Daily Times

Pakistan is deploying a female infantry engagement team to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said the country’s permanent representative to the UN on Saturday.

As she gave her two cents during a debate in the General Assembly on sexual violence, Maleeha Lodhi added, “Pakistan has achieved the goal of deployment of 15 per cent female staff officers in peacekeeping missions, thus fulfilling its responsibilities in accordance with the uniformed gender parity strategy and Security Council resolutions.”

She maintained, “Our professional peacekeepers to the UN, including our female peacekeepers, continue to set the highest standards in fulfilling peacekeeping mandates, and protecting all vulnerable segments of the population, including women, from violence in some of the most dangerous and complex conflict situations around the world.”

The envoy hailed the eliminated of the breeding grounds spawned by unresolved disputes as one of the most effective ways to prevent conflict-based sexual violence.

She also called for the full integration of gender perspectives in the UN’s peace-building paradigm.

Ambassador Lodhi added, “By leaving disputes unaddressed, the Security Council runs the risk of acting selectively and displaying a blind spot for some of the most vulnerable women who suffer disproportionately from violence perpetrated by foreign occupation.”

Appreciating the UN Security Council for leading global efforts to eliminate the scourge of conflict-related sexual violence, the Pakistani ambassador pointed out that women, especially young girls, continued to brave the main brunt of physical and psychological abuse.

She underscored that the occupying forces and aggressors were employing sexual violence as a broader strategy to repress, dominate and subjugate the defenceless and vulnerable communities.

“From Myanmar to my country’s neighbourhood”, Lodhi noted, “the world continues to watch in horror as rape and sexual abuse is employed with impunity as a deliberate means to oppress entire populations and to humiliate and terrorise them.”

She stressed that the legal and normative framework to fight conflict-based sexual violence should be supplemented by a stronger commitment by the international community to fight such horrible crimes.

The ambassador also requested the global leadership to continue their fight against impunity for conflict-related sexual violence with greater commitment to hold aggressors accountable.

We should never allow political or geopolitical interests to constrain or compromise our efforts,” she added.

Calling for more meaningful participation of women in the area of peace and security, she said, “By securing their seats at the table as true partners and stakeholders in all matters related to peace, mediation and reconciliation, we can give peace efforts a much better chance to succeed.”

The diplomat also urged for the need to enlist more women in peacebuilding and mediation processes as well as special envoys and special representatives to benefit from their unique skill sets.