A group of young children visited the UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura, south Lebanon, last week to know about various aspects of the peacekeeping mission’s work.
The 45 children, aged between 5 and 12, visited UNIFIL on 8 August as part of their "Jean Paul II summer camp" of Dibbiyeh, which sits in between the capital Beirut and Saida.
UNIFIL’s outreach peacekeepers from the Military Community Outreach Unit explained the Mission’s mandate through the use of “Mr. and Mrs. Blue Barrel”, which are the replica of actual blue barrels dotting the Blue Line. The actual barrels make the Line visible in order to prevent any inadvertent crossing.
The young visitors also learned about the missions carried out by Italian Air or ITALAIR, which transports passengers, conducts air patrols within the UNIFIL area of operations, carries out observation and reconnaissance missions along the Blue Line, and, if requested, conducts fire-fighting operations in cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces.
They also saw a crowd control exercise conducted by UNIFIL’s Tanzanian peacekeepers.
Between their core peacekeeping duties, UNIFIL peacekeepers regularly carry out various activities as requested by and in support of the local communities, which – together with their operational activities – have helped keep calm in the Mission’s area of operation for nearly 13 years. These kinds of visits are important to make the local population aware about UNIFIL’s work.