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UN reaffirms determination to make peacekeeping missions more "gender-balanced"

Xinhua, September 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

A senior UN peacekeeping official said on Thursday that the organization is committed to increasing the number of female peacekeepers, urging worldwide efforts to make peacekeeping troops more gender-balanced.

"We are recommit to the goal to double the total number of women troops in our missions by 2020," said Herve Ladsous, the UN under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations. "Success for women in peacekeeping will rely on all member states to do their part and make a sustained effort."

The UN official made the comments at the ongoing UN Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial 2016 in London, a follow-up event one year after the the Leaders' Summit on Peacekeeping was convened in the United States.

Ladsous lauded the role women personnel plays in the UN peacekeeping missions worldwide, saying that they are critical in areas such as civilian military affairs, intelligence, community policing and raising awareness of gender issues.

He said the efforts to make the UN peacekeeping troops more gender-balanced are long overdue and the ongoing meeting provides a fresh kick-off for the long-term efforts to make progress.

"We have to make sure we prepare ourselves for the challenges ahead and are able to respond rapidly," Ladsous said.

UN statistics showed that in 1993, women made up only 1 percent of deployed uniformed personnel. In 2014 , out of approximately 125,000 peacekeepers, women constitute 3 percent of military personnel and 10 percent of police personnel in UN peacekeeping missions.

While the UN encourages and advocates for the deployment of women to uniformed functions, the responsibility for deployment of women in the police and military lies with members. Endit