Brankica Janković, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality took part in the final debate on the Draft National Action Plan for the implementation of 1325 UN SC Resolution, “Women, Peace and Security, at the local level.

Stressing the fact that gender equality, women’s rights promotion and women’s increased participation in the national security system is one of the basic principles of the 1325 UN SC Resolution implementation Draft National Action Plan, Commissioner Janković said that gender equality is na important precondition for the development of a society as a whole, in particular at local community level where women participation in the security system has not been satisfactory.

„Reflecting on the previous 2010- 2015 National Action Plan and its achievements, especially in the area of national security system, an increased involvement of women is obvious,” said the Commissioner, however, what lies ahead is to step up women involvement in operational tasks and promotion to higher positions in the chain of command within the national security system.

The Commissioner stressed that the institution of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality is particularly interested in a better coordination between local gender equality protection bodies and different other bodies tasked with strengthening local security, as their cooperation so far has not been sufficient. Hence, work and activities of the Local Security Council, located within local self-government units, will be of crucial importance in the upcoming period.

Other speakers at the event included Zoran Đorđević, the Minister of Defense, Marija Obradović, the Chairwoman of the National Assembly Commission for NAP implementation monitoring, while Predrag Peruničić, the Chairman of the Government’s NAP Working Group, spoke about the Draft 2016 – 2020 National Action Plan for the implementation of the UN SC 1325 Resolution.