Women indispensable for sustainable peace, says P. Wilson at UN Peacebuilding Commission

Speaking at the UN Peacebuilding Commission on Monday, Rajya Sabha member P. Wilson said India was among the first countries to recognize the role of women in building “sustainable peace”.

Mr. Wilson, who led the India delegation to the Commission in New York that presented the India Declaration, said sustainable peace requires the “full and equal participation” of women.

“What distinguishes India’s peacekeeping legacy is not just the scale of our contributions, but also our early recognition of women as indispensable agents of sustainable peace. Long before Resolution 1325, Indian women medics served in Congo in the 1960s, one of the first instances of women serving in UN peacekeeping operations,” she said, beginning her statement with the Tamil greeting ‘vanakkam’.

Mr. Wilson also explained that India sent the UN’s first all-female Police Corps to Liberia in 2007, which inspired Liberian women to join their country’s police and security forces. He said that through the deployment of women as peacekeepers, India has shown that women can build trust in communities and “give hope to vulnerable populations”.

Highlighting India’s investments in capacity building for women in peacebuilding and emphasizing that the United Nations Peacekeeping Center in New Delhi is “a global center of excellence for gender-sensitive education”, Mr. Wilson said, “Most importantly, they help address gender-based violence and ensure that peace processes reflect the needs and perspectives of all segments of society. They provide women in conflict zones with the opportunity to become leaders and peacemakers themselves.” “They inspire by giving examples,” he said.

Mr. Wilson said in the UN Peacebuilding Commission, Indian women were serving in challenging places like South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo. “Looking ahead, India remains uncompromising in its commitment to the WPS (Women’s Peace and Security) agenda,” Mr. Wilson said, asserting that India is ready to expand its WPS-related expertise and technology with member countries in the Global South.