In October 2009, IANSA women Vanessa Farr and Sarah Masters were invited by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to talk to member states at the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) in Vienna, Austria. Both women spoke at the formal session of the OSCE FSC Security Dialogue and also at a roundtable about the importance of gender in disarmament, in particular SALW control and the links between arms control and UNSCR 1325.
In her presentation Sarah made specific recommendations to the OSCE for its future work and strategies on small arms control. These included:
- Ensure that future agreements on small arms incorporate gendered language and affirm the full and equal participation of women in the small arms process, while recognising that men need special programmes to help them reject armed violence.
- States should take practical steps to ensure that women are fully involved in decision-making and other activities to inform security policies at national, regional and international levels, including changes to national gun laws, disarmament processes and development activities.
- There is an urgent need to fully address the community dimension within the OSCE Document on SALW to underscore and support the importance of local initiatives, many of which are led by women. States should promote local voices and solutions by building on the disarmament and peacebuilding activities of grassroots civil society groups, particularly women’s groups.
- National measures to prevent armed intimate partner and family violence should be integrated into national and regional measures to effectively implement the Document.
To see the presentations go to: www.osce.org/documents/fsc/2009/10/41111_en.pdf and www.osce.org/documents/fsc/2009/10/41112_en.pdf