In January 2012, the Swedish Armed Forces opened the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations, with the purpose of integrating a gender perspective in all military efforts. Civil society’s cooperation with the Armed Forces is a central part in guaranteeing that resolution 1325 is implemented in military operations; this was the base for the lecture that Operation 1325 held at the centre’s gender training.
Women’s participation and security sector reform
Emmicki Roos from Operation 1325 held a lecture on how Operation 1325 cooperates with the Swedish Armed Forces to increase women’s participation. The majority of the lecture stemmed from Operation 1325’s project Security on the Ground, that provides detailed advice and recommendations about how international mission staff should interact with local women’s organisations. One of the main messages that Roos presented during the lecture was that protection and prevention are impossible to work with without women’s participation, and that the depiction of women as victims must end to advance women as actors.
The Participants
The audience consisted of 23 people representing the armed forces of 20 different countries; all interested in how to best incorporate a gender perspective and resolution 1325 in their respective operations. The participants came from countries all around the world, including Afghanistan, Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, Croatia and Sweden, and had been taking part in a two week course on gender in international missions held by the Swedish Armed Forces. A longer article containing questions and queries that the participants expressed regarding Operation 1325’s lecture can be accessed here.
Positive indications for the future
Operation 1325 was present at the opening ceremony of the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations, and reacted in regards to the lack of female speakers and that women weren’t shown as actors in the pictures shown. Six months later the centre seems to have embraced the critique as women hold leading positions in the centre’s work and resolution 1325 and mainstreaming a gender perspective in the Armed Forces are in focus. Operation 1325 feels that the cooperation with the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations has been strengthened by the open dialogue and looks forward to future opportunities to interact with the centre.
Julle Bergenholtz
