Our mandate on gender equality

In the Charter for European Security—part of the 1999 Istanbul Document—the participating States declared their commitment to “to ensure full equality between women and men“ and stated that they looked forward to “an early approval and implementation of an OSCE gender action plan“. The States also spelled out that the Organization was to “take into account the need for geographic diversity and gender balance when recruiting personnel to OSCE institutions and field operations“.

A gender action plan came in the form of a Ministerial Council decision on the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender in 2004. This document recognizes that the full and equal participation of women and men is key to achieving peace, prosperity and stability, and assigns responsibilities and tasks to all parts of the OSCE and its 57 States in attaining gender equality.

Since the Action Plan was adopted, the OSCE States made other commitments in this field, including on such issues as preventing and combating violence against women; the role of women in conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation; and promoting equal opportunity for women in the economic as well as the political and public sphere.