Montenegro

The 10th Cetinje Parliamentary Forum: »Women, Peace, Security«

21-22 June 2010, Cetinje

The 10th Cetinje Parliamentary Forum (CPF): »Women, Peace, and Security« was held from 21 - 22 June 2010 in Cetinje, organized by the Parliament of Montenegro, with the support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Montenegro and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) - Mission to Montenegro. The aims of the CPF were improving cooperation, sharing knowledge and experiences, strengthening links in order to maintain continuity in terms of deepening parliamentary cooperation and diplomacy in the region, improvement of bilateral and multilateral connections, rapprochement of the representatives of the legislative institutions in the countries that share common historical and cultural heritage, but the European perspective as well. This 10th parliamentary forum was dedicated to the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (SCR 1325) - the first resolution on women, peace and security.

At the opening of the Forum, H.E. Mr. Željko Šturanović, Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro said: “Armed conflicts have negative impact on both women and men, and they lead to gender-specific subordinate positions of women especially, which are usually not recognized in conventional, gender-insensitive interpretations of conflicts. Gender inequality reflects misbalance of power in social structures that exist in the pre-conflict periods and are worsening with the armed conflicts and the periods that follow. Acceptance of gender stereotypes is one of the main reasons why gender insensitivity still exists”. He emphasized that special importance lies in permanent recognition and international acknowledgment that violence against women is the strongest manifestation of poor historical heritage of unequal power relations between men and women.

H.E. Mr. Šturanović also said that: “Violence against women is one of the cruellest indicators on how many efforts need to be done by the society as a whole, and especially by the relevant institutions and organizations in order to make the sphere of family and public life more equal and more dignified. This global problem surpasses the borders of politics, cultures, economies, religions, and it is reflected in various forms”. He explained that the idea for organizing this event comes from the wish to dedicate more attention to this issue, and to identify concrete steps in order to prevent sexual violence in war times as well as in every day life, through empowering women and strengthening their vital role in establishing stability. “Finally, if we do not improve women’s rights and responsibilities globally, we will not be able to achieve many goals of the foreign policy. Only if we work together, on local, regional and international level, we will be able to fight against marginalization of women, which is a real threat for the global security. It is clear that one of the main indicators of the maturity level among of the modern societies is status of women in all segments of work and life. I am convinced that, until women get without any obstacles positions that they have a right to, and until the absolute freedom of human rights becomes not only something we strive to, but our everyday life, we will not be able to demonstrate that our civilization reached its maturity ”, said H.E. Mr. Šturanović.  

Ms. Nada Drobnjak, Chair of the Gender Equality Committee in the Parliament of Montenegro emphasized that it is of crucial importance for the society as a whole to achieve equal participation and division of responsibilities among men and women, in political and public life, and thus in the security system too. In this context, Ms. Drobnjak reminded of the Montenegrin statistical data:
• There is 8,66% women employed in the Army of Montenegro
• In the Ministry of Defence, there is 35,12% women employees
• In the Police Directorate of Montenegro the number of women employees is 719, which is 13,20 % out of the total number of employees
• In the Special Anti-terrorist Unit there are 4 women employees
• In the Agency for National Security there is 34% of women employees, out of which 2% on the managerial positions
• In the diplomatic missions in Montenegro there are 24 ambassadors, out of which 4 are women, i.e. 16,6%, there are 2 general consuls and they are both men, 2 consuls and they are both men as well.  

She also stressed that from January to November 2009 there were 395 reported cases of violence in family. Prosecutors received 394 denunciations against 406 persons. Out of the total number of the processed cases, 95% of them are men, 144 are repeaters, while out of 429 victims of violence in family 359 are women. “The future of Montenegro is Europe. We will secure membership in the European Union and NATO only through wise politics, knowledge and zeal of all the citizens, through raising personal and social standards, development of the efficient legal civic state. It is obvious that in the process of accession we will face the challenge of changing perception of men and women on security system, to which proper defining of woman’s role and her position in that system will contribute, because model of ration human resource management means engaging women as significant part of resources in security. I am sure that greater participation of women in security system will actualise Gandhi’s thought ‘Force is a weapon of the weak, non-violence the weapon of the strong’ “, concluded Ms. Drobnjak.

