas of control in both countries, it is a question linked to local customs, more patriarchal traditions, in which it is always the man who talks to the male troops’.
Core values of blue helmets
Given this premise, the rear admiral was categorical in stressing that they do not differ from those promoted in the armed forces.
‘It requires professionalism, discipline, loyalty, obedience, teamwork, and I would say that they also coincide with those values that the United Nations considers fundamental values: impartiality, empathy, the ability not to interfere with the mandate but rather to fulfil it according to the UN's requirements. Beyond the training that we in the military have, the training that we do in the UN peacekeeping training centres (...) leads you to know the international rules that the United Nations requires for a contingent or observer’.
He also mentioned that when leading a group made up of personnel with different nationalities, it is essential to foster coexistence between multiracial and multiracial members.
‘Although I would say that despite coming from different nations, we military personnel have a similar education and training, with the same values, and that leads us to understand each other and interact well quickly despite the differences.
You can make great friendships on missions, because you share many hours, you face vicissitudes, you receive support when family distance affects you, and you are always left with relationships that persist, I have friends from previous missions, we still write to each other, we visit each other.’
Mental health
For Rear Admiral Ríos, the mental health of peacekeepers is extremely important.
‘What we do in this mission to combat stress and provide support in the face of separation from family and affection are welfare tasks, in which we try to ensure that everyone has the necessary grounding. We organise activities when operational tasks allow it, including sports events and a medal ceremony twice a year, as well as conferences where specialised personnel come to talk about various topics, including stress management,’ he explains.
In addition, civilian staff provide useful advice on adaptation and integration after deployment, and each observer's state of health is monitored by a doctor who continuously visits them at the stations.
Logbook of two years of mission
A few months before the end of his term, and reflecting on the experiences and lessons learned in these almost two years in office, he says that he is proud to have represented Argentina in this important position.
‘I take with me a detailed knowledge of how the United Nations is managed at this level, because at the moment I am the Secretary General's representative to India and Pakistan, and I have had the opportunity to participate in annual conferences, sit with special envoys and representatives in peace missions and political missions that the UN has throughout the world. I have felt complete in my career as a naval officer and this position has been a bonus, a unique opportunity.
As for his personal performance, he expressed gratitude for having achieved a nice human group, composed of personnel of different nationalities, and not only in the field of the mission but also in the relationship with civilians, with the local population both in Pakistan and India.
‘One can see what day-to-day life is like in a conflict area where citizens go about their normal lives as best they can. The situation, although unpredictable, is calm and the presence of the UN facilitates the peaceful situation that exists.
There is no doubt that the action of the United Nations contributes to world peace, it allows a conflict situation to be brought to a status quo. Peace missions contribute to the fact that those peoples who are in some kind of war or armed conflict situation can develop their lives normally thanks to the presence or action of the United Nations.
Finally, and at the time of referring to the UN Peacekeepers' Day, he expressed his gratitude “for the commitment that the Blue Jackets have made” by “participating in peace missions representing their countries and contributing all their professionalism so that peacekeeping can continue to be effective in any area of conflict around the world”.