Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairsand UN Women jointly held a national consultative conference on a draftnational action plan (NAP) on women, peace and security (WPS) in Hanoi onNovember 6.

Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet underlined that the introduction of the UN SecurityResolution 1325 in 2000 marked the birth of the WPS agenda with two majorobjectives of better ensuring the rights of women and girls, and promoting women'sparticipation in all stages of conflict settlement and peace buildingprocess.

According to Viet, so far, the agenda has become an important framework and a foundationfor the mobilisation of resources and organisation of actions, supporting womenamid conflicts and crises, helping them better protect their rights and moreeffectively promote their role in society.

Deputy FM Viet underscored that in Vietnam, women have made great contributionsto the cause of national construction and defence. Currently, many officials,entrepreneurs and UN peacekeepers of Vietnam are women, he added.

Prioritising the promotion of women’s role in maintainingpeace and international security have been affirmed right from Vietnam’s firstparticipation in the UN Security Council in the 2008-2009 tenure, he said.

Vietnam left an important imprint by pushing for the UN Security Council's adoption of Resolution 1889 (2009) on the role of women and girls in post-conflict context,which is considered one of the four fundamental resolutions of the council’s WPSagenda.

Vietnam has been one of the countries with a high rate ofwomen joining UN peacekeeping operations at 16%, much higher than the UN’saverage rate of 4%, noted Viet.

He recalled that in 2020 in Hanoi, Vietnam successfully hostedan international conference commemorating the 20th anniversary ofthe UN Security Council’s Resolution 1325, during which the Hanoi Commitment toAction was adopted with the co-sponsorship of 75 countries, calling for thebuilding of NAPs on WPS.

However, the official said that there are many challenges in the path ofrealising the goal of gender equality in general and the WPS agenda inparticular, as Vietnamese women have still faced many war consequences andVietnamese women and girls’ contributions to families and community have yet tobe fully recognised.

Therefore, the country’s building of the NAP on WPS hassignificant meanings in the current context, reaffirming the country’s strongcommitments in the international community’s joint efforts to promote thisagenda, said Viet.

He said the NAP is expected to supplement and complete the policy framework ongender equality and women empowerment. Particularly, it will be the firstcomprehensive framework for this aspect in the field of peace and security, with specific goalsand solutions to further promote actions for women, peace and security,especially in the face of emerging challenges and non-traditional securitychallenges.

For her part, Caroline Nyamayemombe, acting Interim UN Women Representative inVietnam highly valued Vietnam’s efforts in building the NAP on WPS.

This is an action to deliver on the Vietnamese Government’s commitment inimplementing the Hanoi Commitment to Action, she stated, adding that Vietnam's NAPon WPS help realise one of the commitments included in the Hanoi Commitment toAction, which is to recognise the important role of Vietnamese women increating peace and sustainable development.

Participants at the event, which will run until November 7, gave their ideas onmajor tasks, goals and solutions set out in the draft NAP, as well as shared theirexpectations for the implementation of the NAP after it is approved./.