From Commitment to Impact: Advancing Uniformed Women's Participation and Leadership in UN Peacekeeping

Good morning, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, and friends. I hope you're excited as I am for this conference today. It is a pleasure to welcome you today to today's event, From Commitment to Impact: Advancing Uniformed Women's Participation and Leadership in UN Peacekeeping. We're delighted to have you with us for this important discussion on how we can sustain momentum, deepen partnerships, and translate commitment into concrete impact in the field. Before we begin, I kindly ask you to switch off your mobile phones or place them on silent mode. To open our program, we are honored to be joined by Ambassador Thomas— yeah, I'll go there. I practiced with Mahinohel twice, but I'm going to get it wrong— Zannienz, Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany, and Ambassador Satanas Samphil. Deputy Permanent Representative of Zambia, who I invite to deliver the joint opening remarks.

Thank you.

Well, thank you very much, Excellencies, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, thank you very much for joining us this morning. Of course, we, Germany, we are particularly pleased to be a co-host of today's discussion on advancing the participation and the leadership of uniformed women in United Nations peacekeeping. I think many of you have already attended the ELSI event this morning, and your interest on how relevant gender parity is and how we support UNIFORD Women in the United Nations, I know it's very important to you, and I can only concur. As the ELSI Initiative co-chair, we could not agree more with you over the urgency of this issue. So we are honored to be a co-chair. We are not alone, as you rightly mentioned. We have with us 3 further permanent missions who joined us. Next to me, the Permanent Mission of Zambia, Deputy Permanent Representative, is written here, Her Excellency, but I call her my dear friend and sister, Stena Champile. Then we have Canada, Michael and Uruguay, Gabriela, you will all conclude the meeting with remarks, so we make a kickstart. I will keep it very short, actually only 3 points. One I have to make about Zambia, because Zambia is not only the co-host of this meeting, but they are also an extremely active partner in the LC funding initiative, and least of all Most of all, actually, most of all, they are real frontrunner when it comes to the deployment of uniformed women. I think you have been almost immaculate track record in that regard and you're an inspiration for us and not least for my country. And so I'm very much looking forward to Stena, to your opening remarks. Three points I would like to make. The first one was Zambia, the second one is When it comes to gender parity, we believe the two aspects have to be hand in hand, and that is really what is reflected in the UN Uniform Gender Parity Strategy that we have now for almost 8 years. It is, first of all, the deployment of an adequate number of female peacekeepers, and secondly, equally important, a meaningful participation of female officers in the operations. So now we've been in year 8 of the strategy, and I think it's fair to say we have notable progress on both fronts. I think we have almost doubled the number of uniformed female personnel in most categories of peacekeeping and peace missions, and equally important, I think we see progress with regard to the inclusion in all functions of missions. And particularly in the advance into leadership positions. And I think this— we're not there, but I think we're improving. And ultimately, it is about creating within the missions, creating an institutional culture and an operational environment that really brings to the forefront the talent, professionalism, and leadership of every service member, be it a man or a woman. I was back home last week and to my surprise, I was told that the daughter in the neighboring house joined our forces. So I interviewed her and I said, "What made you go?" And because I come from an Air Force family myself, I said, "What made you go?" And she said, "Well, two things. I think I can be useful. I think they they appreciate what I can do as a woman and they take need of my particular concerns as a woman, as a young woman. And finally she said, yeah, and it was this conversation with female officers and privates from all walks of the army that really convinced me that that's a place to go and a thing for me to do. And I think that brings me to the final point. Which I would like to raise is the Network for Uniformed Women Peacekeepers. I think what my neighbour's daughter, I think, experienced, I think, is something we need to communicate as well inside the United Nations. So the Network for Uniformed Women Peacekeepers supports, first of all, these objectives, integrating armed— female armed forces into operations, but is also providing a platform for peer support, knowledge exchange, and feedback to leadership. And we have supported this network since the launch, and we are very happy today to celebrate the rollout of this network to all peacekeeping operations. And I end with a plea to you colleagues. I really would kindly urge you to all support the Network for UNIVOD Women Peacekeepers. Please do inform your female peacekeepers about it and invite them to participate. It is valuable for them, and by that means it contributes to gender parity and ultimately to the success of what we all aspire to, which is fully efficient peacekeeping operations on behalf of the United Nations. And with that, I leave I hand over to Stena. Many thanks for coming again and thank you for your attention.

Excellencies, colleagues, Germany and Zambia remain firmly committed to the women, peace and security agenda and to advancing the objectives of the Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy. We value initiatives that translate commitment into practical practical results, including peer support networks, mentorship opportunities, and targeted efforts to address institutional barriers. From Zambia's perspective, as a longstanding troop-contributing country with the highest share of women peacekeepers at 33%, the experience of deploying women peacekeepers has demonstrated the value of inclusion in very practical terms. Currently, Zambia has deployed approximately 250 female peacekeepers to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, and to various other peacekeeping operations worldwide, demonstrating its commitment to promoting women's participation in international peace and security efforts. The theme of today's event is "From Commitment to Impact." As we look toward 2028, our focus should be sustaining momentum, sharing good practices, and turning commitments into lasting institutional change. We need the political and financial backing of member states, especially the Security Council and countries contributing military, police and correction officers to advance women's participation in peacekeeping, which will in turn improve the delivery of our mandates. Gender parity is an operational imperative which benefits all peacekeepers. More inclusive peace operations are stronger peace operations. The success of UNFOM Gender Parity Strategy will ultimately be measured not only by how many women serve under the UN flag, but by how many are empowered to lead, to shape operations, and to contribute fully to international peace and security. Germany and Zambia stand ready to continue working with the United Nations and all member states to achieve this goal. We look forward to hearing examples from the contributing countries joining us today so that we can keep learning from and inspiring each other. I thank you.

