VANVOUVER, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- 2017 UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial conference opened here Tuesday with the attendance of more than 500 delegates from more than 80 countries and international organizations, such from the African Union, the European Union, NATO and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.
The conference is set to discuss improvements to UN peacekeeping operations and to focus on securing new pledges from member states.
Decisive discussions will be made at the two-day conference. The discussions will revolve around four themes:
1. Integration of gender perspectives into peacekeeping: How to empower women, and take gender perspectives into account in all aspects of peacekeeping, to achieve better results on the ground.
2. Innovation in training and capacity building: How to strengthen partnerships between UN, troop- and police-contributing countries, and other actors, to improve outcomes of peacekeeping operations.
3. Protecting those at risk: How to ensure that high-level strategies align with the realities on the ground, while acknowledging that the success of UN peacekeeping should be measured by its impact on those we seek to protect.
4. Early warning and rapid deployment: How to better identify and analyze emerging conflicts, while making sure key decision makers are informed in a timely manner so they can plan their response more quickly.
At the conference, the member states will also provide new pledges to meet the UN rapid deployment requirement for 2017-18.