Mr. Francisco Roquette, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative reminded that the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNCSR 1325) is recognized as a historic and unprecedented document, binding upon all UN Member States, including Montenegro. “Adoption of the Resolution marked an important international political recognition that women and gender are relevant to international peace and security. Therefore, the months to come - preceding to the Year of the tenth anniversary of the Resolution 1325 – will be critical for creative initiatives and action related to the implementation of its key provisions: a) Increased participation and representation of women at all levels of decision-making; b) Attention to specific protection needs of women and girls in conflict; c) Gender perspective in post-conflict processes; d)  Gender perspective in UN programming, reporting and in Security Council missions; and e) Gender perspective & training in UN peace support operations”, said Mr. Roquette. “The marking of the 10th anniversary of the UNSCR 1325 on 10th Cetinje Parliamentary Forum is an excellent opportunity to encourage Parliamentary dialogue and cooperation between the Countries of the region and to share experiences and best practices related to the implementation of the Resolution 1325. Today, we are marking the 10th Anniversary with strong commitment to exchange experiences and agree upon the actions and measures that could be undertaken as a follow up to the implementation of the Resolution 1325 in our country and the region”, emphasized Mr. Roquette. He concluded by informing that the UNDP is expected to start by the end of the year the implementation of a gender programme financed from the IPA funds, which will have 3 main components: political empowerment of women, economic empowerment of women and prevention of gender-based violence”. 

H.E. Ambassador Paraschiva Badescu, Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro said that: “The equality of women and men and the protection and promotion of the human rights of women are considered by OSCE as being essential to sustainable democracy and to security and stability in its area. The participating States of the OSCE bear primary responsibility for implementation of commitments referring to equality between women and men in their territories. These commitments are reflected in a number of important OSCE documents.” She explained that the experiences show that it is only when women are meaningfully involved in politics and security that there is seen real, lasting changes in societies. “Women’s skills should be built in order to support and maintain peace and stability. This also involves contribution to the strengthening and development of other relevant frameworks, judicial and administrative infrastructures. Enhancing gender equality as an important tool for conflict prevention is essential in order to reach sustainable peace. Utilizing the knowledge and expertise of women and strengthening the role of women in society is therefore a peace-promoting and conflict-preventing activity in itself”, said H.E. Ambassador Badescu. She emphasized that the trends of global equalization and greater equality between men and women are slowly becoming trends in Montenegro as well.

H.E. Mr. Boro Vučinić, Minister of Defense of Montenegro, in his opening address stated that “Montenegro is proving to be a reliable partner, that wishes to give its full contribution to the activities of NATO and partnering countries, with an aim to increase participation of women in the system of defence and security. “Even though Montenegro is still not a full member of NATO, it fully supports its gender equality policies. Greater engagement of women in security sector will be one of key priorities in the future reform processes”, emphasized Minister Vučinić.
He also expressed his belief that the percentage of women employees in the sector of security of Montenegro, i.e. in the Army and in the Ministry of Defence of Montenegro will be increasing constantly, until it reaches the level of modern countries”. 

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Participants of the 10th Cetinje Parliamentary Forum from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Serbia adopted a joint statement.
Joint Statement in English
Joint Statement in Montenegrin

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For video footage from the opening of the conference please click here.

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Cetinje Parliamentary Forum as an autochthonous regional initiative of parliamentary cooperation between the countries of the South-East Europe on the path of European Integration was conceived and started up by the Parliament of the Republic of Montenegro and by the Parliament of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in February 2004. 

The aims of the CPF were improving cooperation, sharing knowledge and experiences, strengthening links in order to maintain continuity in terms of deepening parliamentary cooperation and diplomacy in the region, improvement of bilateral and multilateral connections, rapprochement of the representatives of the legislative institutions in the countries that share common historical and cultural heritage , but the European perspective as well.

The 10th Cetinje Parliamentary Forum (CPF) gathered around 60 participants, delegations from 7 countries and 7 international organizations. CPF is an initiative that promotes and stimulates parliamentary dialogue between the countries of the region. Through the previous 9 sessions, it gathered more than 550 members of the parliaments of the countries of the region, as well as from the partner countries, EU member states.

This 10th parliamentary forum was dedicated to the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (SCR 1325) - the first resolution on women, peace and security, which was unanimously adopted by the United Nations Security Council on 31 October 2000. The SCR1325 marked the first time the Security Council addressed the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women; recognized the under-valued and under-utilized contributions women make to conflict prevention, peacekeeping, conflict resolution and peace-building. It also stressed the importance of women’s equal and full participation as active agents in peace and security. SCR1325 is recognized as a historic and unprecedented document, binding upon all UN Member States. Adoption of the Resolution marked an important international political recognition that women and gender are relevant to international peace and security. The Security Council has marked the anniversary of this resolution annually to reaffirm its commitment to the spirit of the resolution and to highlight progress made in the area of women, peace and security.