Ambassador Thomas, Ambassador Stena, thank you very much for your opening remarks, for setting up the tone for today's discussion, and for reminding us that advancing uniform human participation is central to more effective, credible, and representative peacekeeping. The purpose of today's event is to reinforce partnership between contributing countries and the United Nations Secretariat, to reaffirm our collective commitment for remaining— for the remaining implementation period of the Uniform Gender-Parity Strategy through 2028, and to hear concrete examples of initiatives that are making a difference in missions and at national level. We also mark the launch of the Network of Uniformed Women Peacekeepers across all all peacekeeping missions. It's a milestone and an important tool to ensure that our efforts are grounded in mission realities and informed by experiences of uniformed women themselves. We now move to the first part of the event. We'll hear from UN Secretariat colleagues about key initiatives being implemented to advance women's participation in leadership in UN peacekeeping. Operations aligned with the Secretary General's Uniform Gender Paris Strategy. To begin, I will invite Ms. Fatemah Zia, Director of the Office of Coordination of Shared Services, which coordinates and oversees implementation of the Uniform Gender Paris Strategy, to provide a context and overview of the strategy's priority. She'll be followed by Lieutenant General Pierce, Acting Military Advisor of the Office of Military Affairs,, who will focus on the military component. We'll have a video recording from Commissioner Faisal Shankar, Police Advisor and Officer in Charge of the Office of Mine Action and Police, who will focus on police, of course. Mr. Renaud Galland, Deputy Chief, Justice and Correction Service, who will focus on justice and correction, and Squadron Leader Adeline Asante-Kwabiah, who will join us remotely from UNISFA. And will speak on behalf of the Network. After her speech, we'll have a video with some testimonial from participants of the Network. And with that, I hand over to Fati. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Good morning, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues. I'd like to welcome you and thank you very much for joining us for this event today. And I'd like to begin by thanking our co-hosts, the governments of Germany, Canada, Uruguay, and Zambia, for bringing us together to highlight our shared commitment to more gender-balanced and more effective UN peacekeeping. Thank you for being here. This commitment is not only the right thing to do, it is delivering concrete results, and we've seen the benefits firsthand. When women and men peacekeepers serve together, missions benefit from better access to host communities, and they can build trust more easily. This leads to better and more— this leads to more and better quality information and more complete understanding of local security dynamics. For example, in UNMISS, our 2025 Woman Police Officer of the Year increased the mission's presence through approachable foot patrols during a time of heightened tensions. This led to better information gathering, which improved our early warning mechanisms. Mixed teams also bring broader perspectives. Women and men peacekeepers often detect different threat signals, and this improves our situational awareness. For example, our mixed engagement teams in MONUSCO and UNISFA adapted patrol routes to better cover high-risk areas. This has led to better prevention and better response to conflict-related sexual violence. So advancing uniformed women's participation is not symbolic. It is about making peacekeeping more effective and improving its legitimacy and capabilities. We have made important progress since the launch of the Secretary-General's Uniform Gender Parity Strategy in 2018. As the Ambassador noted, The share of women peacekeepers has more than doubled since then, and missions are better equipped to deploy and support both men and women peacekeepers. Progress would not have been possible without the strong commitment of our contributing countries and our peacekeepers—women and men who are serving to sustain peace and security in increasingly complex and challenging contexts. We would like to thank all member states for your support and contributions, whether it is political support, financial support, or through the deployment of mixed teams and gender-responsive leaders. At the same time, our gains achieved in this agenda remain fragile, and there's a real risk that without sustained effort, we could lose momentum. We have three key priorities going forward, and our speakers today will share examples of how can we— we can continue making progress on them. First is to promote equal access of women to all peacekeeping roles, including leadership. Second, to strengthen gender-responsive leadership and the accountability of our leaders. And third, to enhance enabling environments in missions and communications. I would like to thank Canada for supporting the capacity that allows DPO to drive, coordinate, and monitor implementation of these priorities. And as the Ambassador mentioned, today we're also showcasing an important initiative that plays a critical role across all of these priorities, and this is the Network for Uniformed Women Peacekeepers. It was launched in 2023, and it's now been rolled out to all peacekeeping missions. This was a lot of work, but we're very, very proud of the impact that it's had. The network helps connect uniformed women in the field It informs decision-making by amplifying their voices to leadership, and it promotes peer support and collaboration. We thank Germany and Australia for their funding contributions to the Network. In closing, I'd like to highlight that this is a critical moment. With 2028 fast approaching, only 2 years remain to achieve the goals of the Uniform Gender Parity Strategy. We call on all contributing countries to maintain your commitments and to continue driving this agenda forward. You are helping to make peacekeeping more impactful and more effective, and we look forward to continuing our strong partnership with all of you. Thank you.

Distinguished members, Excellencies, colleagues. First up, I'd like to thank the co-hosts this morning. Thank you very much. But also to Fadi, you and your team has been really key and has been underpinning in the push for a lot of the work in the initiatives that have been done, not just in the strategy but in our day-to-day operations. For me, first I'd like to to take the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Office of Military Affairs and our efforts towards the Uniform Gender Parity Strategy and the actions that we are taking to improve women's access to all the roles in peacekeeping operations. There have been many initiatives over the last 8 years and over this period. Most of them have stuck. There has been a lot of passion, a lot of purpose, And again, it is how do we think about it now in these final 2 years in taking it forward and really consolidating on those that have worked well. I want to start with one of really thinking about the whys behind the strategy. And we all know it, but it is really, really imperative that we remain focused on it. And that is that the diverse peacekeeping teams perform better. Fadi has indicated this, that when we deploy diverse patrols, the impact is immediate. The access to unlocking women and marginalized communities that we otherwise could not reach improves our situational awareness and enabling more targeted and effective responses. Similarly, gender-balanced leaders and teams in our military headquarters provide a more complete understanding of the operational environment, leading to better decision-making. Diversity is not aspirational, it is key and essential in all of our operations. To support this, the Office of Military Affairs Women, Peace and Security strategy is focused on 3 priorities: data, barriers, and leadership, which are all essential to implementing the UGPS. These are also underpinning and are system-oriented to ensure enduring change. First up, data. We are strengthening our understanding of where and how women serve. We are reviewing and cleaning mission data and developing an analytical platform that improves visibility on deployment by rank, role, and country. Through a new military leadership framework, we are identifying leadership roles and where gaps exist. Secondly, on barriers. Through our reform work, we are reviewing recruitment, selection processes, and role specifications to remove non-essential criteria that can act as invisible obstacles. This will be done in consultation with troop-contributing countries to ensure alignment with national systems. Our aim is clear: to ensure roles are accessible based on capability, not constrained by unnecessary requirements and unintentional barriers. Third, on leadership. Importantly, we are focused on building a comprehensive database of experienced women leaders. This can be used during our engagements with member states to encourage them to deploy women with prior mission experience in subsequent missions to be competitive for senior and high-impact roles. The aim is clear: to ensure that women are not only present but fully integrated across the breadth and depth of peacekeeping functions, including at the most senior decision-making levels. In closing, let me offer one key ask to Member States and offer one observation. To fulfil— to fully realise the efforts, we need you to make the effort in selecting military women for current missions. Leadership positions where the roles are generally filled by our male colleagues. We have the targets. We are faced with liquidity crisis. We mean— we have to be proactive in this space, because unless we are, it will deviate from the goals at which we are trying to achieve. Complementing this, networks— the networks supporting uniformed women are critical. They increase visibility of women across diverse roles and ranks through communication campaigns and events, and they strengthen capability through training in areas such as assertive communication and value-based leadership. And as it's already been indicated, could I please ask you to encourage your women peacekeepers to join the Network for Uniformed Women Peacekeepers. The impact for them and us is significant— is actually really significant. And the feedback that they provide us gives us clear indication of where we need to target our focus and our training and future initiatives. I just want to make the observation, when I arrived, I felt like the object of what this is about. I felt like, how can I be fixed? It's about me and it's about us. So me as a women— female peacekeeper, and many of you in the room. I don't need to be fixed. I need to be provided the opportunity by which to serve in every role that sits within peacekeeping. That is really important for me, for every female that chooses to serve her nation under the UN flag. It is about what those opportunities are for us to remove those both conscious and unconscious barriers for us to meaningfully be employed across every peacekeeping mission, in every role. There is no role that we cannot do in our peacekeeping missions. So that is what I ask of all of you, to think about that. How can you deploy a younger Cheryl Pearce into every role in the mission? Equally, for every younger female, how they can serve for their first time in the mission, how we can then bring them back into senior roles, and how do we track and manage that information so we can ensure that we not only introduce females into peacekeeping, but we can retain and make sure that they have meaningful opportunities throughout their career in their own militaries and within the peacekeeping career as well. So thank you. OMA, we're at the foundation stage of this systems approach to data management, but our ambition is clear. To encourage and see more women leading contingents, heading operations, and participating at the most senior decision levels as a standard, not as an exception.

