OSCE Gender Section organizes workshop in Armenia on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security

The OSCE Gender Section organized a workshop in Yerevan on 22 and 23 March 2018 to support Armenia’s ongoing process of drafting a national action plan to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.

Workshop participants from government agencies and civil society discussed the existing good practices on how to coordinate the drafting of national action plan. In Armenia an Inter-agency Commission of key stakeholders has been established to steer the drafting of the national action plan.

The participants also reviewed how other countries have worked to ensure civil society’s inclusion in the process, and discussed specific measures to engage other civil society actors in both preparing and implementing a national action plan.

Karine Soudjian, Head of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues Division of Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, opened the workshop, highlighting the timeliness of the event.  She stressed the importance of Armenia’s co-operation with the OSCE in implementing Resolution 1325.

Olivia Holt-Ivry, the facilitator of the OSCE workshop in Yerevan, said: “There is no one-size-fits-all model. Examples and good practices from other countries can help the process of designing a national action plan, but can only be used to the extent that they fit into the situation of the country.”

In her closing remarks of the event, OSCE Gender Adviser Leena Avonius expressed the organization’s continued willingness to co-operate with Armenia in the field of Women, Peace and Security.