United Nations peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix has welcomed the deployment of the largest contingent of women peacekeepers from India in the Abyei region between Sudan and South Sudan alongside the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).
"More women in peacekeeping mean more efficient operations, and they help better reflect the people we serve," Lacroix tweeted.
The women's battalion is the single largest unit of women peacekeepers at a UN mission after the organization deployed the first-ever all-women contingent to Liberia in 2007.
The platoon, comprising two officers and 25 other soldiers, is part of an engagement platoon and specializes in community outreach.
The UNISFA was established through the UNSC resolution 1990 on June 27, 2011. Its main purpose is to provide security and protect civilians under imminent threat of violence in the border region disputed by Sudan and South Sudan.