NEW YORK, NY (TIP): Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations (UN), New York, in collaboration with Permanent Missions of Germany and Switzerland co-organized a high-level event titled Breaking Barriers: Visualizing Equal Opportunities for Women in Defense in New York on 25 October 2024. President of the Swiss Confederation, Her Excellency Viola Amherd, delivered the keynote address at the event. Minister of National Defense of Liberia and senior military officials from India, Germany and Nigeria took part in the panel discussion at the event. The initiative was part of the ongoing Women, Peace and Security Week in the UN.

The event marked the release of the seminal UN global report on Equal Opportunity for Women in the Defense Sector, an initiative of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

In his introductory remarks, Permanent Representative of India, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish highlighted the need for building inclusive security sectors, with equal representation of women. He also emphasized that patience and perseverance were key elements in our efforts to achieve this goal and that local social imperatives need to be factored in while reforming security sector institutions. Further, he underlined India’s active participation in the initial survey that fed into the seminal UN Global report.

The panelists shared their experiences, strategies, and perspectives on advancing gender equality in the defense sector, including in the areas of recruitment, promotion, and retention during the panel discussion. Lt. Gen Sadhna Saxena Nair (Indian Army), highlighted various measures taken by Indian Armed Forces in this regard. As one of the senior most uniformed personnel in India, Lt. Gen Nair exemplifies the strides India has made in the area.