Thank you. Thank you, General. Now we're going to see the video, please. I ask you to look at the screens where Commissioner Faizal will make a statement. Thank you.

Distinguished member state representatives, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, my apologies for not being here with you I am pleased to present United Nations Police experience in leveraging gender-responsive leadership to support uniformed women's participation in peacekeeping for more effective mandate delivery. Our efforts are not only about increasing the numbers of the police women deployed, they are about ensuring that police leaders create the conditions for women peacekeepers to participate fully to grow professionally and to lead, which in turn enhances the impact of peacekeeping. It is also about making leadership accountability real. We are seeing a real shift. Our commitments are moving from policy statements on paper to collective and sustained action. Across missions, our leaders are receiving training and guidance on gender-responsive leadership through performance workshops for heads of police components, during United Nations Police Week, women command cadre development courses, and other pre-deployment training initiatives. Recently, with the support of Sweden's Folk Benedikt Academy, we organized a leadership boost program where uniformed and civilian mission leaders exchange good practices. Our core leaders are using their positions to ensure greater operational gender equality outcomes, such as more effective protection of civilians, more inclusive host state policing structures, gender responsive improvements to field-level infrastructure, tackling of gender biases and discriminatory behaviors head-on, and addressing gaps on women's representation, among others. Leaders are also engaging more closely with the deployed women through networks such as the Cross-Component Network for Uniformed Women Peacekeepers, but also through UNPOL-specific women's networks that create a space for women to contribute and thrive. For today's event, I will illustrate the impact of gender-responsive leadership through one example, which is only one of several impactful stories across other United Nations Police components. In UNISPA, an operating context without a formal police structure Gender-responsive leaders supported the deployment of mixed police teams to strengthen community engagement and build greater trust with the local population. Women currently make up 43% of Mission's police officers. Uniformed women's participation helped to make Community Protection Committees, or what we call CPCs, more responsive to needs of women and girls, and they played an important role as mentors and trainers. Helping these communities to become trusted frontlines, mechanisms for reporting and referring cases for sexual and gender-based violence. By deploying women police officers who are visible and meaningfully participating in United Nations policing, UNISPA also provides role models who motivate more women to join the CPCs. And the impact of these measures is evident. A few years ago, few survivors would have approached the CPC. Today, thanks to steady mentoring of ANPOL, the increased participation of women police officers in CPCs, and the determination of gender-responsive leaders, they have become the community's first line of safety and security. Reports of SDPP are rising not because violence has necessarily increased, but because trust has Women now speak, cases are followed, and information flows early enough from the CPCs to United Nations Police to prevent or respond to the incidents. The change is so visible that young girls linger after meetings whispering to one another that one day they too will wear a police uniform. Moving forward, our goal is to strengthen leaders' capacity and accountability to continue achieving this kind of impact for peacekeeping. Dear colleagues, my ask to member states is very simple: deploy leaders who support this approach and deploy qualified women for leadership roles so that we can continue delivering for sustainable peace. I thank you for questioning.

We thank the Police Division for that. Although Commissioner Faisal is not here, the Deputy Commissioner Margaret Karanja is here and she'll be able to address any issues related to release on the next phase of the debate. We now invite Mr. Hénault-Galland to speak on behalf of Justice and Correction Services. Thank you.

Merci, distinguished colleagues. Our experience shows that the participation of uniformed women in peace operations is not symbolic. It is essential to sustainable peace and credible institutions. Women's participation is not just about numbers. It's about transforming institutions to better reflect and serve communities. It builds more inclusive justice and security institutions, which are stronger, more trusted, and more effective to everyone. Our progress under the Uniform Gender Parity Strategy is tangible. In 2025, women represented 35% of deployed Justice and Corrections Government-provided personnel , exceeding the 30% target. The impact extends beyond UN missions. Women peacekeepers help expand opportunities for women in host countries, strengthen representation, and build trust. In MONUSCO, Efforts to deploy more women corrections DPPs have contributed to real institutional changes. Previously, there were no women prison directors across more than 150 prisons in the country. Today, there are more than 20 women, alongside a significant increase in women prison officers. Through mentorship, through technical engagement and advocacy, MONUSCO Women Corrections Officers have helped shift leadership pathways and systems, making detention conditions better for women and men, with stronger security and better rehabilitation outcomes. Recognition is also key. The Trailblazer Awards highlights the contribution of Women Justice and Corrections DPP and challenges stereotypes. Complementing this, the corrections officer recruitment exercise supports gender-responsive recruitment and equal access to deployment. Both, however, depend on XB funding. Advancing women's participation requires partnership. Of course, the UN Secretariat plays a central role under the OCSS leadership. But sustainable progress depends on member states. The Group of Friends of Corrections in Peace Operations has been instrumental supporting policy engagement, training, and recruitment initiatives. And I want to thank the co-chair of the Group of Friends. A central pillar of our work also consists in creating enabling environments. This requires addressing barriers such as workplace culture, infrastructure, and support systems. The Network for Women Uniformed Peacekeepers plays a key role by facilitating direct engagement with deployed personnel to better understand and help address the barriers they face. But we also must recognize challenges. Liquidity constraints and budget reductions will significantly reduce the number of GPP deployed. This may risk undermining recent progress on women participation and calls for renewed commitment. So our ask today is to ask you to continue investing in peacekeeping and supporting uniformed women. This includes expanding leadership opportunities and ensuring equal access to deployment and advancement. Women remain critical to the effectiveness and success of United Nations peace operations. I thank you.

