October 31 marks the 18th year of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The adoption of this Resolution underlined the important role of women in preventing and resolving conflicts, peace negotiations, peace building, peace keeping, humanitarian response and post-conflict reconstruction, and stressed the importance of their equal participation and full inclusion in it all efforts to preserve and promote peace and security. Resolution 1325 encourages increased participation of women and inclusion of gender perspectives in all United Nations efforts on peace and security. It also marked a crucial moment in promoting and protecting women's rights in general, including formally women's roles and responsibilities on the national security agenda, as well as changing the concept of security around the world.

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 urges UN member states to take action on:

- Increasing representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for preventing, managing and resolving conflicts,

- Encourage expanding the role and contribution of women in peacekeeping operations,

- include gender perspectives in national policies on security,

- training of national security and defense units on the rights and special needs of women,

- Understand the importance of women's involvement in the design and implementation of all self-defense and defense policies in all peacekeeping measures and the inclusion of all these issues in national training programs for military and police personnel,

- to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly for rape and other forms of sexual exploitation, increasing the degree of punishment and prosecution of all those responsible for crimes against women,

- consider the special needs of women and girls as well as the potential effects on the civilian population when drafting policies in the areas of peace, security and defense.

In order to accelerate the implementation of UNSCR 1325, in the last 18 years, the UN Security Council has adopted a series of resolutions on a one-off basis for Women, Peace and Security.

1. Resolution 1820 (2008), "Sexual Violence in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations" highlighting the prevention and response to sexual violence in the armed conflict and post-conflict situations.

2. Resolution 1888 (2009), "Protecting Women and Children from Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts", which reinforces Resolution 1820, also appointing a UN Special Representative and a group of experts to promote the prohibition of rape during armed conflicts.

3. Resolution 1889 (2009), "Protecting Women and Girls from Sexual Violence in Post-Conflict Situations", underlining the importance of an inclusive set of measurable indicators, financial resources, monitoring and reporting on the implementation of Resolution 1325.

4. Resolution 1960 (2010) on Women, Peace and Security by providing a responsible system for the prohibition of sexual violence in conflict by establishing a system for strategic, coordinated and timely collection of data on sexual assault in conflict situations, as well as that UN member states adopt concrete commitments in this regard.

5. Resolution 2106 (2013) on Women, Peace and Security further defines the requirements for engagement for all United Nations and member states.

6. Resolution 2122 (2013) on Women, Peace and Security explicitly requires the establishment of women's technical capacities for peacekeeping missions and mediation teams to inform them about such situations and state commitments for women's involvement towards the right in peace talks and dealing with the issue of sexual abuse and reproductive health.

7. Resolution 2242 (2015) on Women, Peace and Security addresses security issues in a wider context, including environmental issues, health pandemics, massive displacement, violent extremism and recalls the need to involve women in high leadership positions , to strengthen their security capacity, and to have inadequate financial support for women's organizations.

8. Resolution 2331 (2016) on Women, Peace and Security, recalling earlier engagements on the GPS agenda, emphasizes trafficking in human beings and breeds insecurity.

International mechanisms, including the UN, NATO, OSCE and the EU, have the important role that women play in resolving conflicts and have reflected it in a number of official documents and have supported and promoted the principles of UNSC Resolution 1325 and relevant resolutions. Thus, in 2008, the Council of the European Union adopted the "EU Inclusive Approach to Resolutions 1325 and 1820 on Women, Peace and Security" covering the entire spectrum of EU external action instruments throughout the ongoing conflict, preventing conflict in crisis management, peacebuilding, reconstruction and development cooperation, and in 2010 adopted a set of 17 indicators to measure EU achievements in the Women's Agenda, Peace Peace.

Albania, as a member of NATO and the OSCE, has taken steps to meet the commitments related to the Women's Agenda, Peace Peace. While Albania considers EU integration as one of the most important processes, EU positions and commitments represent an important reference for the country. As part of such commitments, in 2017, the Republic of Albania became part of the Mediterranean Network of Women Mediators. Finally, the country joined the countries that have developed and adopted a National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Resolution.

In order to discuss the developments in the country regarding the adoption and implementation of Resolution Action Plan 1325 today, in the framework of the 18th anniversary of UNSC Resolution 1325, the "Achievements within the Agenda" of Women, Peace , Safety in Albania ". The conference was organized by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, UNWomen in Albania, in partnership with UN Women and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Women, Peace and Security Association (former Association of Women with Social Problems) initiator of the creation of the Coalition for Resolution1325.

The conference was attended by representatives of the governmental institutions involved in the implementation, monitoring and reporting of the Action Plan for the implementation of the Resolution, diplomatic representatives accredited to Albania, international organizations, parliamentarians, members of the Coalition for Resolution 1325 and academy, media and youth.

The conference highlighted the importance of this Resolution for the involvement of the whole society in the decision-making processes in the country, as well as the need to prioritize the steps in the implementation of the adopted Action Plan.