Congratulatory remarks by UN Resident Coordinator Tapan Mishra at the Ceremony to honour female peacekeepers

Your Excellency, Mr. Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, President of Mongolia

Your Excellency, Mr. G. Saikhanbayar, Minister of Defense of Mongolia,

Your excellencies,

And distinguished women peacekeepers,

It is a great privilege for me to join you for this ceremony honouring Mongolian female peacekeepers. I salute all female peacekeepers who have been outstanding in performing their duties in the field on UN peacekeeping missions.

This year, Mongolia is proudly celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first deployment of Mongolian peacekeepers to UN peacekeeping operations.

Today, we are paying our deep respect to over 900 courageous Mongolian women peacekeepers, to whom the United Nations is grateful for their valuable contributions to world peace and security.

The UN strongly advocates for the deployment of women to uniformed functions. Currently, female personnel makes up 6.6 per cent of all uniformed military, police, and justice and corrections personnel in UN field missions.

The 2028 target for women serving in military contingents is 15 per cent, and 25 per cent for military observers and staff officers.

We are very pleased with the leadership of the President of Mongolia, H.E. Mr. Khurelsukh, and his commitment delivered at the UN General Assembly last September to increase the number of Mongolian women peacekeepers by 15 per cent in response to the UN’s appeal to the Member States.

In all fields of peacekeeping, female peacekeepers have proven that they can perform the same roles, to the same standards and under the same difficult conditions, as their male counterparts. It is an operational imperative that the UN recruits and retains female peacekeepers.

I am confident that Mongolian female peacekeepers will do exceedingly well with any duties they are entrusted with.

On behalf of the United Nations in Mongolia, I would like to express our deep gratitude to the Mongolian Armed Forces and the courageous peacekeepers, especially all female peacekeepers, who have served in the world’s hottest conflict zones, such as the Republic of South Sudan, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over the past two decades.

Happy 20th anniversary to you all!

May peace prevail on Earth!