Vietnam to send female officers to UN peacekeeping operations Vietnamese female officers are ready to join in UN international peacekeeping missions in South Sudan and Central African Republic as proposed by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, according to the Quan doi Nhan dan newspaper.   The newspaper quoted Director of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Centre Colonel Hoang Kim Phung as saying that Vietnamese female officers are capable of performing the tasks as female peacekeepers in the UN’s peacekeeping missions. He said the centre has held specialized training courses for female officers, adding that Vietnam will send those officers on their missions after reaching agreement with the UN on the tasks and locations for them, likely at the end of this year or in the beginning of 2017. According to the Vietnamese military attaché to the UN, the UN is planning to increase the number of female peacekeepers in its peacekeeping operations around the world as they have crucial roles in encouraging local women to involve in dialogue with peacekeeping forces. The UN targets to increase the rate of female officers in the forces to 35 percent while the current figure is only 8-10 percent. Since its inception in May 2014, the Vietnam Peacekeeping Centre has dispatched seven officers to UN missions in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Vietnam is also preparing to deploy a second-level field hospital and a company of engineers to engage in peacekeeping missions when required. VNA