Malaysia: Malaysia has been honoured with the UN award that recognises the participation of female peacekeepers in its peacekeeping missions at the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial 2025 in Berlin, Germany.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) Headquarters, in a statement, said the award recognises the operational deployment and involvement of female peacekeepers from the Malaysian Battalion (MALBATT) under the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which met the targets set by the Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy (UGPS).

The statement highlighted that Malaysia is among the countries that advocate the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, adding that 10.5 per cent of the total peacekeeping mission personnel for MALBATT UNIFIL consist of women.

In addition to UNIFIL, the MAF has deployed female peacekeepers as military observers and staff for MONUSCO (UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), MINURSO (UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara), and UNISFA (UN Interim Security Force for Abyei).

The MAF emphasized that the award recognises Malaysia’s contribution to upholding international peace and security on the global stage. Other recipients of the award include Fiji, Guatemala, Kenya, Malawi, Mongolia, and Tanzania.

The award ceremony was attended by the MAF Headquarters Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Datuk Azhan Md Othman, and the Military Adviser to the Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the UN, Colonel Shamsuri Noordin.

Yesterday, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin reaffirmed the country’s continued commitment to supporting the WPS agenda in line with the UGPS.