UN chief says to present strategy to increase female peacekeepers

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday said that a strategy will be presented to the Security CoUNcil next month to increase the numbers of female peacekeepers.

"We will present a strategy to increase the numbers of female UNiformed personnel to the Security CoUNcil, and I urge your support," said the UN chief, noting that it is "UNacceptable" only 4 percent of the military peacekeepers are women in 2019.

According to Guterres, the number of female staff officers and observers have almost doubled since the Vancouver meeting in 2017, and more women are deployed in mixed police and military UNits.

The UN chief said that beyond better equipment and readiness, local engagement must be increased, adding that "women peacekeepers and civilian staff are essential to improve those efforts."

Also during Friday's ministerial meeting, Guterres bestowed a female naval officer, Marcia Andrade Braga, with the UNited Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, one of the top UN gender awards.

Working in the UNited Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), Braga helped build a network of trained gender advisors and focal points among the mission's military UNits and promoted the use of mixed teams of men and women to conduct commUNity-based patrols aroUNd the coUNtry.