17.12.2021.
Second Session of Seminar on Gender Equality in Security Sector
The Ministry of Defence and UN WOMEN Programme Office in Serbia carried out the second three day educational and informative session titled “Gender equality in the sector of security” which took place from 15th to 17th December on the mountain of Zlatibor.
The aim of the session was to familiarise as much members of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces as possible with the topic of gender equality primarily through the presentation of general legal framework that encompasses the UN SC Resolution 1325 and additional resolutions, and national laws, strategies and action plans pertaining to this field. The focus of the work was placed on the analysis of the institutionalised and normative framework which enables greater representation, involvement and decision-making of women in all processes dealing with preservation of peace and security and developing mechanisms for prevention, in order to increase the security of women in peace, conflicts and post conflict recovery of society in crisis and emergency situations.
The second session held on the mountain of Zlatibor, is the continuation of the first one that took place in Aranđelovac from 1st to 3rd December. The participants were familiarised with causes and forms of the discrimination of women, and instruments and mechanisms for its prevention, and fundamental notions relating to gender based violence and the protection against it.
New commitments of the Ministry of Defence, arisen from recently adopted Law on Gender Equality and the Strategy for Gender Equality from 2021 to 2030 have created a need to improve knowledge and raise awareness through such form of training on gender equality and processes in this area.
The Ministry of Defence implements the policy of equal opportunities and gender equality as one of its strategic goals, aspiring towards as better results and standards as possible, appreciating the requirements of the defence system, the potential of the women entering the system, specificities of inherited state, and experiences and examples of good practice of developed countries and the countries of the region.
In the previous years, the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces have integrated gender perspective in all segments of the defence system. For a long time, the military profession was “reserved” for men and as such it represented a challenge for girls and women, especially in circumstances of war. Today, as a result of concrete measures and activities, conditions have been created so that women, with their potential, can give full contribution to the defence of the country against contemporary security challenges, risks and threats.
It is important to mention that the leading engagement of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces in the development and implementation of the National Action Plan for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 – “Women, peace and security” in the Republic of Serbia, has enabled the development of mechanisms for the application of gender policy and identification and prevention of gender discrimination.
