Female Chilean Soldiers play an important part in the United Nations peacekeeping missions, and their participation in this type of mission has increased in recent years.
Female Chilean Soldiers are playing key roles in United Nations peacekeeping missions, working to prevent conflict and defending human rights.
“The presence of female service members makes it easier to approach the local population; this is important in a peace mission, and women provide a great deal of support,” said Miguel Navarro, a researcher at the National Academy of Political and Strategic Studies (ANEPE) in Chile.
Overall, women comprise about 14 percent of the Chilean Armed Forces; they’ve served as pilots, physicians, political advisers, machinery commanders, radio operators, combat nurses, and Military Staff Officers.
“There are more and more women participating in peace missions over the years. In this company, we have eight women,” Chilean Captain Andrea Fuentes, an officer with an engineering company in Port-au-Prince, said in a video released by the Chilean Ministry of National Defense.
Women Soldiers treated as equals
In 2000, the UN Security Council approved Resolution 1325, which promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women in order to achieve the goals of peace and development. Since then, about 200 Chilean service members –including 75 Officers and 125 Non-Commissioned Officers — have served on overseas UN peacekeeping missions. Most of these service members focused on conflict resolution and defending human rights, in addition to contributing to basic peacekeeping efforts.
Of the 104,000 service members from different countries deployed in UN peacekeeping missions around the world, 4,088 are women — all with the same responsibilities as their male counterparts.
“We are treated just like the men, and not feeling like we are someone they need to protect is important to us. We are equals, and we have the same obligations and duties as the male service members,” said 1st Lieutenant Carolina Molina, a communications officer with Chile’s 22nd Battalion.
In March, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet lauded the contributions of female Soldiers at the launch of the Second National Action Plan for implementing Resolution 1325.
“Women have expanded the limits of what is possible in peace missions, not only because they have shown on the ground that they can perform in the same roles, to the same standards and under the same conditions as their male counterparts,” President Bachelet said.
To ensure the resolution’s implementation, the government of Chile has drafted guidelines known as Action Plans. Chile is one of 38 countries which have developed such plans, launching the first one in 2009. In March of this year they completed drafting a second action plan, making Chile the 10th country in the world to generate a second-stage document on women, peace, and security.
The second National Action Plan “commits the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and SERNAM [National Women’s Service], to coordinate actions aimed at mainstreaming gender in conflict prevention strategies and operations of peacekeeping; increasing the participation of women in decision-making; strengthening and expanding measures to ensure the security and integrity of women and girls, and promoting their access to mechanisms in post-conflict recovery.”
Including women in peacekeeping missions adds value to the mission without discounting the intrinsic Military value of their involvement, Navarro said.
Female Chilean Soldiers are playing key roles in United Nations peacekeeping missions, working to prevent conflict and defending human rights.
“The presence of female service members makes it easier to approach the local population; this is important in a peace mission, and women provide a great deal of support,” said Miguel Navarro, a researcher at the National Academy of Political and Strategic Studies (ANEPE) in Chile.
Overall, women comprise about 14 percent of the Chilean Armed Forces; they’ve served as pilots, physicians, political advisers, machinery commanders, radio operators, combat nurses, and Military Staff Officers.
“There are more and more women participating in peace missions over the years. In this company, we have eight women,” Chilean Captain Andrea Fuentes, an officer with an engineering company in Port-au-Prince, said in a video released by the Chilean Ministry of National Defense.
Women Soldiers treated as equals
In 2000, the UN Security Council approved Resolution 1325, which promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women in order to achieve the goals of peace and development. Since then, about 200 Chilean service members –including 75 Officers and 125 Non-Commissioned Officers — have served on overseas UN peacekeeping missions. Most of these service members focused on conflict resolution and defending human rights, in addition to contributing to basic peacekeeping efforts.
Of the 104,000 service members from different countries deployed in UN peacekeeping missions around the world, 4,088 are women — all with the same responsibilities as their male counterparts.
“We are treated just like the men, and not feeling like we are someone they need to protect is important to us. We are equals, and we have the same obligations and duties as the male service members,” said 1st Lieutenant Carolina Molina, a communications officer with Chile’s 22nd Battalion.
In March, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet lauded the contributions of female Soldiers at the launch of the Second National Action Plan for implementing Resolution 1325.
“Women have expanded the limits of what is possible in peace missions, not only because they have shown on the ground that they can perform in the same roles, to the same standards and under the same conditions as their male counterparts,” President Bachelet said.
To ensure the resolution’s implementation, the government of Chile has drafted guidelines known as Action Plans. Chile is one of 38 countries which have developed such plans, launching the first one in 2009. In March of this year they completed drafting a second action plan, making Chile the 10th country in the world to generate a second-stage document on women, peace, and security.
The second National Action Plan “commits the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and SERNAM [National Women’s Service], to coordinate actions aimed at mainstreaming gender in conflict prevention strategies and operations of peacekeeping; increasing the participation of women in decision-making; strengthening and expanding measures to ensure the security and integrity of women and girls, and promoting their access to mechanisms in post-conflict recovery.”
Including women in peacekeeping missions adds value to the mission without discounting the intrinsic Military value of their involvement, Navarro said.
FOR ME, THESE WOMEN ARE WORTH A LOT, GOD BLESS THEM Needed research for women in armed conflict for Model United Nations, Thanks for this!!!!!