Brankica Janković, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality held a set of lectures at a seminar on cooperation between the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in the area of discrimination, with a special focus on the mandate of the Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Internal Affairs as well as the Parliamentary Committee for Security Services Civil Control, organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

Wishing a warm welcome to the Members of the Parliament, the Commissioner stressed the importance of a continuous cooperation between the institution of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality and the National Assembly, bearing in mind a key role Commissioner plays, as a central independent national institution tasked with promoting and controlling the implementation of equality principle in all spheres of social life.  Speaking about the role and work of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality in implementing gender equality policies in security sector institutions, the Commissioner presented real life examples, cases and activities pertaining to the implementation of the new Women, Peace, Security 1325 UN Resolution 2016 – 2020 National Implementation Action Plan.

“There is a need to continue and intensify the inclusion of women in the security system, from the national to the local level, but also to include gender equality and anti-discrimination topics in the security concept. Gender equality is one of the most important pre-conditions for the development of a society as a whole, in particular at the level of local communities, where women still are insufficiently included in the security system,” said Commissioner Janković.

Other speakers included Marija Obradović, Chairwoman of the Committee for Defense and Internal Affairs, Igor Bečić, Chairman of the Committee for Security Services Civil Control, Meho Omerović, Chairman of the Committee for Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality and Jan Luneberg, Head of Democratization Department of the OSCE Mission to Serbia. Seminar participants included Members of the National Assembly, members of different Parliamentary Committees and representatives of the civil sector.