UNDP SEESAC takes part in RACVIAC’s Regional Conference on Gender and Border Management

On 19 and 20 May 2013, a regional conference “Gender and Border Management/Peace and Security: Promoting Women’s Role” was held in RACVIAC – Center for Security Cooperation. Government officials from across South East Europe gathered to exchange information related to the promotion of gender equality and the role of women in the security sector, particularly as it relates to border management.

Danijela Djurovic, SEESAC’s Project Officer/Advisor on gender equality in security sector reform was invited to speak about the position of women in police services in South East Europe and their role in policing. Ms. Djurovic spoke about the work of the Women Police Officers Network in the South East Europe (WPON) and the Guidelines for Gender Sensitive Policing.

WPON is a regional advocacy platform, consisting of high ranking women police officers from 9 police services in the SEE, which promotes gender equality within the police services and at the same time enables exchange of experience and knowledge on the status, needs and priorities of police women across the SEE region.  In 2012, WPON developed the Guidelines, a set of simple and low cost measures, with the aim to help police services in the South East Europe attract and retain more qualified women and advance gender equality.

UNDP SEESAC serves as the secretariat of the network. The importance of the Guidelines and achievements of WPON were also highlighted by representatives of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Croatia and by the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality of the Republic of Croatia.

The Conference was opened by Ambassador Branimir Mandic, Director of RACVIAC, Ms. Vesna Batistic Kos, Assistant Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the Republic of Croatia and Ms. Ana Trisic – Babic, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  

The subjects discussed at the conference were: the implementation of the UNSCR 1325 in the region, promotion of women’s role in the peace and security sector and regional, national and local experiences on gender and border management.

Among the participants of the conference were government officials from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Turkey, and experts from Slovenia, NATO HQ in Sarajevo and SEESAC.   The Conference was organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in BiH.