Peacekeeping

Integrating a gender perspective into peacekeeping policies and the promotion of women's participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations is fundamental to a more effective performance on the ground. Recruiting women in the civil, military and police components of peacekeeping missions can encourage local women to report incidents of sexual violence and can also contribute to establishing better communication with local communities.

Second, mission staffing strategies should rely on quality over quantity, especially with respect to leadership and civilian experts. To win a host population's confidence, a United Nations mission must quickly deploy real expertise and skills that the host country does not itself possess. Ten world-class experts arriving at the outset of a mission are far better than 100 mediocre generalists trickling in over time.

Last but not least, let me also underline the importance of mainstreaming women's participation in all stages of the peace process. We welcome the increasing awareness within the United Nations system and among Member States of the importance of removing the constraints on such participation, and look forward to seeing further enhancement in the role of women in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding endeavours.

To date, peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations are ever better at taking into account realities on the ground. In that regard, we would like to put emphasis on the importance of women's participation and of language skills, among other requirements, to ensure smooth interactions with populations at the grass roots.

Togo appreciate the efforts already made in terms of training and expertise before deployment on the ground, both for civilians and security forces. To assist those efforts and meet international standards in that area, a training centre for military and police was set up in Lomé in order to ensure their efficient deployment in peacekeeping operations.

My delegation also welcomes the reiteration in the resolution of the importance of the gender dimension in peacekeeping, in particular with regard to promoting the participation of women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding. We highly appreciate the Secretary-General's call for stronger action to meet the challenges to integrating women at all levels and within the United Nations structure itself.

For its part, in September 2012 Thailand established a subcommittee on women and the promotion of peace and security under the National Committee on the Policy and Strategy for the Advancement of Women. Thailand has always attached great importance to supporting the role and impact of women peacekeepers in the field.

In addition to police and military personnel, missions also require stronger civilian capabilities. We fully support the Secretary-General's initiative to respond to the increasing demands for civilian personnel. In this context, the creation of CAPMATCH was a very important step forward.

For example, improved energy-saving cooking stoves, which use less firewood than traditional stoves, were introduced in Rwanda in 2000 in order to preserve trees and the environment. Now Rwandan peacekeepers have brought such stoves to Darfur, where women and young girls live in fear of getting raped every time they venture outside camps for internally displaced persons or their villages to collect firewood for cooking.

Fifthly, the protection of civilians, especially women and children, under imminent threat of physical violence must be taken into account in the early phases of mandate drafting and throughout the life cycle of United Nations peacekeeping missions.