Role of women in the Armed Forces of BiH increasingly significant

Deputy Minister of Defence of BiH for Policy and Plans Marina Pendeš spoke today with Radhika Coomaraswamy about the activities of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of BiH in fulfilling the goals and obligations arising from UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the Patria news agency reports.  

Coomaraswamy is authorised by the UN Secretary-General to develop a Global Study on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, a document of historic importance that requires the participation of women in decision-making processes, peace negotiations and processes of integrating a gender perspective into training for peacekeeping missions, the protection of girls and women during and after conflict, and the integration of a gender perspective into reporting and the work of peacekeeping missions.

During the conversation, Deputy Minister Marina Pendeš informed the high-level UN delegation about the activities of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of BiH in implementing UN Resolution 1325, expressing satisfaction with the participation of Ministry of Defence representatives in drafting the Action Plan for the implementation of this Resolution and noting that „Bosnia and Herzegovina is the first country in the region to adopt an Action Plan for 2010-2013, and that representatives of the BiH Ministry of Defence participated in drafting the new Action Plan for the period 2014-2017.“ 

Deputy Minister Pendeš particularly highlighted the importance of achieving goals related to increased participation of women in decision-making positions in the military, police and peacekeeping missions, as well as strengthening regional cooperation in integrating a gender perspective.

In this regard, Deputy Minister Pendeš noted that the Ministry of Defence of BiH has obtained its first gender equality trainers, who will in the coming period participate in training members of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of BiH and establish and expand a network of gender equality trainers in the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of BiH.

Also discussed were the prevention of sexual violence in conflicts, participation in the project „Women Leaders in the Defence and Security Sector“, and other gender equality issues.

Coomaraswamy praised the efforts of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of BiH in this area and expressed satisfaction with the activities of the Ministry of Defence of BiH in raising awareness of the importance of gender equality in the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of BiH, as well as the increased trend of women's interest in joining professional military service in the Armed Forces of BiH, the Ministry of Defence announced.