Thank you. Now, again, I ask you to move your attention to the screens where Squadron Leader Adeline is going to join us all the way from UNISPA in Abidjan to provide the views and also the perspectives of the Network. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Adeline Asante-Kwabiah and I serve as the Military Gender Advisor and the Network focal point in UNISFAR, the UN mission in Abidjan. I'm here today to share how the Network for Uniformed Women Peacekeepers has improved my deployment experience and that of many other uniformed women. The first thing I'll talk about is connection and support. The Network has been an important source of connection and support. Through online events, I've been able to connect with uniformed women across missions from different countries and components through the network's peer-to-peer connect sections, for example, and I've learned from them as well as from women in leadership positions and other trailblazers. The second is knowledge sharing. The network provides practical learning on topics such as mental health and well-being. This directly improves our daily lives and working environments during deployment. I personally started journaling because of the session on mental health from which I learned the skill of journaling, and it was a Meet the Experts session. The third is leadership engagement. The network connects us with uniformed leaders in missions and at UN headquarters. It gives us a platform to share our experiences, raise concerns, and understand what is being done to improve opportunities for women. For me personally, the network has granted me the opportunity to gain valuable skills and perspectives that enable me to provide practical guidance to colleagues through the mentorship program, navigate challenges in my line of work, and also develop confidence in my decision-making skills. As you will see in the video that will air shortly, this experience is shared widely. Close to 1,800 uniformed women have joined the network since it was launched in 2023. About 150 to 200 participants attend the monthly events including colleagues in very remote locations. In March this year, we reached an important milestone. The network is now in all UN peacekeeping missions. In today's operational context, supporting peacekeepers and maintaining morale is more important than ever. The network plays a key role by reducing isolation and strengthening a sense of community among uniformed women. I call on all member states and encourage you to support this initiative to ensure that uniformed women deploying from your countries are informed about the network and can join once they deploy. I invite you to watch this video which highlights the network's activities. Thank you very much for your attention.

The Network connects women peacekeepers from the military, police, and justice and corrections to learn from each other across missions, components, and nationalities. It connects uniformed women with leaders and gives uniformed women access to information to enhance their deployment experience. What have been the benefits of the Network to female peacekeepers and to wider peacekeeping?

We have been able to hold programs together with the Network, mostly online programs, but they've been very beneficial. It's an amazing way to learn from other women how to solve problems within the mission.

Through the network, we feel empowered. Our voices are heard and elevated. These networks provide a real sense of peer support. When women are able to connect with others who have had similar experiences across different missions, roles, or countries, that kind of support can make the difference between a positive experience and a frustrating one, especially for those serving in small numbers. It brings us women together where we are able to share our own experiences our challenges.

We bring our success stories. We help each other.

I have seen that network gives an opportunity for women to share their experiences. They have a different platform as they are less in number, so they can share with each other. They can learn from the experience.

You get to learn and exchange ideas with the people you are networking with to help you build your career.

I think they can share experiences from their various missions. And which can help also in what they do.

It has brought the police and the force more close to each other than before. We were reasonably integrated, but because of this, the policewomen and the militarywomen sitting together as uniformed women peacekeepers, it sort of brought them together as a common entity.

When they speak as a group, their voices are heard better. These voices contribute to the development of the policies to make them more suitable and facilitating for them to keep on participating and not just participating, but meaningful participation.

A community helping other women to achieve their goals while pushing the boundaries aside and to elevate the voices of the uniformed women with the leadership.

The network has facilitated filling up of this void for commanders to connect With Women Under the Command, this is yet another tool for connecting to women about their specific perspectives and challenges.

As they say, if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, you go together. We have also seen that women feel more supported and empowered because we are really seeking their views to improve their deployment experience and also their participation at the UN. These networks allow They also help the UN better understand what's working and what's not. It becomes easier to identify the gaps, whether it's in training, equipment, accommodation, or leadership opportunities, and to find practical ways to address them. It turns individual stories into collective insight, which is a powerful driver of change. These networks don't just support women, they strengthen peacekeeping. Through the network, we participate.

We feel empowered. Our voices are heard and elevated, and our efforts are united towards equal opportunities for all uniformed women. When women thrive, teams perform better, and in the end, everyone wins for better peacekeeping operations.

Well, the testimonial video was an impactful way to close the first segment of our meeting, and we thank the UN speakers for highlighting the concrete work underway across military, police, Justice and Corrections components, and for showing how the network of uniformed women peacekeepers is helping to connect headquarters efforts with mission realities. We will now turn to the perspective of 3 contributing countries, the ones who provide us all the peacekeepers that we deploy. This segment will focus on practical initiatives undertaken by these member states under the UGPS priority areas, including efforts to to promote women's equal access to all peacekeeping roles, strengthen peacekeeping response, responsive leadership and accountability, enhance enabling environments, and addressing stereotypes through outreach and communication. For that, I'm happy to invite Assistant Commissioner of Police Patterson Masigui, Police Advisor of the Permanent Mission of Rwanda, who will take the floor, followed by Brigadier General Kinsum Laurie, Military advisor of the Permanent Mission of Cambodia, and Colonel T.P. Singh, military and police advisor of the Permanent Mission of India. Thank you very much. The floor is yours.

At the onset, let me commend the organizers of this critical debate and all briefers for their insights. This truly reflects your continued commitment in advancing women, women's participation and leadership in peacekeeping. One Afamriy believes that promoting women's equal access to all peacekeeping roles, including leadership, is essential in strengthening the effectiveness of peace operations. As one of the leading contributors of uniformed women personnel, as of March 2026, in Rwanda's deployments, women make up 8.81% of individually deployed military personnel, 42.31% of individual police officers, and 25.37% of formed police units personnel. Excellencies, these figures reflect our commitment to turning women, peace, and security agenda into action, and this reflects and aligns with our theme today. Also, as a co-chair of the Group of Friends of corrections, Rwanda currently deploys 0.5 corrections personnel, including 3 women. This ratio means a lot in terms of advancing gender parity. But beyond numbers, Rwanda emphasizes women's leadership and decision-making. In peacekeeping missions, Rwandan women have served successfully as formed police unit commanders and in other senior roles in peacekeeping. For instance, in UNMISS, Rwanda maintains a female-dominated FPU, and this unit is commanded by a woman. For Rwanda, in police and corrections and the security sector in general, recruitment strategies have been intentionally designed to attract and retain qualified women officers. This has required to address structural barriers that discourage women from pursuing careers in security sector. National institutions have invested in targeted outreach, mentorship programs, and professional development initiatives that prepare women for deployment both at home and in peacekeeping missions. Experience shows that sustained political commitment at the highest level is essential. Informed parity cannot be achieved through isolated initiatives. It requires sustained institutional reforms and clear accountability. Gender-responsive policies must also be backed by a culture that values inclusion and equal opportunities. There is therefore a need to remove barriers, expand leadership opportunities, create enabling environments that allow women to serve and lead, and ensure they can meaningfully contribute their expertise at every level of the United Nations peace operations. In conclusion, Empowering women to serve and lead will strengthen peace operations and contribute to more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable peace. I thank you.

