New York, March 27: A Brazilian peacekeeper serving in the Central African Republic has been selected to receive the 2018 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award!
Lieutenant Commander Braga will receive the award during the 2019 Peace Keeping ministerial, this Friday at UN Headquarters in New York.
Lieutenant Commander Marcia Andrade Braga, a Naval officer working in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, will receive the award from UN Secretary-General António Guterres during the 2019 Peacekeeping Ministerial, held at the UN Headquarters in New York on Friday, 29 March.
Created in 2016, the United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award recognises the dedication and effort of an individual peacekeeper in promoting the principles of UN Security Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.
“I am so proud to be selected”, said Lt Cdr Braga upon receiving the news of her award. “UN Missions need more women peacekeepers so local women can talk more freely about the issues that affect their lives”, she added, also expressing her gratitude to her colleagues in the Central African Republic.
Projects include the installation of water pumps close to villages, solar-powered lighting and the development of community gardens to cut down the distances women have to travel, to tend their crops etc.
The Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award is underpinned by the principles outlined in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325). The Resolution provides three provisions, called the “3 Ps.” The first two “Ps” are “prevention” of conflict and “protection” of women and their rights during and after conflict. The third “P” is “participation” and refers to increasing the numbers of women in all mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of conflict.
In current peacekeeping operations, it is vital that peacekeepers understand how women and men experience conflict differently.