(VOVWORLD) - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UN Women jointly held a national consultation workshop in Hanoi on Monday on the development of a national action plan (NAP) on women, peace and security (WPS).
 Delegates at the NAP conference, November 6, 2023. (Photo: Anh Thu/VOV) |
As part of his address at the event, Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet stated that the introduction of the UN Security Resolution 1325 in 2000 marked the birth of the WPS agenda, with the two major objectives of ensuring better rights for women and girls, and promoting women’s participation in all stages of conflict settlement and peace building processes.
According to Mr. Viet, so far the agenda has become an important framework while serving as the foundation for the mobilization of resources and organization of actions, supporting women amid conflicts and crises, helping them better protect their rights and more effectively promoting their role in society.
He therefore emphasized that locally women have made great contributions to the cause of national construction and defense. Currently, many officials, entrepreneurs and UN peacekeepers of Vietnam are women, he went on to say.
Prioritizing the promotion of women’s role in maintaining peace and international security has been affirmed immediately from the nation’s first participation in the UN Security Council in the 2008 to 2009 tenure, he said.
 Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet addresses the event. (Photo: Anh Thu/ VOV) |
The country left an important imprint by pushing for the UN Security Council’s adoption of Resolution 1889 (2009) on the role of women and girls in a post-conflict context, which is widely considered one of the four fundamental resolutions of the council’s WPS agenda.
Vietnam has been one of the countries with a high rate of women joining UN peacekeeping operations with a figure of 16%, much higher than the UN’s average rate of 4%, noted Deputy Minister Viet.
However, the official said that there are many challenges ahead in the path of realizing the goal of gender equality in general as well as the WPS agenda in particular. This is due to Vietnamese women still facing many war consequences and Vietnamese women and girls’ contributions to families and community have yet to be fully recognized.
Therefore, the country’s building of the national plan of action has significant meanings in the current context, thereby reaffirming the country’s strong commitments in the international community’s joint efforts to promote this agenda, said Deputy Minister Viet.