The Republic of Srpska

Republic of Srpska Minister of Interior, Mr Dragan Lukač, and H.E. Edward Ferguson, Ambassador of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to BiH opened today in Banja Luka a Conference entitled ”Role of women in the security sector – challenges and progress”.Minister Lukač said that the RS Ministry of Interior currently employs 1,500 women, and that they are trying to increase this number in accordance with the global trends and the real needs. Minister Lukač pointed out that the female employees of the Ministry perform their tasks and assignments with great dedication and excellent performance. Their dedication and efforts contribute to the overall success.The British Ambassador emphasized the importance of participation of women in the security sector and said that this Conference represent a step forward in solving the problem of their participation in the security structures, an issue present worldwide. Ferguson expressed his opinion that women have different perception of problems they are facing with than men, especially in cases of violence against women, and reiterated that this is one of the key reasons why they must participate in solving these issues.Mrs Maja Gačić, a member of the Police Station Teslić, said that the role of women in the security sector is truly important, since the number of female perpetrators of criminal offences is increasing. She explained that she acquired experience in all work positions during her 14-year-long career within the RS MoI. She currently performs tasks related to prevention of drug abuse and added that she participated in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan where she often faced discrimination, as opposed to Republic of Srpska where she never faced discrimination.The Conference objective was to point out the challenges female members of security agencies are facing with, as well as progress in this segment.   Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE