Antoine Delens

As UNHCR's protection monitoring focal point in North Kivu, I lead the design, implementation, and quality assurance of a protection monitoring system covering a displacement caseload of over 3.4 million people — refugees, IDPs, and returnees — in a volatile environment marked by active armed group presence, restricted access, and large-scale human rights violations. I design and operationalise protection monitoring frameworks, SOPs, and information security standards, overseeing the full data cycle from collection and triangulation to the production of analytical reports, flash updates, and protection notes identifying trends, risks, and response gaps. I support the implementation and field-level monitoring of community-based protection activities, ensuring linkages between monitoring evidence and CBP responses, strengthening community structures, and supervising Quick Impact Projects. I serve as technical focal point for UNHCR's implementing partnership on protection monitoring, providing operational follow-up, quality control, and capacity building through coaching and technical trainings. I contribute to the drafting of funding proposals to institutional donors, formulating objectives, indicator frameworks, and evidence-based narratives aligned with donor priorities, and maintain regular engagement through reporting and mid-term reviews. I represent UNHCR in inter-agency mechanisms including the Protection Cluster, Access Forum, COHP, and PoC platforms, translating monitoring evidence into advocacy outputs for coordination platforms, donors, and senior management. I contribute to Sub-Office planning as a member of the Multi-Functional Team, act as Officer-in-Charge of the Protection Section when the Senior Protection Officer is on leave, and serve on UNHCR DRC's national Local Assignments Committee.

The AU-EU Youth Cooperation Hub is a joint African Union and European Union initiative through which 42 young professionals from both continents were selected to design innovative pilot projects and contribute to EU funding mechanisms targeting youth-led peacebuilding and stabilisation efforts. As Peace and Security Youth Expert, I served as project officer for the initiative "Youth Leading Stabilisation Efforts in the Lake Chad Basin", implemented by Plan International. The project developed an interactive platform mapping basic services and infrastructure across the Lake Chad region to guide fund allocation and enhance monitoring of stabilisation interventions, with data collected by young women and men from target communities in Niger, Cameroon, and Nigeria. I contributed to the design and drafting of calls for proposals for pilot projects worth up to 10 million euros, ensuring alignment with EU funding frameworks and peacebuilding priorities. I conducted field visits to project implementation areas, engaging directly with local youth organisations and community stakeholders to assess needs and support project oversight on the ground. I represented the Hub at numerous high-level conferences and institutional meetings across multiple countries, including France, Ethiopia, Cape Verde, Uganda, and Spain, engaging with senior representatives of the European Commission, the European External Action Service, the Paris Peace Forum, Plan International, and local youth councils from Niger, Cameroon, and Nigeria. This experience deepened my understanding of EU funding mechanisms, conflict-sensitive programming, and youth-inclusive approaches to peace and security, while strengthening my ability to operate at the interface between high-level institutional frameworks and grassroots community engagement.

The CGRS is Belgium's independent federal body responsible for examining international protection applications and determining refugee and subsidiary protection status in accordance with Belgian, European, and international law. I managed individual asylum application files through the full protection determination cycle. This encompassed the preparation and conduct of in-depth personal interviews with asylum seekers, requiring strong active listening skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to assess credibility, identify inconsistencies, and create conditions of trust enabling applicants to fully articulate their protection needs. On the basis of these interviews and thorough legal and factual analysis, I drafted comprehensive, legally motivated decisions on refugee status and subsidiary protection, ensuring rigorous application of Belgian, European, and international protection standards, including the 1951 Geneva Convention and EU asylum directives. I regularly contributed to country of origin information (COI) work across a broad portfolio covering the Western Balkans, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and Guinea, monitoring political, security, legislative, and human rights developments to inform protection assessments with accurate and up-to-date contextual analysis. I developed specialised expertise in gender-related persecution, including forced marriage, sexual and gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, and LGBTQ+ rights, ensuring gender-sensitive analysis was systematically integrated into protection determinations. This role significantly strengthened my legal analytical skills, my ability to produce rigorous written argumentation under pressure, and my understanding of international protection frameworks.

The Federal Internal Audit Service is the independent audit body of the Belgian federal government, responsible for assessing the effectiveness of internal control systems, risk management frameworks, and governance practices across federal public administrations. In this role, I conducted audits across multiple federal public services, evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of internal procedures, control mechanisms, and compliance frameworks against applicable regulations and standards. This required rigorous analytical work, the ability to rapidly understand complex institutional processes, and the capacity to formulate clear, evidence-based findings and actionable recommendations addressed to senior management. I assessed risk management systems, identified operational and compliance gaps, and contributed to audit reports designed to strengthen transparency, accountability, and good governance within federal institutions. Working across different administrations exposed me to a wide range of organisational structures and management cultures, reinforcing my ability to adapt analytical frameworks to diverse institutional contexts. This experience laid a strong foundation in structured analytical thinking, results-oriented reporting, and institutional accountability, competencies that have proven directly transferable to my subsequent work in protection monitoring, legal decision-making, and humanitarian programme oversight.

The Directorate General European Affairs of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates Belgium's positions and representation within EU institutional frameworks, including on trade policy matters negotiated at Council level. In this role, I provided substantive support to Belgian diplomats representing Belgium across the Trade Policy Committees of the Council of the EU, covering Full Members, Deputy, and Services and Investment configurations. I contributed to the preparation and follow-up of Belgium's positions on EU trade policy negotiations, coordinating with regional and community authorities to ensure coherent national positioning on complex, multi-stakeholder dossiers. I drafted comprehensive reports and briefings for diplomatic posts and national experts, and took notes at EU-level working group meetings, requiring precision, analytical synthesis, and the ability to capture nuanced institutional discussions. I occasionally represented Belgium in formal and informal EU working groups, and organised conferences and events bringing together a diverse range of institutional and political stakeholders. This experience provided a strong grounding in EU institutional processes, multilateral negotiation dynamics, and high-level diplomatic reporting, skills that have continued to inform my approach to advocacy, coordination, and stakeholder engagement throughout my humanitarian career.

