India deploys ‘largest unit of women peacekeepers’ to Sudan

Women peacekeepers are part of the Indian battalion in the United Nations Interim Security Force

File photo: Indian army peacekeepers with UNMISS (UN Mission in South Sudan) look inside a health clinic destroyed by fighting in the village of Wau Shilluk on the white Nile near the town of Malakal, in the Upper Nile state of South Sudan in 8 September 2018 (Reuters)

India will deploy its largest single unit of women peacekeepers in Sudan’s Abyei region, the country’s permanent representative in New York said in a statement on Friday.

The women peacekeepers are a part of the Indian Battalion in the United Nations Interim Security Force (UNISF), a statement said.

It said that this will be India’s largest single unit of women peacekeepers since it deployed the first-ever all-women contingent in Liberia in 2007.

The Indian contingent, comprising two officers and 25 other ranks, will form part of an engagement platoon and specialise in community outreach, besides performing extensive security-related tasks as well, according to the statement.

“Their presence will be especially welcome in Abyei, where a recent spurt in violence has triggered a spate of challenging humanitarian concerns for women and children in the conflict zone,” the statement read.

According to the UN Peacekeeping website, in 1993, women made up just 1 per cent of deployed uniformed personnel. In 2020, out of approximately 95,000 peacekeepers, women constituted 4.8 per cent of military contingents, 10.9 per cent of formed police units and 34 per cent of justice and corrections government-provided personnel.

“Indian women particularly have a tradition in Peacekeeping,” the statement added.

“Dr Kiran Bedi, UN’s first Police Adviser, Major Suman Gawani and Shakti Devi have made a mark for themselves in UN Peacekeeping,” it added.

“Our teams in the Congo and South Sudan have also done sterling work in mainstreaming women and children into Community and Social developmental projects at the grassroots level.”

The UN peacekeeping website states that “while the UN encourages and advocates for the deployment of women to uniformed functions, the responsibility for deployment of women in the police and military lies with Member States.”

It said the UN’s police devision launched a “global effort to recruit more female police officers into national police services and into UN police operations around the world”.

The website also laid out percentage targets for women to be enrolled in military contingents.

In 2028, the target for women in military contingents is listed at 15 per cent and 25 per cent for military observers and staff officers.

The target for women serving in formed police units was 20 per cent for the same year and 30 per cent for individual police officers.