The Deputy Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Aleksandar Goganovic, stated that progress has been made regarding the introduction of gender equality in the defense sector.
In Sarajevo, Goganovic attended the opening of the 16th regional meeting of mechanisms for gender equality in the ministries of defense and the armed forces of the Western Balkans.
The two-day 16th regional meeting of the mechanism for gender equality was organized by the Council for Regional Cooperation, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway, the Slovak Republic, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), specifically the South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC).
The aim of the meeting is to enable the exchange of information and knowledge between the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces about gender equality in the countries of the region, with a special focus on the results achieved in the past period.
Addressing those attending the meeting, Goganovic pointed out the importance of the regional project “Strengthening regional cooperation in including the gender perspective in the reform of the security sector in the Western Balkans”, saying that the project itself resulted in very successful regional cooperation on the integration of the gender perspective in the ministries of defense and the armed forces of the countries participating in the project, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, through the exchange of experiences and examples of good practice.
“Events like this are a confirmation of the commitment of all of us in the region to continue strengthening regional cooperation in the field of basic human rights,” said Goganovic.
The meeting was attended, among others, by the Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of BiH (AFBiH), Major General Ivica Jerkic, Norwegian Ambassador to BiH Olav Reinertsen, representatives of the Embassy of the Slovak Republic, the Council for Regional Cooperation, the UNDP and others, the Ministry of Defense of BiH announced.
Photo: archive