Independent Report on the Implementation of Nap 1325 in Serbia

The authors of the Report, BCSP Researchers Goran Odanovic and Maja Bjelos, with the help of Research Consultants Zorica Mrsevic and Selene Tasic, as well as Research Assistants Sara Nikcevic and Marija Stevuljevic, covered a period of nineteen months – from the adoption of NAP in late December 2010 till the end of July 2012.

The NAP was adopted by decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia (Official Gazette of RS No 102/10). Thus, Serbia became the second Western Balkan country to adopt such a document. The first one was BiH, in July 2010. The development of the NAP was a process that lasted a year and a half. First, the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence (BFPE), in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence (MO), launched a project for the development of guidelines for drafting the NAP, in May 20091. Based on these guidelines, MO began to draft the NAP, in June 2010. This process lasted till mid-November 2010. It seems, however, that the NAP draft and proposals for the establishment of new bodies and mechanisms for the achievement of gender equality in the security sector omitted the analysis of the manner in which existing gender equality mechanisms (national, provincial and local) could contribute to the achievement of NAP goals.

The adoption of the NAP, in other words the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in security sector management, was announced as an important reform move that would propel Serbia to becoming a leader in this area in the Western Balkans2. However, the initial enthusiasm with respect to the importance of implementing NAP 1325 in Serbia soon waned. In fact, the bodies tasked with its implementation were not set up until ten months after the adoption of the NAP, which significantly delayed the implementation process and the achievement of the goals set out in this document. Furthermore, the institutions still have little or no funding available for implementing NAP activities. All of this indicates that the introduction of a gender equality policy in security sector management is still not being recognized as a priority that can greatly improve the operational efficiency of security sector institutions, enhance Serbia’s international reputation and, above all, increase the security of all citizens.

What does the Report address?

The NAP consists of seven thematic chapters: 1) establishment of institutional mechanisms for the implementation of NAP; 2) increasing the proportion of women in the security sector and their impact on issues related to peace and security; 3) increasing the participation of women in decision-making in defence and security; 4) increasing the participation of women in conflict and post-conflict resolution and a greater share of women in multinational operations; 5) using instruments for the legal protection of women; 6) education and professional development of security sector employees and 7) providing media support to NAP objectives.

The report that you have before you covers all of the listed topics. We focused in particular on institutional cooperation with civil society organizations (CSO) on the implementation of the NAP, considering that CSOs have been recognized as activity lead implementers in almost all of the NAP chapters3. The findings and recommendations presented in this Report were drawn up based on an analysis of publicly available documents and information on the activities of institutions tasked with implementing NAP

Modeled according to the NAP structure, in the first section, we review the process of establishing institutional mechanisms for the implementation of the NAP and the reasons for its delay.

In the second section we present the findings on trends in women’s representation in the security sector, their participation in multinational operations and participation in the decision-making process.

In the third section of the report we present an analysis of the legal and institutional protection of women from discrimination in the security sector, pointing to the specific forms of discrimination in such a male dominated environment. This chapter analyzes in detail the various forms of discrimination present in the security sector, primarily concentrated in the army and police.

In the fourth section we analyze the activities of institutions in the field of education and training of security sector personnel on gender and security related topics.

In the fifth chapter we present the results of media monitoring of coverage of women in the security sector, conducted in June 2012. The objective of the monitoring exercise was to analyze how frequently and in what manner women in the security sector were portrayed by the media in that one month of the current year. Additionally, we wanted to determine the predominant way in which the media report on women in the security sector, with the aim of monitoring success in the implementation of the NAP, in the section that concerns the public information campaign covering all aspects of the gender equality issue in the security sector.

Finally, in chapter six we address the cooperation of security sector institutions with civil society organizations on implementing the NAP and analyze the main obstacles to forging a more effective cooperation.

At the end of each chapter we give recommendations for the improvement of the implementation of the NAP in the specific field.