Roundtable on the subject "Contribution of women to peacekeeping operations"

Members of the "Policewomen's Network" Association attended the Round Table on the subject "Contribution of women to the peacekeeping operations ", which was held today (April 5, 2019) in the Army Hall in Sarajevo.

The round table was organized by EUFOR, the Ministry of Security of BiH and the Ministry of Defense of BiH.

The primary objective of the Round Table is to motivate and encourage female members of law enforcement agencies in BiH and the Armed Forces to participate in peacekeeping operations, as well as to exchange experiences from previous missions of policewomen and female soldiers of the Armed Forces of BiH, EUFOR and NATO. Policewomen and female soldiers were acquainted with the conditions for applying and going to peacekeeping operations

In the introductory part, the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dragan Mektić, EUFOR Commander Major General Martin Dorfer, General Inspector of the Armed Forces of BiH Mirsad Ahmić and Directoress of the BiH Gender Agency Samra Filipović-Hadžiabdić addressed the audience.

They talked about the importance of women's participation in peacekeeping operations and stressed that female members of the BiH Armed Forces and police agencies serve in peacekeeping missions abroad together with their male counterparts and make a significant contribution to peacekeeping operations around the world.

They also spoke about affirmative measures that are being applied in accordance with the law in BiH with the aim of increasing the number of women in peacekeeping operations. In this regard, the Directoress of BiH Gender Agency emphasized that it should never be allowed to characterize affirmative measures for achieving gender equality as discriminatory, because they are necessary.