Pakistan to deploy female infantry engagement team to Congo: Maleeha Lodhi

NEW YORK: Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations (UN) Maleeha Lodhi on Saturday said, Pakistan is deploying a female infantry engagement team to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Speaking during a debate in the General Assembly on Sexual Violence, Lodhi said, “Pakistan has achieved the goal of deployment of 15 per cent female staff officers in peacekeeping missions, thus fulfilling its responsibilities in accordance with the uniformed gender parity strategy and Security Council resolutions.”

“Our professional peacekeepers to the UN, including our female peacekeepers, continue to set the highest standards in fulfilling peacekeeping mandates, and protecting all vulnerable segments of the population, including women, from violence in some of the most dangerous and complex conflict situations around the world”, she said.

The Pakistan envoy continued, "One of the most effective ways to prevent conflict-based sexual violence is to eliminate the breeding grounds that are spawned by unresolved disputes."

She also called to fully integrate gender perspectives in the UN’s peace-building paradigm.

"By leaving disputes unaddressed, the Security Council runs the risk of acting selectively and displaying a blind spot for some of the most vulnerable women who suffer disproportionately from violence perpetrated by foreign occupation," she said.

The Pakistani ambassador pointed out that while Security Council was leading global efforts to eliminate the scourge of conflict-related sexual violence, women, especially young girls, continued to carry the main burnt of physical and psychological abuse and trauma.

She underscored that occupying forces and aggressors were employing sexual violence as a broader strategy for repression, domination and subjugation of defenseless and vulnerable communities.

“From Myanmar to my country’s neighbourhood”, Lodhi said, “The world continues to watch in horror as rape and sexual abuse is employed with impunity as a deliberate means to oppress entire populations and to humiliate and terrorise them”.

She stressed that the legal and normative framework to fight conflict-based sexual violence should be supplemented by a stronger commitment by the international community to fight such horrible crimes.

“Our fight against impunity for conflict-related sexual violence must continue with greater commitment to hold aggressors to account and to never allow political or geopolitical interests to constrain or compromise our efforts”, she added.

Calling for more meaningful participation of women in the area of peace and security, ambassador Lodhi said, “By securing their seats at the table as true partners and stakeholders in all matters related to peace, mediation and reconciliation, we can give peace efforts a much better chance to succeed”.

“We also need to enlist more women in peacebuilding and mediation processes and also as special envoys and special representatives to take advantage of their unique skill sets”, she added.