Despite progress, more work needed to promote role of women in the security sector, say parliamentarians at Montenegro meeting

CETINJE, Montenegro, 22 June 2010 - Although progress has been made in increasing the participation of women in the security sector, more work is needed to further promote their role, participants at an OSCE regional meeting for female parliamentarians from South-Eastern Europe said today.

The Third OSCE Regional Meeting of Women Parliamentarians was organized by the Parliament of Montenegro and the OSCE Mission to Montenegro.

"Although enormous strides have been made over the last decades, the continued under-representation of women in governance structures requires specific and effective measures to promote gender balance in all legislative, judicial and executive bodies, especially at the political and decision-making levels," said Ambassador Paraschiva Badescu, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro.

Meeting participants agreed that enhancing gender equality was an important tool for conflict prevention and the creation of sustainable peace. They also noted that women played an important stabilizing role in South-Eastern Europe during the conflict and post-conflict period of the last decade.

The meeting was held as part of the Tenth Cetinje Parliamentary Forum, organized by the Parliament of Montenegro, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and the United Nations Development Programme in Montenegro on the occasion of the tenth Anniversary of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women and peace and security.