Embassy of Indonesia in Lebanon: Consolidating international peace through strengthening women’s role in conflict resolution || Newspapers (Arabic)

The embassy of Indonesia in Lebanon organized a socio-cultural seminar entitled: “promoting the participation of women in peace keeping forces” under the auspices of the President of the National Commission for Women (NCLW), Ms. Wafaa Sleiman represented by the vice-president of NCLW, Ms. Randa Berri.  The event was attended by several public personalities as well as women and men officers of the UNIFIL in addition to representatives of women and other civil society organizations.

 

The Indonesian Ambassador in Lebanon Bagas Hapsoro addressed his guests by noting that “consolidating international peace does not only mean mean equality between women and men in peace keeping but also promoting the role of women in protection from conflict, in conflict resolution and peace building.”.  The chief commandor of the UNIFIL forces in Lebanon general Paolo Paolo Serra indicated that “there are several obstacles to increasing the number of women in peacekeeping forces namely the low number of women in armed forces and the limited political will to change the current situation”.

 

Ms. Berri noted that “promoting the role of women in peacekeeping forces in a country like Lebanon is an urgent need”.  She recommended that a decision be taken to encourage women in peacekeeping force to take part in decision making processes based on their experience in supporting civilian women, children and elderly in conflict areas.  Berry also highlighted the limited experience of Lebanon with women in peacekeeping forces and added “I would have liked Lebanon to present and experience from a position of peace involvement rather than from having suffered more than 60 years of targeted Israeli aggression and warfare”.

Source: (Annahar -Almustakbal)