Peace and security can only be achieved and maintained if women and girls are fully involved, and can access development opportunities and protection towards equality, said Rana Flowers, the UNICEF Representative in Vietnam. 

Migrant workers attend the UN-supported workshop in Ha Tinh Province on April 23, 2021. Photo: UN Women/Thao Hoang

Flowers made the statement at the workshop held in Hanoi on March 28, discussing measures to accelerate the development of a National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) for Viet Nam, as part of its international commitment to implement the WPS Agenda.

She said that the NAP can be a powerful and complementary tool to the existing efforts by the Government to strengthen the protection and empowerment of women.

"The NAP elevates for attention and action the multiple security needs faced by women in Vietnam, including to cope with emerging threats like the Covid-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated pre-existing gender inequalities in many countries," said Flowers.

Strong political will and commitment can further the determination of the Government of Viet Nam to enhance the implementation of the WPS Agenda," she added.

She highly appreciated Vietnam's leading role in peacekeeping, ensuring effective humanitarian protection for women and girls in conflicts and crises, adding that Vietnam has now deployed 75 members, including 15 females to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. In all prevention activities, Vietnam has maintained an encouraging level of women participation of between 16-20%.

"The integration of gender equality perspectives into peace processes is crucial for policy-making negotiations and dialogues more effectively, towards a more equal world," she said.

Speaking at the workshop, Do Hung Viet, Director General of the Department of International Organizations under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the workshop is intended to improve the knowledge of Vietnamese ministries, government agencies, and organizations about the development and implementation of the NAP around the world. 

Based on such grounds, they will make appropriate policy recommendations for Vietnam in deploying the initiatives taken by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) when the country was a non-permanent member of the body in 2020-2021 as well as other international commitments on gender equality and women, peace and security.

During its term as a non-permanent member of the UNSC in 2020-2021, Vietnam, together with the United Nations, convened a global conference on Strengthening Women's Role in Building and Sustaining Peace: from Commitments to Results and an international workshop on the role of national action programs in promoting the women, peace and security.

He stressed that although the NAP is a non-binding legal document, it sets the orientations for national efforts in fostering the role of women and girls in the peace process. 

Hung said the NAP has been developed and implemented in 98 member countries of the UN. "I believe that rich experience and practice in developing and implementing the NAP around the world will help set the orientation and coordinate efforts at national, regional, and global levels to promote the role of women and girls in peace processes, reconstruction, and socio-economic development.

The Assistant Foreign Minister affirmed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relevant ministries and branches of Vietnam will work with the UN Women to conduct research on an action plan that will open up a new direction to continue implementing initiatives put forth by Vietnam and adopted by the United Nations Security Council.

Rana Flowers, the UNICEF Representative in Vietnam, makes a speech at the event. Photo: TTXVN

Elisa Fernandez Saenz, Country Representative of the UN Women in Vietnam, said that the development of NAP will help the Government of Vietnam identifies future priorities and opportunities.

Saenz affirmed that the UN Women in Vietnam, together with other UN agencies, are ready to support the Government of Vietnam and stakeholders in this process.

The workshop was implemented under the framework of UN Women’s regional project entitled "Empowering Women for Sustainable Peace: Preventing Violence and Promoting Social Cohesion in ASEAN", which is funded by the Governments of Canada, with the support of the UN Women as a lead UN partner.