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by Adriaan Verheul (Translator), Esther Bootsma (Author)
"This is an inspiring book about a remarkable general. His story is absorbing and motivating. If you want to see a better world, this book is for you." Melanne Verveer, Director, Georgetown University for Women, Peaceand Security; Former US Ambassador for Global Women's Issues. "General Patrick Cammaert is a class act: a brilliant and courageous leader who deserves to be widely known. This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the complexities of modern-day UN peacekeeping, as told in this biography of one of its finest commanders."Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2014-2018): UN peacekeeper in UNPROFOR (1994-1996) There is no other officer from the Netherlands who has done more work for the United Nations than Major-General (ret.) Patrick Cammaert. He led peace missions in Cambodia, Eritrea-Ethiopia and Congo, carried out sensitive operations in the Balkans, and served as Military Advisor in the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping. Recently, he led a UN cease-fire mission in Hodeidah in Yemen. After his retirement from military service in 2007, he is traveling around the world to make UN peace missions better. He considers the fight against sexual violence in conflict areas his most important assignment. In his own words: 'It is more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in an armed conflict.'Through a series of conversations with Patrick Cammaert and drawing on his own extensive diaries from past missions, journalist Esther Bootsma takes us from his early days as a young officer in the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps to a series of deployments in the service of international peace at the highest levels. This was his dream: to work in the field. Along the way, he shares with us valuable lessons on how to lead in a United Nations peace mission and work in a complex, bureaucratic and multinational environment: bend the rules if you have too, never back down, work closely with the local population, and dare to take risks. Most importantly: don't look the other way when you violence or atrocities happens under your nose or within your reach. This was especially important in Congo, where general Cammaert built a reputation as a decisive and compassionate leader. During his career, he meets rebels and presidents, flies across battle lines and over jungles, and breaks the rules to get things done. Like the time when he gets the Dutch Government to bring a whole bridge to Eritrea. During his first mission in service of the UN, as battalion commander in Cambodia, Patrick Cammaert fought tooth and nail to stop women from joining his unit. Today, you will find no greater champion for the participation of women in peacekeeping operations. In Don't look the other way! Bootsma tells us a this gripping story. Thanks to her we get to know Patrick Cammaert: a rebel, a general and a rascal all at once; an inspiring leader who doesn't mince words.Proceeds of the sale of this book will benefit the Mukomeze Foundation, which is working to improve conditions for women who survived sexual violence during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. See www.mukomeze.nl for details.
