Vietnam, Australia exchange experience in enhancing women’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations
Women’s participation in peacekeeping operations took centre stage of a conference jointly held by the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations under the Ministry of National Defence and the Defence Attaché Office of the Australian Embassy in Hanoi on November 3.
Colonel Nguyen Nhu Canh, deputy head of the Vietnamese department, told the participants that among the 512 Vietnamese officers sent to United Nations peacekeeping missions, more than 70 are female.
The delegates discussed challenges faced by female officers at UN peacekeeping missions and solutions to help women make better preparations for joining UN peacekeeping operations for the first time, among other issues.
The event demonstrated the pragmatic cooperation between Vietnam and Australia, especially in the context of the two countries preparing for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties and the upgrading of the agreement on the implementation of the memorandum of understanding on peacekeeping to a peacekeeping partnership.
Over the past time, Australia supported Vietnam in airlift during the deployment of the level-2 field hospital to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, as well as in personnel training.
The Australian side has also exchanged experience and expertise with Vietnam in this regard and provided the Southeast Asian nation with equipment to serve the training and deployment.
