SEESAC Meets with the Members of the Parliamentary Commission Overseeing the Implementation of the UN SC Resolution 1325 in Serbia

On 29 April 2013, Ms. Zlata Djeric, President of the newly established parliamentary Commission for Monitoring the Execution  of  the  National Action Plan for the implementation of the UN SC Resolution 1325 - Women, Peace and Security in the Republic of Serbia (2010-2015) and her Commission colleagues, Ms. Katarina Rakic and Mr. Milovan Drecun,  met for the first time with the representatives of UNDP/SEESAC.

At this time, Ms. Djeric underlined the Republic of Serbia’s commitment to implementing UNSCR 1325 through the National Action Plan (NAP). With this in mind, Ms. Djeric noted the importance of cooperating with SEESAC as a provider of expertise and evidence based data relevant for the effective implementation and monitoring of the NAP.

Mr. Drecun emphasized the relevance of media campaigns in the effort to raise public awareness of the position of women in the armed forces. In addition, Mr. Drecun added that the Commission is eager to initiate inclusion of the parliamentary Defence and Internal Affairs Committee in the process of implementing the NAP.

Dr. Ivan Zverzhanovski, UNDP/SEESAC Coordinator, briefly informed the Commission members about two of the SEESAC’s regional projects related to the gender mainstreaming in the security sector in the South East Europe:  the Women Police Officers Network (WPON) and Gender Equality in the Military.

The WPON was established in 2010 with the aim to advocate for better inclusion of women in the police services in SEE.  In 2012, WPON developed Guidelines for Gender Sensitive Police Practice with set of low cost and practical recommendations how to revise recruitment and retention polices from the gender equality aspect. 

The Gender Equality in the Military is a regional project implemented by SEESAC, together with four Ministries of Defence in the Western Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). Its aim is to include gender perspective in the work of Ministries of Defence and the armed forces in order to ensure better recruitment and retention of women in the armed forces.

The President of the Commission and the SEESAC Coordinator agreed that there is ample room for fruitful cooperation in an effort to promote the inclusion of gender perspectives in the defense and security sector.