The President of the Republic of Kosovo, Madam Atifete Jahjaga, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the approval of resolution 1325 of the UN, was invited today at the High-Level Symposium on Women’s Political Participation in Peace Processes at Georgetown University in Washington.
In a conversation together with the former US Secretary, Madeleine Albright, and former US Ambassador for Women’s Global Issues, Ambassador Melanne Verveer, President Jahjaga offered the experience of Kosovo for the participation of women in the political life in the country.
Throughout the 1990s women in Kosovo got mobilized to perform humanitarian work, got mobilized politically to protest against repression and to document abuses of human rights which led to the international humanitarian intervention which stopped the war in our country and to translate into evidence for war crimes trials. They took great personal risk and faced with daily problems, but this did not discourage them, said among others Jahjaga.
The President also spoke about the contribution of the Kosovar woman in peace building. “In peace, their role is just as essential. We have increased the participation of women on national and local level. Today women make up 30 percent of the Kosovo Parliament, contributing to a representative and inclusive democracy. Women parliamentarians have crossed party lines and ideologies to form their group and they have a unique opportunity to become a serious force in our parliamentary democracy”, declared President Jahjaga.