Number of women in OSCE management reaches a historic high, but continued efforts are needed, says Secretary General

VIENNA, 16 September 2010 - Over the last few years the OSCE has achieved major progress in promoting equality between women and men, but more efforts are needed, said the OSCE Secretary General, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut to the Permanent Council today.

Presenting the Annual Evaluation Report on the OSCE Gender Action Plan, de Brichambaut said: "The OSCE participating States committed themselves to equality between women and men and making it a part of all policies both at their own State level, and within our Organization. The OSCE is on the right track: for the first time in history, the share of women in higher management positions has increased to one third, and 46 per cent of all professional posts are occupied by women."

"This is still not enough. We all need to build on this trend, in particular when it comes to the appointment of female Heads of Mission. We will also continue to ensure that anything we do as an organization - be it in military, political, environmental or economic fields - takes fully into account gender issues and different impact policies and actions can have on women and men."

De Brichambaut spoke about the collective accomplishments of the OSCE through the field operations, Institutions, Secretariat and the participating States, noting that a number of the participating States reformed legal and policy frameworks to enhance participation of women in political and public life and to prevent discrimination and violence against women. This year, twice as many projects compared to last year have included a gender component; a gender perspective is increasingly becoming an integral element of OSCE documents, policies and programmes.

"The upcoming OSCE events this year, such as the OSCE Summit in December and the Review Conference in Warsaw, Vienna and Astana in September-December, will be an opportunity for the participating States to re-confirm and strengthen their engagement to achieve gender equality." concluded de Brichambaut.