Vancouver, Canada – The UN Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial Conference was held on 14-15 November 2017. The conference focused on four themes, namely: “Smart Pledges”, “Innovation in Training and Capacity Building”, “Early Warning and Rapid Deployment”, and “Protecting Those at Risk”. In addition, “Gender” and “Operating in Francophone Environments” were integrated as cross-cutting themes.
 
During the conference, Egypt’s delegation reaffirmed its commitment to improving the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping missions, announcing new pledges to support the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), and Egypt’s readiness to increase women’s participation in UN peacekeeping missions. 
 
The following pledges were also put forward by CCCPA:  
1. Host the United Nations National Planners Program (UN-NPP) in 2018
2. Readiness to host the roll-out of the new Specialized Training Materials on Conflict Related Sexual Violence (STM-CRSV)
3. Interest in hosting a United Nations Senior Mission Leaders (UNSML) training course in French
4. Readiness to translate the UN Specialized Training Material on Conflict Related Sexual Violence into Arabic
 
The conference, held in Vancouver, was the fourth of a series of high-level UN peacekeeping summits in London, New York and Paris. Key outcomes and achievements of this year’s conference include 46 new pledges for UN peacekeeping missions, the Vancouver Principles on the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Peacekeeping Operations, and the UN Military Gender Advocate Award, presented to Major Seitebatso Pearl Block of the South African Defense Force.  
 
The UN Ministerial conference is the largest gathering of defense ministers aimed at supporting UN peacekeeping. More than 500 delegates from 70 Member States participated in this important event to discuss the ever-more complex challenges of peacekeeping, identify training priorities, and devise pragmatic and innovative solutions to close key capability gaps in UN peacekeeping operations.