Editorial - European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina

online presentation of the Spanish Gendarmerie is currently
being re-designed and it will finally be translated into English,
which was one of our objections.
The Spanish have also separated the sections for questions
from media and from the public, and formed the Bureau for
Citizens where citizens can deliver any queries. They say that
this change was well-received and register a steady increase in
the number of inquiries.
The editorial staff for the monthly magazine obviously does
a good job because it functions based on subscription. The
publication reports about all major events in the Gendarmerie,
and the quality of its design can be compared to any worldknown
magazine.
And, last but not least, the Protocol Service is in charge of
all official events, from laying cornerstones, to promotions, to
funerals of Gendarmerie officers. The protocol team is obliged
to take care of all the details to ensure the event goes impeccably
– from thinking about acoustics to making sure that the
media have the best corner from where they would be able to
record everything.
All in all, our visit to Madrid gave us an insight into what
full-fledged police PR should be. Analysing the visit and comparing
our work, I can only wish that one day we have such a
well-developed system and service. And at least 10 percent of
the budget they have for public relations. �
Mirna Šoja
Spokesperson to Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior
The Training
Within the “Stronger, Faster, Better” campaign, Republika Srpska
Ministry of Interior organised on March 23 a visit for the high school
students to the Support Unit, presenting attack and defence skills, helicopter
rescue, chase and arrest techniques, as well as the equipment
used in these and other types of Unit’s operations.
“The students showed great interest in becoming part of the Support
Unit, so they asked for information on general conditions for the application,”
said Unit Commander, Predrag Krajnović. “We explained that a
successful candidate needs to be between 18 and 23 years old, have a
high school degree and a driver’s license. We also informed them about
a demanding physical test that is part of the application process and
that only 14 of 184 candidates passed last year.”
High school professor, Milenko Svjetlanović, said that he is very
happy with the visit to the police unit as this is the time for decisions on
future professional orientation for the students. �
European Union Police Mission | www.eupmbih.eu
Commentary
Aleksandra Mileti}-[anti}
EUPM Gender and Human Rights Adviser
UN Women first Executive Director Michelle Bachelet discussed on
24—25 March 2011 with the European Parliament about the strengthening
of the partnership between the European Union and UN Women. UN
Women stands for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women created in July 2010 by the United Nations
General Assembly by merger of four parts of the UN system working on
gender equality and women's empowerment.
While she used this opportunity to “thank the European Union for its support
to the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325” and in particular,
to “commend the initiatives of the European Parliament in 2010 to
commemorate the 10th anniversary of the resolution, including the call for
strengthened efforts in the European Union to implement this and the subsequent
resolutions of the Security Council on women, peace and security”,
she stressed that the ambitious goals by UN Women and EU could be only
reached through partnering between the two organisations. To this end, Ms.
Bachelet welcomed the decision to establish a medium-term joint cooperation
strategy between the EU and UN Women 1 .
Throughout the years, the cooperation with the United Nations
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) as a predecessor in Bosnia and
Herzegovina to the UN Women Project Office in Sarajevo has stood highly
on the EUPM's agenda. Apart from having a joint project, both organisations
realised that without cooperation and partnership between the national
authorities, CSOs and international community, not much can be accomplished
to improve the state of gender equality. A joint action is the only way
to avoid overlapping of the activities and ensure that the activities of all
stakeholders are mutually complementary and sustainable. It is also the
only way to focus the donor's attention to the relevant issues.
At the beginning of this year the UN Women instigated a joint meeting of
relevant international organisations providing support to the local counterparts
on issues of gender and security and gender based violence in BiH to
ensure coordination and cooperation. The main purpose of this special
meeting between UN Women, United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), OSCE and EUPM was to
share information about planned and ongoing projects and discuss about
potential cooperation in the complementary projects through establishment
of partnerships or joint projects. The EUPM presented its planned activities
re the gender awareness training for the educators at the police educational
institutions and entity level centres for education of judges and prosecutors.
The participants saw this activity as a quality basis for their planned
activities in terms of training of the target group on gender and GBV. In
terms of integrating gender in the curricula of the police academies/training
centre, the proposal of the UN Women of signing the MoU between different
organisations was discussed receiving a positive feedback from all participants
of the meeting.
On 22-23 March, similarly conceptualised information sharing forum,
however at a broader level this time, including also the government institutions
concerned, CSOs and the other international organisations, as well as
the embassies, was organised in Sarajevo by NATO HQ in Sarajevo, BiH
Gender Equality Agency and UN Women. At this forum, all the participants
were given the opportunity to speak about the past, ongoing and planned
activities of their organisations. A two-day initiative ended with a common
recognition of a need for continuous cooperation, coordination and mutual
exchange of experiences and knowledge on gender and security. Periodical
joint meetings have been identified as the most convenient mechanism to
accomplish these goals and ensure the complementarities of the activities
coordinated by different agencies to avoid overlapping and focus the
donor's aid. �
1 http://www.unwomen.org/2011/03/executive-director-michelle-bachelet-addresses-european-parliament/
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