The Parliament of Montenegro, in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, organised the XVII Cetinje Parliamentary Forum titled “Human Rights and Gender Equality in the Security and Defence Sector”.

The forum was opened by the President of the Parliament of Montenegro and the President Emeritus of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Mr Ranko Krivokapić, the Chairperman of the Security and Defence Committee, Mr Mevludin Nuhodžić, Ambassador of the United States of America Ms Margaret Uyehara and Director of the OSCE Secretary General Office Ambassador Marcel Pesko.

In his opening speech, Mr. Krivokapić said that the Cetinje Parliamentary Forum, bringing together for ten years representatives of this region, was a place for a successful exchange of experiences that contributed to the development of democratic institutions, as well as the reform processes of countries in the region. He pointed out that declarations on human rights and gender equality that our countries have jointly adopted, have been enabling normative assumption for the improvement of the security system. He also expressed special gratitude to the OSCE Mission for years of attention and support provided to Montenegro, together with DCAF, UN and other international organizations, appreciating the fact that Montenegro should properly justify the attention.

Chairman of the Security and Defence Committee, Mr Mevludin Nuhodžić, pointed out that human rights and gender equality in the field of security and defense stand high on our priorities list on the European and Euro-Atlantic path, additionally binding us to make every effort to achieving greater results in this area and establishing standards of modern and developed countries, which we wish to join and share common values with.

In his welcome speech, the Director of the OSCE Secretary General Office, Ambassador Marcel Pesko, stressed the importance of the Cetinje Parliamentary Forum as a unique initiative for strengthening regional cooperation, expressing satisfaction that the OSCE was one of the organizers of the meeting. Human rights and gender equality are key aspects on the normative and operational level of the reform processes in all areas of security and defense sector, Mr Pesko concluded.

Ambassador of the United States of America, Ms Margaret Uyehara, in her speech stressed that the support of women's rights was essential for the development of a democratic society. She indicated that the United States have been very committed to its cooperation with Montenegro in terms of gender equality, stating that the percentage of women in the Military of Montenegro was about 8%, and that even highly developed countries had lower percentage, comparing it to the US where it was about 15 percent.