The Ministry of Defense of Montenegro Promotes Results in Implementing UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security

The Ministry of Defense of Montenegro (MoD) has published a promotional brochure on the implementation of UNSCR 1325, outlining its achievements through two of the National Action Plans (NAPs), and presenting the Gender equality strategy for 2024-2027.

The MoD emphasized in the brochure that the two NAPs have achieved significant success in implementing three key pillars of UNSCR 1325, including increasing women's participation in decision-making and peace processes, protecting women and girls in conflict areas, and integrating gender perspective and military education in peacekeeping operations. This was achieved primarily thanks to the 33 activities aligned with the outcomes of the first NAP (2017-2018) and the 68 implemented activities within the second NAP (2019-2022).

In addition to many successful awareness raising campaigns, the first NAP set grounds for palpable quantitative results, including an increase in the number of women participating in peacekeeping missions. During the implementation period of the first NAP, the number of trainings on gender equality also increased. The representation of women in the security sector continued its upward trend, most notably among women participating in international missions and operations, increasing from (9) nine in 2018 to a total of twenty-eight (28) women during the implementation of the second action plan (2019-2022).

A similar trend was observed in the representation of women in security sector institutions in Montenegro. In the Armed Forces (AF) of Montenegro, the percentage of women increased from 9.17% in 2017 to 14.9% in 2021, while the representation of women in the Police Directorate increased from 9.95% in 2017 to 12.53% in 2021.

The activities implemented during the second NAP built upon the success achieved, and resulted in the adoption of internal guidelines, plans and analyses aimed at improving gender equality policies. For example, as part of its efforts to effectively respond to gender-based discrimination, the MoD developed a Guide for the prevention of discrimination, sexual harassment and abuse and distributed it to all units across the MoD and the AF of Montenegro. Other efforts include annual gender analysis to better inform MoD human resource management, such as the analysis on the average period spent in military ranks by gender, and the assessment of the existing gender trainings.

The MoD will distribute the brochure across the Ministry and AF to raise awareness among its staff. As the brochure is available in both Montenegrin and English it will also be used to inform donors and other relevant stakeholders on the implementation of the UNSCR 1325 in Montenegro.

SEESAC has supported the design and printing of the brochure  as part of its  wider efforts to support the regional MoDs in small-scale projects aimed at promoting gender equality in the security sector.

This activity is organised as part of the second phase of the SEESAC’s project Strengthening of Regional Cooperation on Gender Mainstreaming in Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans, financed by the Governments of Norway and the Slovak Republic, which supports  gender mainstreaming in the security sector reform, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security.

Promotional brochure on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Montenegrin

Promotional brochure on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in English