31 October 2023 marks 23 years since the unanimous adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
This was the first UN Security Council resolution to focus on the prevention of gender-based violence in armed conflicts and on the involvement of women in the resolution of armed conflicts, in peace-building negotiations and peacekeeping processes. The Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Welfare, and the Ministry of Education and Science are the institutions co-responsible for the implementation. Non-governmental organisations, especially the Resource Centre for Women MARTA and the Latvian Transatlantic Organisations (LATO) are providing invaluable contribution to carrying out the plan.
The National Action Plan sets out three main tasks:
- raising public awareness of gender equality issues and the elimination of gender-based violence, especially among the younger generation;
- training for the defence and internal affairs sector, including the establishment of a gender adviser’s position;
- transfer of Latvia’s experience and knowledge.
The implementation of the National Action Plan of Latvia is under way. In 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has granted funding from its development cooperation policy allocations for the project, Support for Women’s Activism in Ukraine. Promotion of “Women, Peace and Security” policy. Development of the system of assistance for victims of war crimes, by MARTA Centre, which provides practical, psychological, legal and medical assistance to victims of sexual violence. With support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MARTA Centre also ran a project in 2022 to update Ukraine’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security in the context of war conditions. During the project, the revised plan was approved by the Ukrainian Government. In autumn 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Latvian Transatlantic Organisation (LATO) jointly organised a special mentoring programme for young women professionals, while LATO together with the Klingendal Institute and the Embassy of Germany in Latvia held a training seminar on negotiations for women working in the areas of security and foreign affairs.
