Tag: UN Peacekeeping

  • Girl power: Pakistan’s first all-female peacekeeping team receives UN Medal in Congo

    Girl power: Pakistan’s first all-female peacekeeping team receives UN Medal in Congo

    Members of the first-ever Pakistani Female Engagement Team (FET), which is deployed with the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), were recently awarded the UN Medal at a ceremony in Adikivu in South Kivu, one of the provinces of the central African country.

    According to APP, this team of 15 female Majors and Captains was the first ever Pakistani Female Engagement team in any UN peacekeeping mission around the world.

    Officers in the team include psychologists, stress counsellors, vocational training officers, gender advisers, doctors, nurses, operations officers, information officers and logistics officers, according to a message received at UN Headquarters in New York.

    17 more female officers will be joining the team in early February.

    UN Peacekeepers rely heavily on engaging with the local community — which feels more comfortable liaising and sharing information with military troops that include women alongside men.

    “Throughout their deployment the Pakistani female officers worked hard to win the trust of the community,” the message added.

    The Pakistani FET, according to the mission, has implemented many successful projects including vocational training, medical outreach, regular sessions of support for students, local women and teachers exposed to trauma; and psychological workshops for Congolese police personnel.

    “This team’s extraordinary endeavours to serve the UN is worthy of praise”, the press release concluded.

  • Making us proud: Meet Major Fozia Parveen, serving UN Peacekeeping Force

    Making us proud: Meet Major Fozia Parveen, serving UN Peacekeeping Force

    Among many other Pakistani female military and staff officers is Major Fozia Parveen, who is making the country proud by serving the United Nations’ (UN) Peacekeeping Force.

    Taking to social media, Pakistan’s Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, lauded Major Fozia’s services as a UN peacekeeper in Cyprus.

    “We are proud of our female (and male) peacekeepers who serve in UN missions. Major Fozia Perveen is serving in the UN Mission in Cyprus (UNFICYP), seen here on a patrol in the Buffer Zone. Picture thanks to the UN, [sic]” she said in an Instagram post.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzMeC8_h_mI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Pakistan earlier crossed the target set by the UN from zero to 15 per cent deployment of female military and staff officers in the peacekeeping mission within just 18 months.

    “We believe, increased participation of female peacekeepers, and encouraging more women to take up mediation roles helps in the stabilisation and reconstruction phases of conflicts,” Lodhi had said earlier in April while participating in a debate on ‘Women in Peacekeeping.’

    Maleeh Lodhi herself is the first woman to hold the position of Pakistan’s representative to the UN. Previously, she has served as the country’s envoy to the Court of St James and twice as its ambassador to the United States (US).