The Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the UN, Ambassador Mirsada Colakovic addressed the participants of the panel “Voices of Women from the UN Security Council on Peace and Security”
A panel titled “Voices of Women from the UN Security Council on Peace and Security” organized by the Women’s Foreign Policy Group and the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations, was held on March 31, 2015 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
In her address to the panel session Ambassador Čolaković spoke about Bosnia and Herzegovina’s experience during its membership in the Security Council as well as its Security Council chairmanship in January 2011. She emphasized Bosnia and Herzegovina’s priorities in regards of protection of civilians, especially children and women in conflict, as well as the status of refugees and displaced persons. Speaking of gender equality, Ambassador Čolaković emphasized that there are positive laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina which concern this matter. She also pointed out that within the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as Missions of BiH there is an equal distribution of both genders, including higher standing positions.
The Permanent Representative of Qatar, Ambassador Sheikh Alya Bint Ahmed Bin Said Al Thani opened the panel and the panelists were Permanent Representatives to the United Nations, ambassadors of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jordan, Lithuania, Argentina and Luxembourg, who are ambassadors of countries that are currently members or were in recent past members of the UN Security Council. During their presentations, they spoke about women’s voices and leadership in international affairs and diplomacy, their involvement in negotiations about peace and development, in hopes to display the experiences of female diplomats that currently take part or have taken part in the work with the UN Security Council. Additionally, the issues of getting over differences between diplomats have been discussed, considering that women play an equal role in making decisions about the most important topics of the Security Council.