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The General Advisor, General Headquarters of the International Peace Support Operations of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Col Elvis Asamoah, has urged women to apply for various positions in the combat unit in the forces, saying there are no protocols and barriers in the military.
He said women played a crucial role in achieving a successful peace operations as women peacekeepers often connected more effectively with local communities, particularly women and children who were frequently the most impacted by conflict.
The General Advisor made the call during a discussion with students of the Wa Senior High School in the Upper West Region, as part of a nationwide school sensitization tour in the region, to help promote women participation in the GAF.
He said the program sought to promote opportunities for women in the military and increase their participation in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.
He said the sensitisation focuses on encouraging young women to consider careers within the GAF, particularly combat units, which offered strong leadership development opportunities for future deployments.
‘’When I say the combat units, I’m looking at the infantry, I’m looking at the armour units, combat support like artillery where I belong, we want women to join the executive in the navy, we want to see them join the air force also as pilots, as air traffic controllers’’, he said.
He said the campaign was also to build on Ghana’s existing efforts to promote gender equality in the military, including the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions calling for increased participation of women in peacekeeping missions.
He said there was a perception about protocol enlistment and that was a worry to many women who had the passion to join the forces, stressing there were no protocol in the GAF.
‘’We also hear protocol enlistment but I didn’t join the military through protocol and I don’t even know where the protocol office is, in the military there is no secret, when you go to pay money to anybody to join the Ghana Armed Forces, I think you are doing yourself a great disservice because there is no office in the Ghana Armed Forces that collects money on protocol,’’ he said.
Col Asamoah said peace operations was a global effort to empower women in peacekeeping roles, and also challenge misconceptions by addressing stereotypes, and providing accurate information about the diverse and fulfilling careers available to women in the military.
The programme was organised by the Women Youth of Peace and Security Institute of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in partnership with the GAF, funded by the Elsie Initiative Fund of Canada.
FROM RAFIA ABDUL RAZAK WA
The post Women urged to join military combat unit appeared first on Ghanaian Times.
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