A study by criminal police officer Tanja Skerlj from Ljubljana and Bojana Virjent from the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security reveals that female police officers believe they can excel especially in the fields requiring sensitivity, understanding and support rather than in those requiring force.
Dusan Klobasa from the Peacekeeping Missions Division adds that female police officers are not aware enough of their potential contributions to international missions. He feels that they rarely opt for that kind of work because they are not familiar enough with it and because their decisions are influenced by their families taking into consideration hazards, accommodation conditions, and similar. However, 3 female police officers did an initial training for peacekeeping missions and they were all seconded to the UNMIK mission in Kosovo.
Lack of experience
Unlike Klobasa, Jasna Puhar Gucek, coordinator for equal opportunities with the General Police Directorate, says the reason for low female interest in this work is job requirements; the majority of female police officers are young and have less than 8 years of service. She believes the situation will improve in the years to come. But it is said that the General Police Directorate has no strategy established to promote female participation in peacekeeping missions.
UN adviser for gender equality in UNMIK Tilly Stroosnijder has considerable experience in UN strategies and programmes, and women participation in missions. She says that we are facing a global challenge of gender balance and that it is necessary to raise awareness of women's possibilities to serve in missions. This can be achieved through publishing experience of women that have participated in such missions either on the internet or in other media and through establishing a national and an international database of women with special skills who are interested in serving in international missions. Regarding the sexual harassment issue, Stroosnijder says that it exists in all cultures and that there are efficient methods to combat it. One of them is zero-tolerance strategy in case of harassment.
Mission is a big personal trial
We asked Suzana Zevnik for an interview during her holiday stay in her homeland Slovenia. She is due to finish her service in the UN mission in Kosovo in October. Her assignments involve service dogs and horses. Before heading for Kosovo, she had doubts whether she would be capable of carrying out assignments in Kosovo and whether her private life and the relationship with her partner were strong enough to sustain her one-year absence. Despite a number of discussions and considerations moments come when you are not sure whether your decision was right (the saying "out of sight, out of mind" might prove true), she says. In addition, Suzana wondered what changes she would have to face when she returned and whether she really needed such an experience. Fortunately, she could tell her partner about her fears; he was ready to respect everything they agreed and promised regardless of distance. Occasionally, they have difficulties with responsibilities that Suzana's partner had to assume because of her absence. However, a distance made some things they had not paid particular attention to clearer to them. After six months of serving in the mission, Suzana Zevnik says that her decision to take part in the mission improved the relationship with her partner and their personal growth.
Suzana is not considering her future missions for the time being because one year may sometimes prove to be a very long period and because she has gained enough experience of that kind. Longer absence means longer distance from everyday reality, family and friends. She might decide to participate in another mission in the future, but she needs some time to gather all impressions from the periods before, during and after the mission.
She wants to help women in future missions with her advice. She advises they should have a good command of English at least, good communication and team work skills, as well as problem resolving skills. Suzana also used stress release techniques in order to preserve internal peace and optimism. To summarize her advice, one should be well prepared for the mission and occupy their mind so that moments of doubt pass quickly. In addition, contacts with the family should not be disrupted. It is certain that people change after a mission, they become different and more mature. She added that a mission is a big personal trial requiring good perception, understanding, appropriate responses and a lot of learning and conforming. Unfortunately, despite their expertise, not everyone is capable to understand that, let alone to experience it.
Drafted by Uroš Pras
Published in Nedeljski Dnevnik as of 30. 7. 2006