“To reach gender equality, training and commitment is needed”

Achieving gender equality in UN peacekeeping – a lot like building new doors

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When you visualise a door, what do you see?

To me, the image of a closed door has similarities to gender equality and UN peacekeeping. Let me explain.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres aims to achieve gender equality throughout the UN system by 2028. He is actively prioritising to change the inverse relationship across the UN system between seniority and women’s representation – the higher the grade, the larger the gap in gender parity. Particular attention is directed towards ... Read entire post »

Peace and life – or nabad iyo nolol in Somali

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Acute vertigo kicked in as I stepped off the helicopter and my feet touched solid ground for the first time after six days at sea, and I realized that my job as Political Adviser to the EU Capacity Building Mission in Somalia (EUCAP Somalia) was beyond that of a normal desk job.

The helicopter had departed from an Italian warship off the coast of Mogadishu where I had spent the better part of a week sailing up ... Read entire post »

Elections aside, more focus on the rule of law needed in Ukraine

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During the presidential elections in Ukraine on March 31, 2 690 violations of the electoral law were reported to the police. The Central Electoral Commission received over 130 complaints. But the appeals, complaints and their effectiveness haven’t necessarily made the headlines in the view of the actual election results.

The type of complaints, however, coupled with over 80 investigations on vote-buying, questionable campaign financing, and the manipulation of administrative resources at the national and local level, are ... Read entire post »