Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions officials of his Department have had with the UN Department of Peace Operations on increasing the proportion of female UN peacekeepers.

The UK strongly supports efforts to increase the proportion of female uniformed peacekeepers, as directed by the UN Department of Peace Operations' Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy. Through negotiations on mandates in the Security Council and in other fora, such as this year's Special Committee on UN Peacekeeping Operations, we ensure the UN works to increase the numbers of women peacekeepers in its missions. In the last financial year the UK provided £1m from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund for the Elsie Initiative to help troop-contributing countries overcome practical barriers preventing further deployment of uniformed female peacekeepers to operations. UK officials also raise this regularly with the UN Secretariat. More broadly, the UK is a leader among UN Member States championing Women, Peace and Security issues in peacekeeping, and encourages all troop contributors to fulfil their commitments made under the UN Secretary-General's Action for Peacekeeping initiative.