Rwanda will host a Preparatory Meeting to the 2017 UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial Conference at Kigali Convention Centre from August 29 to 30, 2017.

The preparatory meetings to be held in Bangladesh, Japan and Rwanda are set to prepare ground for the 2017 UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial Conference due to take place in Vancouver, Canada from November 14 to 15 this year, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defence.

The preparatory meeting in Kigali will bring together more than 100 participants from UN Peacekeeping Operations Troops/Police Contributing Countries and Financial Contributing Countries.

Delegates will discuss "Protecting those at Risk” and "Early Warning and Rapid Deployment” as selected themes. The discussions will be centered on how strengthening performance accountability for Protection of Civilians (POC) and how the Kigali Principles enhance the protection of Civilian mandate, the statement said.

Delegates will also discuss Gender perspectives in Peacekeeping, Progress made on setting up a UN Rapid Deployment Capability among other topics. The UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial Conference has set out to improve international commitment to the Kigali Principles, identify concrete and innovative ways forward for improving performance on protection of civilians mandates, and build on recent efforts to strengthen accountability for protection. The 2017 UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial Conference in Canada will build on the successes of the ones previously held in New York City, USA and London, United Kingdom to review current contributions by UN members, and more importantly, secure new pledges to meet the identified needs of UN peacekeeping operations.

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