100 countries, including South Africa, will attend a 2-day United Nations ministerial meeting

Close to 100 countries, including South Africa, will attend a two-day United Nations ministerial meeting beginning on Tuesday in Vancouver, Canada where improving the gender balance of peacekeeping operations and ending the recruitment of child soldiers will be among the main focal points. The host government has also appealed to UN member states to sign up to the Vancouver Principles, a set of 17 focal points to provide concrete steps on how to prioritize and further operationalize child protection within UN peacekeeping operations. This as UN Women has raised concern over the low levels of female representation in peacekeeping operations worldwide. Sherwin