peace processes, peacekeeping with a gender perspective and a great number of women involved in military and civilian peace forces at all levels. We are sure that a peacekeeping force with more women would be more effective. Within a two-year period, we have achieved substantial progresses, since there was an increase from 7 to 15 regarding the percentage of Staff women officers and military observers. We have recently appointed three General women, including one Force Commander and two Deputy Force Commanders. But there is still a lot of work to do regarding the contingents, where the progress is slow. At the same time, we are closely working with women leaders and organizations to increase the commitment and their contribution to peace and political solutions in their autonomous regions and countries. For example, in Mali, MINUSMA has created societies with local and national women leaders and several women organizations. In the Central African Republic, with the support of MINUSCA, the former «We are sure that a peacekeeping force with more women would be more effective» combatants were among the first women involved in the peace process, by integrating key priorities for women in the final agreement. We are also working with Member States to obtain the quotas set for 2028 regarding the number of women who preserve peace. In 2019, we have achieved some of the established goals. The objectives set in the Women, Peace and Security Agenda are an important challenge for all the countries that provide contingent and police forces, but we believe that, with support from Member States, we can handle them. Improving women´s representation in peacekeeping is a priority. —What is the impact that the Safe Schools initiative has in peace operations? —The Safe Schools Declaration is essential for protecting our children, teachers and schools against the worst Lacroix greeting a group of Ghana blue helmets integrated into the United Nations Mission in Lebanon. UN Photo/Pascal Gorriz As I said before, we are carrying out tasks increasingly complex and requiring more personnel, and we are conducting them with the existent or even less resources. By reducing even more, that would mean that we will have difficulties in order to execute more complex commands in some of the most difficult environments of the world. One of the challenges that the A4P initiative wants to address is assuring that the assigned commands count with the proper resources, in order to conduct the assigned tasks. —What is the role that women should play in peace missions? —The implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda is a political priority area for the Action for Peacekeeping initiative of the General Secretary. A4P forces the Peacekeeping Department to develop this Agenda though an increased participation of women in all those aspects dealing with conflict effects. Our missions in Mali, Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo have an explicit mandate to protect children: our Assessors for Child Protection, together with our uniformed components, conduct a great work regarding the interaction executed with the Armed Forces and the rebel groups to spread this Declaration, to raise awareness about their content and implementation and thus finish off and prevent assaults against children, teachers and educational facilities. Likewise, we contribute to collect and verify data about attacks on facilities, victims and the use of military schools and university during an armed conflict, by contributing to provide accountability for perpetrators and to facilitate assistance to victims. For example, in 2015, our mission in the Central African Republic issued a directive with the aim of avoiding the use of schools and universities by the Force and Police and minimizing the impact that the armed conflict has on children security and education. This is a practice that I hope is repeated in other missions. We have the duty to persistently reaffirm that educational facilities, representing the hopes and ambitions of several generations of children and of the whole society, are safe places. —Spain has been taking part in peace operation for 30 years. How is this contribution valued? —Currently, Spain has troops deployed in large and complex operations, including Lebanon, Central African Republic and Mali. Spain is a key partner in peacekeeping operations; its contributions, both financial and military —that I may to say are exceptional and highly qualified— are fundamental for us. I appreciate the support of Spain throughout these years and its forces’ sacrifice for obtaining peace. Rosa Ruiz December 2019 Revista Española de Defensa 39
RED_367_ingles_1
To see the actual publication please follow the link above