Excellency, General distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, at the outset I would like to thank Canada, Germany, Zambia, and Uruguay for co-hosting this very important event. I would also like to thank the brief— briefer of the United Nations official. I would like to take this opportunity to share Cambodia's perspective on uniform gender parity strategy on strengthening gender-responsive leadership and accountability, a priority that is central to advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and to improving the effectiveness of United Nations peace operations. Cambodia's commitment to gender equality is reflected in our deployment figure. As of May 2026, women comprise 23% of our individual uniformed personnel, and 18% of our troops serving in UN missions. We are proud that Cambodian women have served as contingent commander in UNIFIL and UNMISS respectively, demonstrating that women, when leadership opportunities are open, women lead with professionalism, confidence, and distinction. Strengthening gender-responsive leadership requires more than increasing numbers. It requires institutional accountability. In 2024, with the support from the LC Initiative Fund, the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies and the Geneva Center for Studies in Sector Governance, East-West Management Institute, and the University of Cornell, as well as the UN Women, the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces completed a comprehensive barrier assessment, the first in Southeast Asia. The full report has been published on the UN Women Asia-Pacific website to promote transparency, peer learning, and shared responsibility across the region. The assessment provides clear recommendation to advance gender equality with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. This include capacity building for both women and men officer, improve healthcare and mental health support during deployment, and the creation of an enabling environment through formal parental leave policy, strengthened code of conduct, and effort to address gender and social norm that discourage women deployment. It also highlights the importance of recruitment campaigns and the visibility of the female role models to inspire the next generation of peacekeepers. Cambodia continues to integrate gender perspective into training, planning, and command structure. We hold commanders and leaders accountable for holding standard of conduct, addressing bias and sexual harassment, and ensuring that expectations are clearly communicated throughout the chain of command. This is essential to building trust, safeguarding dignity, and ensuring that all personnel, women and men, can serve effectively and safely. At the closing, for Cambodia, the meaningful participation of women in peacekeeping is not only a matter of fairness. It is a strategic imperative that strengthens operational effectiveness, enhances community engagement, and contributes to more sustainable peace. We remain committed to work very closely with the United Nations and all partners to advance gender-responsive leadership and to ensure that accountability remains at the center of our collective efforts. Efforts. I thank you for your attention.

Chair, I thank the co-organizers and those present online for their remarks, and the Acting Malad for her remarks. I'll present the following statement in my national capacity and based on our national experience. India has been contributing uniformed personnel to United Nations peace operations since 1948. Over 300,000 military and police personnel have since been deployed over 49 missions, and we have lost 184 of them. India's experience in this field, as far as women in peacekeeping is concerned, is that structural preparation at national level will determine field outcomes. India has since then institutionalized several practices in armed forces in this regard, from We have come a long way from deploying or giving commission to regular, regular women armed forces officers in 1958 to giving entry to women cadets into our premier National Defence Academy. Our first women peacekeeping medical team was deployed in 1963 in Congo. Pre-deployment training for women officers is integrated within the national peacekeeping training architecture. Architecture. Gender focal points are embedded within contingent structures as standard practice. Facilities and equipment specifications for women deploying to missions have been formalized. These measures reflect a sustained decade-long process of institutional adaptation within the Indian Armed Forces. Our female engagement teams are functional in MONUSCO, UNMISS, UNIFIL, and UNISFA as an operational requirement. In 2007, India deployed the first all-female formed police unit to Liberia. This— that deployment validated within India's own system the model for training, equipping, and deploying women for mission tasks across the full spectrum of peacekeeping. In October 2024, India co-organized a high-level event titled Breaking Barriers: Visualizing Equal Opportunities for Women in Defense alongside Germany and Switzerland during the Women, Peace, and Security Week. Lt. Gen. Sadhana Saxena Nair, the Director General of Indian Armed Forces Medical Services, a 3-star officer from the Indian Army, participated as a panelist and spoke to the audience on the structural changes being undertaken within one of the world's largest active armed forces. Field outcomes reflect this preparation. India has achieved the UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award 3 times. Major Suman Gawani, in 2019, Major Radhika Sen in 2024, and Major Abhilasha Barak of UNIFIL in 2025, who also happens to be Indian Army's first combat helicopter pilot, following closely the Indian Air Force, who now has women fighter pilots. Each of them have served in substantive operational role in demanding field conditions back home. The recognition is a function of national-level preparation and deployment equality. India provided leadership as well when the UN Secretary-General nominated Miss Kiran Bedi, the first civilian police advisor here at UN headquarters in 2003. Miss Bedi was also the first, uh, woman police officer that India had. Factual mission-level visibility of what women peacekeepers do operationally, their command function, their access to communities, their contribution to mission effectiveness is more effective in shaping TCC decision-making than advocacy in isolation, and should be the bedrock of any strategic communication on this important topic. With this, I close my remarks. Thank you.

Thank you to the military and police representatives of Rwanda, Cambodia, and India for sharing concrete national experiences and examples of progress, as well as challenges that remain. It's always very important for us to listen to these updates and also to find more opportunities for our collaboration to improve. We will now move to a more vibrant and active part of our meeting today with discussions and interventions from the floor. Besides the traditional question and answer session, we would like to take this opportunity for Member States and partners to share brief reflections, examples of ongoing initiatives, and commitments on the way forward. But due to the time that we have available, and also with the number of participants, we request that each speaker speaks around 2 minutes, no more than that. For that, when taking the floor, please identify yourself by name and delegation organization before intervention. You may wish to share one example of what you're doing to support women's participation in peacekeeping, or one example of impact what you're seeing and how you intend to continue supporting the agenda. So the floor is now open. Please just indicate in the microphone and the floor will be yours. Thank you very much.

Thank you. I haven't timed this, so I'll see how I go. My name is Group Captain Pam Bradshaw. I'm the military advisor for the Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations. So firstly, thank you to Germany, Zambia, Canada, Uruguay, DPO, and all the speakers today. Look, the information we've heard today reminds us why this agenda matters and why we must all double down on investing in women's participation in peacekeeping. The full and equal participation of women is a publicly stated priority for the Australian Defence Force to broaden its talent pool and enhance operational readiness. It's this talent pool and operational readiness that feeds our candidates into the UN. Australia internally has removed institutional barriers. We've removed all gender restrictions on combat and frontline roles, and we've integrated the WPS agenda to ensure diverse perspectives during operational planning. We still have more work to do. Australia continues to prioritise cultural reform female recruitment and retention, and leadership opportunities to drive systemic change. Pleasingly, next month, Lieutenant General Susan Coyle will be appointed as Australia's first Chief of Army, our first female Chief of Army in the service's 125-year history. She is one of many exceptional female leaders that we have in the Australian Defence Force, who alongside Lieutenant General Pearce here with us today, provides a very powerful example of women's participation. Advancing the WPS agenda remains a top priority for Australia in the UN ecosystem, and we continue to contribute through personnel, funding, and partnerships. We are deeply concerned by efforts to reverse global progress on gender equality. However, we are also encouraged by the support for WPS amongst many nations. Champions exist on every continent, and nowhere is this more evident than in the UN peace operations. The data tells us an encouraging story. As we have heard today, over the past decade, the share of uniformed women in UN peace operations has doubled. This is no accident, and it demonstrates that investment from member states, from troop and police contributing countries, and dedicated funding does work. It is also no coincidence that progress has coincided with the establishment of the Elsie Initiative Fund. This fund has been a critical catalyst for change and has built a global knowledge base on how to address barriers to women's deployment. We encourage colleagues in the room today, if you have not already, please consider how you can partner with the ELSI Initiative Fund. Australia is proud to be an enduring partner. The challenge now is to make the gains that we have made durable and to ensure we do not lose momentum. This brings me to one question, if we have time to answer it later: How can we ensure the WPS gains are preserved and strengthened in the context of mission drawdowns, restructuring, and reform? Thank you.

