First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić met today with a group of policewomen from seven African and Asian countries who are undergoing a two-week training programme in Croatia for the civilian component of UN peacekeeping missions.
The programme is being held from 4-15 May at the Training Centre for International Military Operations at Rakitje, and is co-organised by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence. Attending it are fourteen policewomen from Egypt, India, Myanmar, Sudan, Jordan, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
“We undertook to train these policewomen because we believe that in post-conflict situations women are key because they have been victims of various horrors of war and they are also key to the reconstruction of society because helping them also means helping the children and elderly family members they most frequently care for,” Pusić said.
The programme is part of Croatia’s international development cooperation and its support for the participation of women in peacekeeping missions and operations. The empowerment of women in transition countries and their influence on peace and security are one of Croatia’s foreign policy priorities. Women’s contribution to preventing and resolving armed conflicts, building and preserving peace, as well as their status and role in society are also an indicator of the success of a peacekeeping mission and the society as such.