From Christiana Gokyo Jos
The Deputy Country Representative and Officer-in- Charge (OIC) UN Women Country Office in Nigeria Mr. Lansana Wonneh said,for sustainable peace, recovery and inclusive humanitarian action in Nigeria its require the full, equal and meaningful participation of diverse women, including women and girls with disabilities.
Speaking during the lunch of the Programme on Women, Peace and Security in Nigeria (phase 11) at Government House Little Rayfield Jos, Plateau State, yesterday.
He observed that, women and girls with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by armed conflicts yet remain underreported and excluded from peace and security processes.
According to him,the report of the Secretary- General in 2020 on women, peace and security reiterated that, women with disabilities are likely to be prioritized by or have access to humanitarian response efforts and are less likely to be included in peace building, despite accounting for nearly one- fifth you f all women worldwide.
Mr.Wonneh reiterated that,that is why UN Women will take deliberate action to ensure that diverse women facing multiple interesting forms of discrimination are mainstreamed into this WPS project implementation.
While Commanding the government and the people of state for its efforts and successes recorded over the years in accelerating the Woman, Peace and Security agenda, he said that,this is in order to further expand the scope of their partnership to date.
He noted that,UN Women,with the support from the Government of Norway will work to deepen cooperation with state over the years for the next three years, saying that, Plateau and Kaduna are the two selected primary beneficiaries of the programme,while Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue and Gombe are secondary beneficiary states.
According to him the overall objective of the programme was to realise a more peaceful and gender -equal society by creating an enabling environment for the implementation of internationally agreed commitments including through policy intervention and capacity building support to Women in line with the provisions of Security Council Resolution 1325.
Also speaking, Deputy Ambassador, Government of Norway in Nigeria Skjolaas Ingrid said,since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution in 1325 on Women, Peace and Security,the positive and decisive role played by women in peace processes has been widely acknowledged by the International Community.
“The inclusion of women has shown to be crucial,not only in matters of Women’s rights,but also to improve operational effectiveness,build resilience, prevent and resolve conflicts and to sustain peace,” she stated.
