Egypt was re-elected as the rapporteur of the United Nations Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations during the opening meeting of its 2021 session on Monday, said Mohamed Edrees, Egypt’s permanent representative to the UN.

The step “reflects Egypt’s active role in peacekeeping in terms of the rate of its military and police contributions, which puts it in the seventh place among the major troop-contributing countries, and in terms of its active contribution to the development of peace-keeping concepts and policies,” Edrees stressed.

Addressing the committee’s inaugural meeting, Edrees expressed Egypt’s concerns regarding “the noticeable increase in the number of peacekeepers’ victims recently as a result of hostilities.”

“There is a need to do what it takes to ensure adequate security for peacekeepers, in addition to holding the perpetrators of those heinous acts accountable,” Edrees stressed according to a statement released by the Egyptian foreign ministry on Tuesday.

Regarding efforts to combat the coronavirus, Edrees called for maintaining the ongoing consultations on vaccinating peacekeepers against the contagion, asserting the need to ensure a “rapid, fair, and equitable” access to the vaccine for all peacekeepers.

Edress presented that Egypt seeks to strengthen the security and safety of peacekeepers, and enhance interdependence and integration between peacekeeping and peacebuilding, notably under its current presidency of the UN Peacebuilding Commission.

He highlighted Egypt’s support to giving priority for political solutions to conflicts, stressing the need for peacekeeping operations to adopt clear and time-bound political strategies in accordance with the Cairo Roadmap, an Egyptian document detailing how to reinforce the United Nations’ peacekeeping process.

Edrees also demanded an increase in women’s participation in peacekeeping, and also to deepen the partnership between the United Nations and the African Union in peacekeeping. 

Earlier this month, Egypt was elected to lead the current session of the UN Peacebuilding Commission for the first time, succeeding Canada.