Statement by Members of the Elsie Initiative for Women in Peace Operations Contact Group on the margins of the 2023 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial

December 6, 2023 – Accra, Ghana – Global Affairs Canada

“UN peacekeeping continues to evolve, and with it, the need to employ a diverse set of skills and capabilities from both women and men only grows. In both private and public sectors, diverse and inclusive organizations enhance performance. Today, on the margins of the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial hosted by Ghana and where Women, Peace and Security features as a cross-cutting theme, we – members of the Elsie Initiative Contact Group – reiterate our commitment to promoting the meaningful participation of women at all levels in UN peace operations.

“Numbers of women deployed growing – but still below targets for military contingents

Taking stock of our 6 years of work as a Contact Group, we are heartened to see improvements in the global number of uniformed women being deployed. Troop and Police Contributing Countries have begun to meet or exceed the UN 2018-2028 Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy targets for 3 of the 4 deployment categories: individual police officers, formed police units, and staff officers and military observer deployments. However, global representation of women in military contingents – representing the vast bulk of total deployment numbers – remains low, and below the Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy target of 10% for 2023. It is clear that more needs to be done to build on the progress and results achieved to date. Latest UN statistics show women make up 8.5% of all police and military personnel globally, a figure that must increase if we are to achieve all uniformed gender parity targets by 2028.

“Meaningful participation goes beyond numbers

Numbers do not represent the whole picture, and the Contact Group has focused on “meaningful participation” of uniformed women in peacekeeping operations from the beginning. This is to ensure the realization of the full, equal and meaningful role of women, at all levels including leadership positions, in peace operations. We are, therefore, content that key peacekeeping policy documents such as reports of the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C34), the Contingent Owned Equipment (COE) Manual, and UN Security Council resolutions increasingly include gender-responsive provisions. Initiatives such as the Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award are an important incentive to recognize the meaningful role and outstanding performances of female peacekeepers.

“We believe that more efforts are needed to increase the participation of uniformed women in peace operations at all levels. In addition to Security Council Resolution 2538 (2020) a seminal resolution on women in peacekeeping, the Measuring Opportunities for Women in Peace Operations (MOWIP) assessment tool may assist in providing solutions to the challenges and barriers women face in the security sector including serving in peace operations. These include designing equipment and facilities that are conducive for the use by women, particularly in peacekeeping operations. It is thus necessary to continue finding transformative, innovative, and inclusive approaches to advance the women, peace and security agenda. In this regard, we welcome the piloting of gender-responsive infrastructure projects by the UN Department of Operational Support and the UN Elsie Initiative Fund in several peacekeeping missions.

“The UN Elsie Initiative Fund

The UN Elsie Initiative Fund (EIF) has contributed positively to advance the participation of women in peace operations since its inception in 2019. The EIF has conducted two programming rounds, awarding US$ 17 million to fund innovative and evidence-based projects. As of December 2022, the EIF has supported 20 projects across 21 security institutions in 14 countries and two UN peacekeeping missions. The Elsie Initiative Contact Group, including donors to the fund, will continue to support the EIF and its projects going forward.

“No individual country has all the answers when it comes to gender equality within its military or police services, or within UN peace operations, nor can one country achieve systemic change on its own. The Contact Group is committed to a collective long-term vision for sustainable change within our domestic institutions and within UN peacekeeping, in line with the women, peace and security agenda and the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) and Action for Peacekeeping Plus (A4P+) initiatives.”