WUNRN
UN News Centre
This year''s commemoration comes at a time when the services of UN peacekeepers are in greater demand than ever. Deployment is at a record high, with more than 113,000 peacekeepers serving in 18 operations on four continents.
Yet,
“there are still far too few women peacekeepers,” as Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon noted in his message
for the Day, pointing out that women make up only 8 per cent of the UN police
and 2 per cent of its military personnel.
“We
have a long way to go both with the military and the police,” Susana Malcorra,
Under-Secretary-General for Field Support and one of the UN''s senior female
officials, told a news conference in New York.
She
stressed the importance of women in the UN''s peacekeeping activities, which in
many cases also involve programmes related to peacebuilding, reconstruction and
reconciliation.
Often,
female blue helmets, human rights monitors and other mission staff can better
communicate with local women, generating a greater sense of security, as in the
case the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where rape has been used as a
weapon of war and UN agencies estimate that 200,000 women and girls have been
assaulted over the past 12 years.
Serena
Tiberia, a human rights officer with the UN peacekeeping mission there, known
as MONUC, said that she
experiences easier access to victims, as a woman.
She
added that female UN staff can also serve as models of women''s empowerment. “I
think the fact of seeing women working [with the UN], driving cars and managing
teams, it can be a good example for Congolese society,” she said.
“Women
can care about the family, but they can also study, they can also work, they
can also do other things. I think reinforcing the role of women within the UN
system, from the lowest to the highest level, could definitely serve as an
example for the society we work with.”
India
was among the first to answer the call for more women personnel with the
deployment in 2007 of an all-female Formed Police Unit (FPU) – comprising
police officers who have received specialized training in high-risk operations
and managing crowds – to the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
That
subsequently led to a marked increase in women applicants to the West African
country''s national police force.
UNMIL
chief Ellen Margrethe Løj, the only female currently heading a UN peacekeeping
mission, highlighted the important impact of the Indian police officers on the
local society, during a medal ceremony last year in the capital, Monrovia.
“You
have made a real difference, not only to us in UNMIL, but to a cross-section of
Liberians, especially women and girls. Your presence in Liberia has
demonstrated that women can play and have an increasingly crucial role in the
establishment of the rule of law in post-conflict countries,” she stated.
As
noted by the Secretary-General, UN peacekeepers often face insecurity, disease
and violence on a daily basis while working to make a tangible difference in
the lives of many in some of most difficult and inhospitable places around the
world.
“Peacekeeping
is tough and it means spending a lot of time away from your family,” said
Bokani Hart, who heads MONUC''s civil affairs unit. The Zimbabwean native added
that the UN could look at issues such as conditions of service, and help with
work/life balance.
At
the same time, the job was not without its advantages, she said. “It''s very,
very interesting work. Every day is different. I come into work and I''m
juggling 101 different issues and that''s what I love about my job.”
Ms.
Hart said her decision to work with UN peacekeeping has to do with her own
personal history. “I spent the first 15 years of my life as a refugee and I''ve
always been pulled to this kind of work. So I have sort of a personal attachment
to my UN peacekeeping job, and I''m very proud to call myself a UN
peacekeeper.”
She
added that while there are many women working in the UN system, there could be
more, especially in decision-making positions. “If we put our own house in
order, then we could be a very good example to wider Congolese society,” she
noted.
The
UN is working to increase the number of women in senior positions at
Headquarters and in field missions, according to DPKO.
“We
have done a lot but we need to do a great deal more,” UN peacekeeping chief
Alain Le Roy said, noting that women peacekeepers make a critical contribution
in areas such as providing security, reforming State institutions and
supporting political processes, and their work encourages others to participate
in local peace processes.
General
Assembly President Miguel D''Escoto, in his message
for the Day, stressed that peacekeepers do not just carry out their mandated
tasks. “They create a lasting legacy by exemplifying how military and police
can engage in humanitarian work while interacting respectfully with civil
society.”
From
New York to Naqoura, Darfur to Dili, the Day is being marked at UN offices
around the world with a range of events, including ceremonies to honour those
who paid the ultimate price in the service of peace. In 2008, 132 peacekeepers
– including 10 women – lost their lives, whether through attacks, illnesses or
accidents – the highest one-year total in the history of the Organization.
“The
legacy of these men and women lives on. It lives on in what they did for the
people of the countries in which they served. It lives on in the example they
set for all of us as talented, dedicated professionals,” Mr. Ban said
at the wreath-laying ceremony in New York.
The
Secretary-General also presided over the awarding of the Dag Hammarskjöld
Medals, which are given posthumously to the military, police and civilian
personnel who lost their lives last year.
He
said
he hoped the Medals – named for the former UN Secretary-General, who himself
died on a peace mission to the Congo – “can serve as a tangible symbol of our
sincere condolences as well as our immense gratitude for their sacrifice.”
Designated
by the General Assembly in 2002, the International Day is observed on 29 May,
the date in 1948 when the first UN peacekeeping mission, the UN Truce
Supervision Organization (UNTSO),
began operations in Palestine.
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to:
wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.