As part of the team responsible for Relations with the European Parliament and Interinstitutional Affairs, I monitored and reported on key EU legislative and political processes, including the Working Group on General Affairs, Coreper II, and multiple European Parliament committees — notably AFET, AFCO, INTA, and LIBE — as well as plenary sessions in both Brussels and Strasbourg. I maintained regular working contacts with Members of the European Parliament and their staff, actively participated in expert briefings alongside national diplomats, and drafted comprehensive analytical reports addressed to Belgian diplomatic posts and ministries. This required the ability to synthesise complex political and legislative developments into clear, actionable intelligence for senior decision-makers operating across multiple institutional levels simultaneously. I occasionally represented Belgium in formal and informal EU working groups and substituted for our spokesperson when required, developing confidence in high-level institutional representation and public-facing communication. I also coordinated administrative tasks among a team of around twelve trainees. This experience provided deep familiarity with EU interinstitutional dynamics, legislative processes, and diplomatic reporting, while sharpening core competencies in political analysis, stakeholder engagement, and the production of concise, high-quality written outputs under time pressure .

EULEX Kosovo is the largest civilian mission under the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy, mandated to support Kosovo's rule of law institutions in developing effectiveness, accountability, and compliance with international human rights standards. Seconded by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I was deployed within the mobile Correctional Unit to support the Kosovo Correctional Service in strengthening its senior management capacities and countering undue political interference and preferential treatment of inmates. I monitored, mentored, and advised the Kosovo Correctional Service across more than ten detention facilities, assessing detention conditions, treatment of prisoners, and operational standards against international human rights benchmarks. I supported communications between local detention centre management and Pristina headquarters, and contributed to joint projects aimed at developing institutional capacities and resources. I designed and led a personal mapping project of all vocational and educational activities across Kosovo Correctional Service facilities, producing a comprehensive assessment and recommendations to improve operational standards, support prisoner reintegration, and prevent re-offending, an initiative that combined field monitoring, analytical reporting, and evidence-based advocacy. I participated in joint working groups with local and international organisations to draft new administrative instructions and regulations, and provided support to EULEX correctional experts on audits, donor reporting, and other assignments. This experience developed strong competencies in human rights monitoring, institutional capacity building, and rule of law programming in a complex political environment.

The Permanent Representation of Belgium to the European Union is one of the official missions of the Belgian FPS Foreign Affairs, responsible for representing Belgium's interests within EU institutional frameworks across all policy areas. During this traineeship, I served as assistant to the Belgian delegate to the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CivCom), the advisory body responsible for the political and civilian dimensions of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy and for preparing the work of the Political and Security Committee. I attended Council of the EU meetings, drafted reports and briefings for the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and actively supported the delegate in the preparation and follow-up of CivCom sessions covering EU civilian crisis management missions and operations worldwide. This required close attention to EU institutional processes, rigorous note-taking, and the ability to synthesise complex political discussions into concise diplomatic reporting. This early immersion in EU foreign and security policy provided a solid foundation in multilateral diplomacy, civilian crisis management frameworks, and institutional representation, and marked the beginning of a professional trajectory oriented towards conflict, protection, and international crisis response.

Delivered by our experienced practitioners and leading scholars, our Masters degree in International Conflict and Cooperation prepares you to address a variety of challenges facing states and international organisations today. This course looks at the dynamics of international conflict and cooperation in light of major events such as the end of the Cold War, the 9/11 terror attacks and the Arab Spring. We take a thematic approach to conflict resolution and the role of international organisations in order to focus on conflict prevention and management in specific geographical areas. The course also explores the development and regulation of conflict in relation to factors like natural resources and migration. Contemporary dilemmas surrounding the politics of climate change negotiations, civil war, human rights, international terrorism and humanitarian intervention provide some of the raw material for this MSc, which are studied in-depth over the course of the academic year.

Le Master en Sciences politiques à finalité spécialisée en Politiques européennes: Chacun des cours proposés dans ce Master a pour vocation d'analyser de façon approfondie un domaine de compétence de l'Union Européenne pour former des spécialistes au processus décisionnel des institutions européennes, qu'il s'agisse de la politique culturelle et médiatique, de la politique commerciale et du marché intérieur ou de bien d'autres compétences selon le fil de l'actualité. Les cours de ce Master visent aussi à fournir les clés pour saisir les grandes tendances du monde actuel et notamment, les dynamiques de la mondialisation et la régionalisation, les problèmes de sécurité internationale, la résolution des conflits, la criminalité internationale, les organisations internationales, la transformation des rapports économiques et politiques au Nord comme au Sud ou la prolifération de nouveaux acteurs sur la scène internationale.

Le bachelier commence par une large formation en sciences humaines (économie politique, droit, philosophie, histoire, sociologie, information médiatique) et en outils d’analyse (statistiques, approche quantitative, informatique). Le bachelier permet également de maîtriser les bases des quatre axes majeurs de la discipline : la sociologie politique, l’analyse de l’action publique, la théorie et l’histoire des idées politiques et les relations internationales. Dès le deuxième bloc, le bachelier permet d'être au cœur des spécificités des sciences politiques ! Le bachelier permet de maîtriser la politique belge et la compréhension du fonctionnement national et international. L’aspect international de la formation se précise grâce aux cours de relations économiques, relations internationales, droit public et des institutions européennes, politique économique internationale… mais aussi grâce aux rencontres de professionnels du domaine.