Thank you, Pam.

We're going to wait for 3 speakers and then we will answer these questions. Thank you. Anyone else? Don't be shy, please. Or maybe while you're still thinking about what you're going to say, let's maybe answer the question that Pam has asked. General Pearce, would you be able to address this from one Australian to another?

I know our accent. I'm very conscious of our Australian accent being fast and quick and often difficult. Look, just in response to that, we're very conscious of the impact that the drawdown liquidity future budget is having on ensuring the proportionality of women peacekeepers is upheld. We are doing it in a number of different ways. It's understanding the data, it's understanding where and what areas are being impacted. It's about the engagement that we are having with the TCCs and PCCs in a really proactive way. And it's finding the systems and the measures by which to continue to, one, hold accountability for— with myself, with the commanders on the ground, in ensuring any repatriation is done in a— with equity, but equally, and then ensuring with the TCCs that when they are providing troops, whether it be contingent troops or individually uniformed personnel, that they are— it is also done proportional. So it's a close managed activity. But looking forward in a strengthening, it's about the systems, understanding our data, how do we ensure that we continue to track and progress it going forward, not just holding but strengthening.

Thank you. Our Deputy Police Adviser, maybe some Something to add from the police side?

Thank you for the opportunity, distinguished colleagues. My name is Margaret Karanja, the Deputy Police Advisor, and as our Police Advisor said in his remark, the police division, of course, has experienced some challenges, particularly due to the contingency planning. But of course, I would wish to report that all is good. We are monitoring so that we ensure that the achieved target on the uniform gender parity strategy are not lost due to the current prevailing circumstances. So, I would wish to assure member states that we are doing all what we can through various initiatives. We have the human command courses that we are launching and other initiatives like encouraging member states to continue nominating humans, you know, to take up positions during the recruitment processes. So thank you so much, and we request that you continue supporting through various initiatives to promote the agenda. So thank you so much.

Thank you, Commissioner Margaret. Back to the member states for intervention questions. I am sure many of you have a lot of progress and challenges also in implementing the agenda. Please don't be shy, share with us your experiences, your challenges so we can find common ground and see how we can collaborate and support each other. Oh, do you want to go back? Pim, over to you again. Maybe you have more questions now. You have more time, you have more time. I'm going to start calling some member states that we've done assessment advisory visits and we saw a lot of work that was done for them to provide us some testimonies here.

I would have spoken slower if I knew I had more time. I have a second question, if I may. So how can we better support and encourage mission leadership to take personal ownership of WPS as one of their core leadership responsibilities? Thank you.

That's a very good question. General, you're going to get your salary worth today.

This has not been pre-organized, please let me assure you. As I think, look, it's not a single entity in the Secretariat that looks at this or a single entity identity in the missions. It is one that we grapple with all the time as we look at not only initiatives, but we look at how one is we can support the mission leadership but also hold them accountable for it. And it is a— is a real relationship piece. And that is in about understanding conscious and unconscious bias, and that is on us in a training perspective, but also ownership of the individuals on creating that inclusive and diverse environment, understanding through their own performance mechanisms and what we call it, EPAS, the performance with their sectors within the military I can communicate on, is what are they doing. But I would also say in the missions, it's about creating really the retention tools, is how are we creating the experience experience in the missions by where women feel valued, that they're valuating, they have a purpose, they're employed in the positions for which they were deployed to, that diversity of thought, their voice at the table. All of those really create the space by which one is confidence, and then also is how do we build that back into, you know, for them to volunteer to come back. So each of the mission leaderships and then working, you know, with Fadi and the team from OCSS in the network, and this network is really key because that is really that interaction a lot of the time by what we're seeing, and we can then feed it back into the mission leadership. What we take out of that is a different way and really a 360-degree reporting way is how we can improve the experience environment but also the operational impact that is having and that effectiveness on the ground. So it is enduring, it is an accountability, and I would say from a military sense, I know when we did the Liquidity Crisis Plan, and that was a clear direction to the missions to hold equity at 25%. If the women were at 23% before, they needed to be at 23% after. But what is occurring, and I'll put it back to the TCCs, is that what we're finding, that women are not in the key critical positions. So when you do start to needing to reduce and you're taking out, not you're taking out, you're repatriating your Ops Captain 3 on a headquarters or a liaison officer or an UNMO, predominantly they're females. You really have to go out proactively proactively to make sure that we balance it out. And the force commanders all did that to try and really focus on ensuring we retain the numbers we need to retain. We only had a slight difference. When you take out units, when you repatriate units, and they're generally medical units, you'll find a big dip in female participation. They are predominantly employed in particular elements within. So some of the accountability is really difficult at the mission perspective. So for getting the numbers up, it's all of the TCCs. For retaining them and providing that operational impact, that sits with us and the leadership in that to provide that meaningful experience and leadership across the headquarters. But I do need, and I'll say for military, I won't speak I speak for Margaret on the police. I do need the DECOZs. I do need— when I sit in VTCs with the mission leadership and the only female at that table happens to be the gender advisor, we're not there yet. So I need DECOZ ops, DECOZ pets, I need all of my colonel positions, I need that senior leadership now coming in, because the decision-making happens at that table. And the only person at that table, on a very rare occasion, it might be a female, but generally it's the only position they're holding at that table is a gender advisor. So we still have a long way to go, and that is one that whilst we can do the best we can in the missions, a lot of that unconscious bias because of that imbalance in the leadership team there then permeates down through. So that's all of our responsibility. Disability, not just the missions. Thanks, Pam.

Thanks, Ivor. Thank you, ma'am. Hello.

