New York (VNA) – Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Vietnam's PermanentRepresentative to the United Nations, has affirmed peacekeeping continues to be animportant tool to maintain international peace and security, and the UN police(UNPOL) have well done their assigned tasks and closely coordinated withmilitary and civil units of the mission amidst escalating challenges.

Addressing the UN Security Council’s annual meeting on UNPOLon November 10, Quy commended the increasing number of women police officers,and specifically, the six women currently serving as heads or deputy heads ofthe United Nations police components in peacekeeping and special politicalmissions.

He underlined the importance of prioritising, throughresources and attention, the promotion of women in peacekeeping operations,including policing activities. 

Further, the international community should enhance training and capacitybuilding support to developing countries, including for women police officers,he said, noting that the percentage of Vietnamese female peacekeepers in theUnited Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the CentralAfrican Republic (MINUSCA) and the United Nations Mission in the Republic ofSouth Sudan (UNMISS) has increased to 20.6 percent, from 16.5 percent in 2020,exceeding the Secretary‑General’s target of 15 percent for uniform genderparity before 2028.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under‑Secretary‑General for PeaceOperations, briefed participants on the implementation of the Action forPeacekeeping (A4P) initiative and the Action for Peacekeeping Plus (A4P ) aswell as the UNPOL’s contributions to boosting the implementation of prioritiesof these initiatives.

Violet Lusala, Police Commissioner of the United NationsInterim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), outlined obstacles to the Mission’sefforts to maintain public order and protect civilians, including the presenceof armed elements, intercommunal clashes and cattle rustling.

She said services for survivors of sexual and gender-basedviolence remain non-existent.  Highlightingthe need for increased United Nations police capacity, she urged the Council topress Sudan and South Sudan to immediately establish the Abyei Police Service.

Patricia Boughani, Police Commissioner of the United NationsMultidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), called fora shift in mindset to promote a gender perspective, given that few women aredeployed in Mali’s security forces in the centre and the north. UNPOL is developing strategies to buildwomen’s dormitories in some regions and providing training, as well as workingto financially empower women through quick impact projects./.