The Women from National Army Establish Their Own AssociationCHISINAU, June 7, 2019 — The National Army Women’s Association (NAWA) has been launched today at the defense institution’s headquarters, in the presence of Minister of Defense Eugen Sturza, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration, Cristina Lesnic, representatives of international organizations, embassies accredited to the Republic of Moldova, and women’s associations from our country. Minister of Defense Eugen Sturza welcomed the creation of the association and mentioned that, in this way, the army women will be able to join their efforts aimed at promoting the principles of equal opportunities, gender equality and equity within the National Army by implementing many projects and activities which are conducted with the support of women’s NGOs and international organizations, such as UN Women, IDC NATO or FPA. “I am firmly convinced that the National Army Women’s Association will become an efficient platform for the dialogue between the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the civil society and will reflect in an objective manner the National Army’s results of reaching our common goal — to ensure gender equality and equity in the defense and security sector,” said Eugen Sturza. Cristina Lesnic, who is also the president of the working group responsible for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security for “The woman is a security provider and her professional potential must be explored on all levels while ensuring peace and security and also in all the positions related to decision-making, as established by the UNSC Resolution 1325,” said Cristina Lesnic. In order to ensure an efficient cooperation, the NAWA and the Ministry of Defense signed a cooperation agreement on June 6. The document provides for ensuring support in implementing the Action plan on the implementation of the Strategy for ensuring equality between men and women in the Republic of Moldova for The National Army Women’s Association has been established on February 28, 2019 and it is a non-governmental extracurricular association that has the goal to offer support to National Army’s military and civilian women in order to address the challenges faced by them. The association will also facilitate the professional development of National Army’s women, will contribute to fighting stereotypes regarding women’s and men’s role in the defense and security sector, to conducting actions aimed at increasing the participation of National Army’s women in all hierarchical levels and in all the sector’s fields, including the decision-making, as well as to supporting the equal participation of women and men in international missions and operations. The NAWA consists of 37 women and men and its president is Col. Mariana Grama, chief of International Cooperation Directorate.
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