Twenty-one Cambodian women UN peacekeepers received certificates of French language proficiency on January 20, following the completion of a two-year course provided prior to deployment to French-speaking countries.

A handover ceremony was organised at the National Centre for Peacekeeping Forces, Mines and Explosive Remnants of War Clearance (NPMEC), and presided over by French ambassador to Cambodia Jacques Pellet and NPMEC director-general Sem Sovanny.

The French embassy listed some of the countries to which the 21 peacekeepers would be deployed as Central African Republic, Lebanon and Mali.

NPMEC director-general Sovanny could not be reached for comment.

But according to an NPMEC Facebook post on January 20, Pellet placed a high value on Cambodia for sending women peacekeepers to take part in peacekeeping missions.

Sovanny said earlier this month that in the last 16 years, Cambodia had sent a total of nearly 7,900 peacekeepers, including more than 500 women, to 11 UN missions in nine countries – Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Lebanon, Cyprus, Syria, Mali, Central African Republic, and Yemen.

Cambodia currently has 800 peacekeepers in four countries: South Sudan, Lebanon, Central African Republic and Mali, he said.

“These numbers mean that Cambodia is ranked 13th out of the 122 countries that contribute peacekeepers. In ASEAN, Cambodia is ranked second,” he added.