Hello. Thank you very much for the opportunity. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Helen Kariuki, the Deputy Military Advisor from Kenya. And thank you for this brief and this discussion that is coming at a very critical time when there seems to be a bit of backtracking on the Women in Peace and Security agenda and involvement in the mission. And to this end, Kenya remains committed, and part of our commitment is ensuring that the participation in peacekeeping starts from the grassroots, from the recruitment of women, from the capacitation of women, the training training and making sure that we are not just sending women, but that we are sending capable women who will have impact. And on this end, I also have a question on the recruitment and the deployment of women. Previously, before the downsizing, we used to have some posts that were dedicated for women and would come as women-only posts, and I think these helps to ensure that women are continually participating. And even where member states might not have been— maybe might have not wanted to nominate a woman, then they are compelled because sometimes it's all aspect of nudging that there is the voluntary and there is also the compelling. So when you have a post that is women only, then we are compelled to send a woman. But increasingly we find that even posts that were previously women only, they are coming on as women participation is encouraged, which leaves it open then to everybody else, which is not a bad thing, but it might bring then the participation of women low. And I wanted to find out maybe what is the rationale are behind that, and if this is something that is going to continue, or maybe we've reached the numbers that we hope to achieve and we think now this is a good time to leave it open. Thank you.

Thank you. Before we answer the question, thank you very much for your intervention, Deputy Military Advisor from Kenya. Any more colleagues? Milads and polads are very shy, right? Clearly you're not politicians, right? If you're a politician, the microphone is open, you'd not miss the opportunity. Okay, let's answer that question then.

Thank you. Look, thank you very much for the question. It will differ between police, corrections, and military on that in regards to women-only posts. We have it as encouraged, highly desirable, and it is a close working relationship with member states. What we have is the Office of Military Affairs owns all the individual uniform posts. They're not allocated and not entitled by any one TCC. We have arrangements. With particular TCCs that you are going to continually rotate your offices. At times you cannot fulfil posts and therefore it's offered to another TCC. As we've adjusted the liquidity crisis, we've rebalanced those posts out. So where we can, we are always engaging with a highly desirable for a female candidate. What we have we've seen is that in a sense of just with one TCCs, I've often said that we've— they've continually posted females into that position, and for that we are allowing that to— you know, we keep that TCC linked to that post, and it is working. And often they will put their hand up, we don't have a female, can we offer it to another TCC, but we are going to have a female the next time. So we'll always work with the TCCs to build the cadre of female staff officers. But it's also sometimes has a disproportionate effect is you talk about the capability, making sure we have capable women. Sometimes it enforces sending women to fill the post who are not— they're not being best prepared and therefore, we're setting that— we're not setting them up for success. So it really is a balance about how we work, and it's not about setting as it has to be male or it has to be female. We always encourage, and you see in about women are encouraged for senior appointments, and we will divert. Like at Minerso at the moment, we've seen a real drop in female Anmos in Minerso, and I will offer it out to different TCCs if they can ensure me a female UNMO. So look, there is different ways of doing it, but in the military we don't hold positions as female only. It has been a discussion of whether to do that or not, but it's a balance of making sure that we have the right person for the job rather than just the right gender for the job. And so for me, that's— trying to find that balance in it. Thank you. I'll hand off.

Thanks. Thank you. Maybe on the several questions. First, on the question of the delegate of Kenya, we do women-only calls for justice and corrections officers. We also usually try to reject, I would say, the opportunity to reject nomination with less than 30% nomination of women. We don't do it all the time, but that's something we, we try to do. And both these measures have been quite critical to increase the number of women who have been nominated. Also, when we have particularly low woman participation, then we launch a woman-only call, and only if it fails then we move to a call that is also open to male candidates. Now, to your question, I think what we see is that so far the liquidity measures or reduction or mission drawdown have not yet had an effect on the percentages, but on the absolute numbers, of course, yes. And this has an impact on the outcomes of what we were describing here. So being change, agents of change, helping to change institutions, to open path into the communities, etc. With a lower number of women being deployed, we have less impact, obviously. Now, what do we do? I mean, with the mission leadership, we try to inform them as much as possible on the impact. The Justice and Corrections component, I usually quite small and they don't represent a big share of the budget, so sometimes they are easy fruits to cut because they think, well, let's do politics and deploy boots on the ground. Now, we try to inform the leadership about the impact, the importance of the engagement of these women officers or justice experts. At HQ, we also have that in the compact of the leadership. And we try to encourage also heads of components when we gather them once a year to specifically pay attention to these measures.

Thank you. Commissioner Margaret.

Thank you. On the side of the Police Division, I would wish to say I wish to state that we may have been affected by the liquidity situations, just like any other component, because this happened across, you know, all the components, and— but on numbers, but not on percentage. So far, the numbers have not been affected, and I wish to say that by April 2026, the IPO Uh, we have that 4.8% women versus the target that is set for 27%. For the FPUs, is 18.4% versus the target of 17%. Uh, professional post, um, that 2%, again, is the target of that 4%, and professional post that 1.3% against the target of 29%. For the leadership, mission leadership, So far, 40% is composed of humans. So as you can see from the number, at the percentage, we have not been affected, but in terms of the percentage, we are still not lost. Of course, as I stated there before, we are monitoring the situation so that we ensure that we don't lose the gains that have been achieved through the effort. Thank you. Thank you.

I think we have time for one last question. Please. I'll go— General, sorry, I'll go in the back. I'll prioritize a woman colleague.

Thank you for offering me your seat to do what is expected. Thank you, everyone. All protocols duly observed. Mine is not a question, like I said. My name is Dolapo Badmus. I'm an Assistant Commissioner of Police. I'm the Police Adviser of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the United Nations. I want to briefly contribute to the discussion at hand. Maybe I'm loud enough. The microphone is not cooperating right now. Okay, it's back. So as a nation, Nigeria, we've contributed exclusively to global peace and security. As we know, since Nigeria took independence in 1960, we've been prominent in the global scene of keeping peace and security. And today, here, my first time of hearing about— because I just resumed not quite long, This is my first time of hearing about this women participation in peacekeeping, the network of women. And I want to say that as the police advisor, on behalf of my nation, that in this year 2026, one of our own from the correctional service, Olukemi Ibikunle, won the 2026 Trailblazer Award for women justice and correction officers. And what has this done for us as a nation is that it underscores the importance and genuineness of our service, that is Nigerian service as a nation to global peace and security. So for everything that has to do with global security and peace, please count us in, rely on us, we'll come with our full strength to support. And for getting to know this concerning the network for uniformed women peacekeepers, I'm going to reach out to all our peacekeepers, the female ones, to ensure that they are all committed to this, because hearing from the network members, we can see that this is highly supportive of their contribution. Is highly supportive of their operation and ensuring that they do well. And I, myself, as a female, is so interested in this, and by doing so, I will actually confirm from all our female peacekeepers that they join this network, and for everyone that have not joined, I will encourage them to do so. And the nation will continue to support global peace and security. Thank you.

Thank you, delegate from Nigeria. I think Mr. Arnault has one last comment before we move to the next phase.

Just to thank Nigeria also for indeed the— Yeah, I want to thank Nigeria for indeed mentioning the Trailblazer Award, and I think that shows the importance also of the visibility of the engagement of women. I just want to clarify on the women-only calls, that doesn't mean that we are limiting some function for women only, but rather that it allows us to create also a bigger pool of women candidates, and that has been extremely helpful, notably when we establish rapid deployment rosters. So just to clarify, that it's not a way to exclude men, but rather to increase the pool of women candidates. Thank you. Well, thank you very much.

