Female Engagement Teams (FETs) are groups of female military personnel around the world which undertake specialized gender-suited tasks. FETs' tasks are as varied as American FETs interacting with local Afghan women in Afghanistan; [1] Ghana Battalion FETs taking part in gathering intelligence during peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo; [2] New Zealand Defence Force FETs support Special Operations Force objectives, the primary role being to "engage with local women and adolescents [...] in situations where it would be culturally unacceptable to involve male SOF operators", [3] and the Jordanian Armed Forces FETs helping to conduct physical searches of women along the borders. [4] However FETs also have had their fair share of limited success and problems in certain operations, with service personnel unable to interact successfully with the required population, lack of translators, too short a time frame or commanders refusing to take up FET missions. [5] [6]
Female Engagement Teams have their roots in American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, in the form of Team Lioness between 2003 and 2004. [7] In 2009, the US Marine Corps attached FETs to infantry units. One of the first FET programs is with 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Farah Province, Afghanistan. [7] The first permanent American FET arrived in Afghanistan (Regional Command Southwest) in March 2010 whereas the first British FET began in October 2010. [8] Australia, United Kingdom and Canada also employed FETs in Afghanistan. Sweden used all-female as well as mixed-gender engagement teams. [6]
The Danish Armed Forces is the unified armed forces of the Kingdom of Denmark charged with the defence of Denmark and its self-governing territories Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The military also promote Denmark's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid.
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is the unified armed force of Ghana, consisting of the Army (GA), Navy (GN), and Ghana Air Force.
The Italian Armed Forces encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy and the Italian Air Force. A fourth branch of the armed forces, known as the Carabinieri, take on the role as the nation's military police and are also involved in missions and operations abroad as a combat force. Despite not being a branch of the armed forces, the Guardia di Finanza has military status and is organized along military lines. These five forces comprise a total of 340,885 men and women with the official status of active military personnel, of which 167,057 are in the Army, Navy and Air Force. The President of the Italian Republic heads the armed forces as the President of the High Council of Defence established by article 87 of the Constitution of Italy. According to article 78, the Parliament has the authority to declare a state of war and vest the powers to lead the war in the Government.
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The Netherlands Armed Forces are the military services of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The core of the armed forces consists of the four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Royal Netherlands Army, the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. The service branches are supplemented by various joint support organisations. In addition, local conscript forces exist on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba (AruMil) and Curaçao (CurMil). These operate under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Netherlands Marine Corps. The armed forces are organisationally part of the Ministry of Defence.
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The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was a United Nations peacekeeping operation established in September 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia following the resignation of President Charles Taylor and the conclusion of the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003). At its peak it consisted of up to 15,000 UN military personnel and 1,115 police officers, along with civilian political advisors and aid workers.
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