Hanoi: The year of 2023 has continued to witness Vietnam’s practical and effective contributions to United Nations peacekeeping operations, helping to affirm the country’s image as a dynamic, active and responsible member of the international community.
Following the Party and State’s orientations, Vietnam has sent personnel to UN peacekeeping missions, realising the country’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development.
So far, Vietnam has sent nearly 800 military and public security officers to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic( MINUSCA) and the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) as well as the UN headquarters in the forms of individuals and units.
Currently, Vietnam ranks 45th out of 120 countries sending military and police officers to the missions with the number of personnel regularly deployed to field missions reaching 274, including 36 women officers.
The UN Secretary General, the UN Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping operations and the UN Military Advisor have repeatedly praised Vietnamese peacekeeping forces and sent letters of thanks to the Government of Vietnam for the contributions of the forces. Many UN leaders also highlighted Vietnam’s contributions to promoting gender equality by sending a large number of women officers to UN peacekeeping missions, meeting and exceeding the criteria set by the UN.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix hailed the active and effective engagement of Vietnam in UN peacekeeping activities as well as the country’s commitments to realising UN targets and criteria. The official said he was deeply impressed by the Vietnamese engineering unit’s performance in the UNISFA despite difficulties.
Meanwhile, UN Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare for Operational Support expressed his admiration for Vietnam’s efforts and contributions, especially through the deployment of level-2 field hospitals to UN peacekeeping missions since 2018. This showed Vietnam’s strong commitments and efforts, and was a wonderful thing in the partnership between Vietnam and the UN, he commented.
