NEW YORK: Pakistan Army’s Major Sania Safdar, who is serving with the United Nations Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), became its first peacekeeper to win the 2023 ‘Certificate of Recognition’ for advocating gender equality, the mission said in a statement.
The award, issued by the New York-based UN Department for Peace Operations, was presented to her by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cyprus, Colin Stewart. In a statement, Maj. Sania Safdar that receiving this certificate as the first peacekeeper from UNFICYP is deeply meaningful to her and significant for their mission in Cyprus. She said, ” It serves as a testament to our commitment to gender equality.”
Established in 2016, the United Nations “Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award” recognizes the dedication and efforts of an individual military peacekeeper in supporting and promoting the principles of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). In addition to the prestigious award, the Department for Peace Operations also recognizes military personnel from other UN Missions who are contributing to advance the WPS’ agenda in different nations where peacekeeping operations are in place.
In Cyprus, Major Sana Safdar is currently serving as the Mission’s Force Signal Officer and one of the UNFICYP’s military gender focal points. Her main tasks involve overseeing communication systems and promoting gender equality within military component.
Since her deployment previous year, she proactively took charge of several steps to contribute to achieve this recognition by focusing on integrating the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda into military components of the Mission’s work, the mission added.
“UNFICYP is on a steady curve in order to increase its statistics on the number of women in peacekeeping and promoting their participation while engaging with Member nations to encourage further representation of uniformed women as important actors in fulfilling the Mission’s mandate.”
Major Sana Safdar’s recognition award serves as a “testament to UNFICYP’s resolve to gender equality”, it further said.
