Croatia is strongly committed to the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda both regionally and globally, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman said on Friday on the margins on an international security conference in Halifax on Friday.

The Croatian minister is taking part in the Halifax security forum which discussed among other things the Women, Peace and Security (“WPS”) agenda, which was formally initiated by the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), adopted on 31 October 2000.

Croatia is aware of a huge burden carried by women during conflicts and also of women’s crucial role in putting an end to wars, and in peace-building and post-conflict management, Grlic-Radman said underscoring Croatia’s strong commitment to the implementation of the above-mentioned agenda both at the local level and globally.

Over the recent years, Croatia has hosted and financed a series of workshops and training courses for police officers from third countries and thus helped in the preparation of more than 50 women from Africa, Asia, South America and Europe for their participation in UN peace missions.

4 in 10 employees in Croatia’s intelligence services are women 

The minister underscored that 40% of the staff employed in Croatia’s intelligence services are women.  Also, women make up 13% of active service-people in the army, and 50% of state officials and staff are women.

Croatia’s female military officers are engaged in peace missions and operations worldwide.

Over 400 Croatian women have participated in those missions since 2003 when the first service-women joined the first Croatian contingent in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.

The Croatian minister is attending the 2021 Halifax Forum, which is being held from 19 to 21 of November with six plenary discussions on COVID-19, climate change, globalisation, China, new security architecture and asymmetric threats.