As a member of the Indian Battalion in the UN Interim Security Force, India is getting ready to send a platoon of female peacekeepers to the Abyei region of Sudan today (UNISFA).
According to a news release from India's Permanent Mission to the UN, this will be the country's largest single unit of female peacekeepers in a UN mission since it sent the first-ever all-female force to Liberia in 2007.
Moreover, India became the first country in 2007 to send an entirely female troop on a UN peacekeeping operation. The newly established police force in Liberia kept watch around the clock, patrolled the city of Monrovia at night, and assisted in enhancing the capabilities of the local force.
According to the press release, the Indian contingent, which consists of two officers and 25 Other Ranks, would be a member of an Engagement platoon and focus on community outreach while also carrying out other security-related duties.
Their presence will be particularly appreciated in Abyei, where recent violence has given rise to a number of difficult humanitarian issues for women and children living in the conflict zone.
According to the statement, the deployment in Abyei will also signal India's intention to considerably increase the proportion of Indian women serving in peacekeeping contingents.
The pressing situation in Sudan's Abyei area prompted the Security Council to create the UNISFA in its resolution 1990 of June 27, 2011. The violence, rising tensions, and forced emigration severely alarmed the Security Council.
The mission's duties include monitoring the volatile northern-southern border and facilitating the distribution of humanitarian aid. It is also permitted to use force to defend Abyei's residents and relief workers.
After reaching a deal to demilitarise Abyei and allow Ethiopian forces to monitor the region in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) established UNISFA.
In 49 of the 71 UN peacekeeping missions set up around the world since 1948, over 200,000 Indians have participated.
Indian women have a long history of participating in UN peacekeeping deployments. Before being sent to the Republic of the Congo in 1960, women working in the Indian Armed Forces Medical Services were interviewed by UN Radio.
According to the press release, women peacekeepers are widely valued in peacekeeping missions around the world for their capacity to interact with and assist local women and children, particularly those who have experienced sexual assault in crisis areas.
Women from India have a long history of participating in peacekeeping. Shakti Devi, Major Suman Gawani, and Dr. Kiran Bedi—the first police adviser for the UN—have all earned names for themselves in UN peacekeeping.
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