Bosnia and Herzegovina is looking for more ‘warrior-diplomats’

Colonel Mešetović of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AFBiH) joined the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) in 2005. Throughout her fourteen months there, Mešetović served within a UN peacekeeping team that worked day after day to ease the strife caused by the fighting that occurred in this part of the Horn of Africa, one of the poorest and climatically harshest regions of the globe. Despite the Colonel's unquestionable leadership skills that she clearly demonstrated as a UNMEE Sector Leader, coordinating officers from thirty different countries, she might have never gotten the opportunity for this experience if the United Nations had not specifically requested that a woman be sent to serve in the UNMEE.

“We are fighting for our role in society”, Colonel Mešetović said. Mersida, her given name, was the first female Sector Leader in the history of the UNMEE and one of only fifteen women in the Bosnia and Herzegovina Armed Forces to have served in peace missions abroad to date. “The increase in the female population wearing military and police uniforms is an assurance that we are changing stereotypes. But, I would like to have even more young women involved in the security sector”, she added.

In 2010, Bosnia and Herzegovina became the first country in the Western Balkans to adopt a National Action Plan for implementation of United Nations Security Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) on Women, Peace and Security, aimed at promoting women's political and public participation, particularly in security related, conflict resolution, and peacekeeping roles. The BiH Gender Equality Agency and the OSCE Mission to BiH, in cooperation with other institutions, work to strengthen the presence of women in decision making processes and to support efforts aimed at correcting female underrepresentation, including in defence and security related bodies.

According to a report recently published by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, there are currently 536 women serving within the Armed Forces BiH, which is 5.82% of the total number of service members. When it comes to police in Bosnia and Herzegovina, female police officers make up approximately 6% of the total number of officers. The National Action Plan for Implementation of UNSCR 1325 adopted by the BiH Council of Ministers two years ago sets as a goal that by 2015, 10% of BiH Armed Forces personnel will be women, with efforts aimed at reaching this same percentage in police structures, while at the same time increasing the numbers of women in leadership roles and in decision making bodies.

Nikola Radovanović, the first BiH Minister of Defence, considers that affirmative action policies, such as the introduction of quotas, can serve as transitory mechanisms to quick start this long overdue process of women’s inclusion in the security sector: “Quotas should be implemented temporarily, but not as an excuse for not doing enough. A true environment for these professionals to reach a better representation has to be created”. Colonel Dr. John Andreas Olsen, Deputy Commander of NATO Headquarters Sarajevo, thinks that education is the key: “We are basically talking about changing mindsets. We really need to educate young people, the next generation of decision makers. That is what gender awareness means”, he added.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina city of Vitez recently served as a venue for a conference on Gender and Security Sector Reform. Organized by the BiH Alumni Association of the Marshall European Centre for Security Studies (MCAA) with the support of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, NATO HQ Sarajevo and UNDP, the conference was an opportunity for experts to talk about the role of women in security in Bosnian society, and policies, mechanisms and instruments for their greater inclusion, recognition and empowerment to take up leadership roles.

“In conflicts, women are those who suffer the most and those who can decide the least. In some countries, it is more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier”, stated Deputy Commander Colonel Olsen during his conference presentation, in which he described how, even putting the issue of equality and human rights aside, inclusion of women in security and defence forces is a matter of operational effectiveness. To illustrate, he gave the example of the war in Afghanistan. “In places where women cannot speak to men, 50% of information from the population is missing if only male soldiers are engaged. This means your operations cannot be as effective”, he said. “Besides this, women have a different perspective and different needs about what security means and how it can be established. Ignoring this means ignoring half of the population’s security needs”. He went on to point out that in the types of conflicts that occur today, physical strength and combat skills are less important to the overall operation than having basic knowledge and abilities in communication, international affairs, politics and culture. “So, maybe we do not need a traditional ‘warrior-warrior’ today so much as a ‘warrior-diplomat’. Simply said, a combination of both gender perspectives is required for truly effective security”, he concluded.

At the conference, Colonel Mešetović also stressed that women have some innate abilities: “We have a natural sense for listening to people around us and we are well prepared to communicate with civil society. In a post-conflict country like Bosnia and Herzegovina and others, it is even more important that local needs are understood and met. A female officer can more easily understand and work with domestic violence and rape victims, for example”.

Mersida Mešetović, a role model for all other women striving to build a career in traditionally male dominated fields, currently has a new mission to lead: to change the commonly-held idea that the security is “a man’s job”. “Security is a personal thing. We as women also have the responsibility to protect our children, our family and the whole of society”.