Press release 17 March 2009
Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Stakeholder meeting on the role of women in operations in conflict areas

Sweden is now putting UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security in international conflict management fully into practice. On Wednesday, 18 March Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson will hold a stakeholder meeting on a new action plan adopted by the Government.

Sweden is now putting UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security in international conflict management fully into practice. On Wednesday, 18 March Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson will hold a stakeholder meeting on a new action plan adopted by the Government.

The Government has adopted a new national action plan implying that all Swedish conflict management efforts must take into consideration that women are affected by armed conflict. They must take into account that women affected by conflicts and post-conflicts can be part of the solution and that women should be represented in the work of reconstruction.

The new action plan was drawn up by the Government Offices, the agencies concerned and research institutions. Meetings have also been held with Swedish non-governmental organisations and members of the Riksdag. This joint approach will also be characteristic of the implementation of the action plan.

Ms Carlsson is now extending an invitation to talks together with representatives of Operation 1325, the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation and the Swedish Armed Forces to discuss how we should now go about working with the action plan in concrete terms.

The media are welcome to attend the meeting.

Conflict management efforts refer to Swedish peace units, police operations, development assistance and observation missions. UN Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820 form the basis of the new action plan.