Two African women were this week honoured at the United Nations (UN) for their efforts in the fields of gender advocacy and policing.
Ghanaian Squadron Leader Sharon Syme, deployed as a military gender advocate with the UN Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA), was named the world body’s military gender advocate of the year with Chief Superintendent Zainab Gbla of Sierra Leone woman police officer of the year for her work with the same mission.
Relating her initial experiences in Abyei she noticed women did not talk in community and other meetings bringing to mind the injunction that local cultural norms dictated women do not speak in public.
“We are women like you. We want to be able to help, but we don’t know how we can help you,” she told them in a separate meeting. “Can you please tell us what your problem is so we can see how we can help?”
Remarks and her follow-up led UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix to say Syme’s “dedication has not only improved the effectiveness of UNISFA operations but also ensured the mission is more reflective of and responsive to the communities it serves”.
Of Gbla he said she embodies the work of the UN improve lives and shape futures.
Both awards recognise peacekeepers whose work substantially advances the integration of gender perspectives and empowerment in peacekeeping and can be attributed to a 2000 UN Security Council resolution. It affirmed the essential role women play in peacebuilding, peacekeeping and humanitarian responses. Since then, the UN has worked to fully integrate gender perspectives into peacekeeping.
Syme told a UN publication applying gender perspectives should be part of any peacekeeper’s daily task. “We need to understand the gender dynamics in our area of operation otherwise we might not be able to have the right intervention and might not be able to carry out the right activities.”
As a civilian, Gbla experienced the impact of peacekeeping in her home country in the wake of a civil war. “I saw people coming from different parts of the world to bring peace to my country. That’s why I told myself one day I’d love to be a peacekeeper – to help other people, to return the favour.”
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