Although we didn't have a lot of participation from the floor, I think just your presence here today shows how your countries are committed to advancing the agenda. We do thank the three delegates who were able to provide a little bit of examples of how they're advancing, not only the numbers, but also the positions that their women are taking when deploying to peacekeeping operations. The importance of the network, that's being formed, the importance of the ELSI Initiative as a key funder of a lot of these national processes that are undergoing that will allow sustainability for the future deployment of more qualified women peacekeepers, especially in leadership positions, and also to our colleagues from the Secretariat who are able to provide examples of what the work that we are doing to support you and to support our field missions. So thank you very much for this great opportunity to exchange experiences and, as I said before, to find ways to collaborate and support each other in increasing the number of women that are deployed, especially the ones in leadership positions. We will now— before we go to our closing remarks, I would just like to remember that after the official event, there will be an optional virtual reality showcase on the MINUSCA Peacekeeping employment experience. If you would like to be part of it, it's going to be outside, so please come and join us. It should not take more than 5 minutes in each one of the, the visual experiences. Thank you. Now for closing remarks, I'm pleased to invite the speakers to offer their reflections and help bring today's formal program to a close. Ambassador Michael Gord, Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada, and Ambassador Gabriela González, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mission of Uruguay. The floor is yours.

Thank you very much. Thanks, Ivo, and colleagues, excellencies, friends. I just want to thank everybody who contributed to this important conversation today, as well as the Secretariat, and of course, my fellow co-hosts for for organizing this event. And I think that today's conversation reminded us that advancing the full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation of uniformed women in peacekeeping is not— and let me just repeat that— is not the responsibility of women peacekeepers, nor is it the responsibility of the Network of Uniformed Women Peacekeepers. It is the duty of the entire peacekeeping architecture, which includes UN Headquarters, mission leadership, and of course our own security institutions. And we must all together ensure that women are integrated at every level of peacekeeping operations. And through the ELSI Initiative, um, Canada has seen that institutional change requires concerted, and sustained effort and action that must also adapt over time. Uh, ELSI was designed to address institutional barriers— I think you're all familiar with it— through mutually reinforcing lines of work, global advocacy, action-oriented research, and support to troop and police-contributing countries. The Secretariat and of course the ELSI initiative fund. And I just want to share 2 or 3 lessons that we have learned through the LC Initiative. Complex problems require comprehensive solutions. I think this is the first lesson of the LC Initiative. The second lesson may seem obvious to you as well, but progress requires collective action and shared ownership., and this is particularly important now that resources are increasingly constrained. And I think we've heard from a couple of the speakers, a couple of the questions and answers, about the impact that liquidity and the financial crisis are having on this particular issue. And I think that if we want to see continued progress and lasting results, we will need the leadership of partners and champions around the world to do so. And the third lesson is that progress starts at home. And to deploy more women, we must recruit more women to our police services and armed forces, and we must find ways to retain them. And that's our responsibility. This also means that we must overcome barriers to institutional and cultural change. By combating stereotypes about what women can or cannot do, by putting an end to sexual harassment, by adapting facilities and equipment that were not designed with all personnel in mind, and of course, addressing caregiving responsibilities, among other things. And I just want to paraphrase General Pierce from her introductory remarks, who said, "Women don't need to be fixed." they, they need to be supported, and that's, and that's our obligation. Canada has learned much from its collaboration with troop and police-contributing countries, and it is a work in progress for us as well, for Canada as well. Cultural change takes time, but it is necessary, and it contributes, as we have heard today, to sustainable results and to sustainable peace. And with that, I want to turn it over to my colleague Gabriela González, Ambassador from Uruguay.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm very pleased to join you to these closing remarks, and thank you everybody for your amazing presentations, exposition, and Q&A today. I think the people here in the room, I've worked with many of you, are all very involved in this, in improving and supporting the presence of women in peacekeeping operations. I will highlight some of the remarks. I'm going to do the remarks about what you have mentioned, because you have mentioned many things, and it's very difficult sometimes to summarize also. But before, I don't want to forget, thanks to the co-hosting. Countries to invite us. I'm very pleased also to be here because I come from defense. That is where I start my career many, many years ago. It's in 1993. When I tried to go Angola to the peacekeeping operation, the colonel who was my boss told me, "It's not safe for you. Don't go there. You're going to be the only woman there, and it's very, very complicated." And I'm so happy to see right now that most of my colleagues in the Ministry of Defense, they are, they can go, they are doing a very successful work. And also, as the General has mentioned before, I'm going to quote you, that there's nothing that we can do in a mission. We have to be trained, we have to learn. But also another point that you mentioned, it's very important, we have to retain retain the experience and use that women experience again. After saying that, I would like to, to mention that we believe that the barrier assessments are essential. We cannot remove obstacles without not understanding them. This assessment helps identify specific cultural operational barriers that has been mentioned. Second, institutional change, and Michael, my colleague, has mentioned some very important element there, the change of mind that we need in our country level. We know we don't have also to wait also for the UN to bring with all these solutions. The third that I would like to mention is the work or required coordination among the different national actors, that is MOFA, Ministry of Defense, and all relevant actors. That sometimes is quite difficult is difficult because we don't have time, but it's relevant because we have to be all at the same page. Um, for continuous strength in the recruitment and communication that I've been mentioned and has been mentioned before. Fifth, we must address every— that affect women most of including caregiving responsibilities. Um, talking about our experience, Uruguay has worked in support measures for dependent care, including a system for mothers, single fathers deploying in peace operations. This kind of measure are important because they recognize the family responsibilities. We also testing new and innovative approach in our case and sharing results among member states help us learn and improve collectively. I think the experience of all of us together as DCCs also, it's very important. At the same time, we recognize the current context more limited resources is challenging. And of course, we have a problem with the liquidity in the peacekeeping operation. That is always important to mention. That make— we have to use wisely our resources, improve the selection, the stronger data, more coordinated national data, and all we can do. And also, of course, with the UN, So let us do for our effort to ensure that gender equality becomes permanent and non-negotiable and part of how peacekeeping is planned, supported, and delivered.

Thank you, all of you. Ambassador Michael, Ambassador Gabriela, thank you very much for your words. Before we move to the next stage with the VR, which is going to be inside and not outside, I would like to thank again the co-hosts, the Government of Canada, Germany, Uruguay, and Zambia, for supporting this event today. But I would like us to bring— to give a round of applause to the team from the Office of Coordination and Shared Services who worked behind the scenes not only for making this event possible today, but who work on a daily basis to find ways to allow your commitment to become an impactful— a meaningful impact on our peacekeeping operations. So to them, please, a round of applause. Thank you very much. A great day today, and good luck for those playing in the World Cup.