Disarmament in Review
The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) continued in its efforts to raise the visibility of women in technical ammunition management roles and to strengthen their participation in through-life conventional ammunition management with the organization of the second UN SaferGuard Training for Women Ammunition Technical Experts, which was held from 1 to 12 July in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
Organized in collaboration with the Austrian Ministry of Defence and the Ammunition Management Advisory Team (AMAT), and with the substantive support from Golden West Humanitarian Foundation and Small Arms Survey, the UN SaferGuard training provided an opportunity for women ammunition experts to expand their understanding of the International Ammunition Technical Guidelines (IATG), strengthen their knowledge of ammunition stockpile management and of the issue of gender and gender equality in this field. The training also served as a means of raising the awareness concerning the Global Framework for Through-life Conventional Ammunition Management, the UN SaferGuard Programme and IATG-implementation support tools and resources available.
Participants explored various technical ammunition management topics, including key safety and security considerations, surveillance and accounting, quantity distances and licensing, risk management principles and in-service proof. The training course included a series of practical exercises to foster learning and information sharing, including conducting an assessment of an ammunition storage site and explosive store house which enabled trainees put into practice the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the training.
The trainees examined how to integrate gender perspectives into ammunition management and considered the gendered impacts of ammunition diversion. They also discussed how to overcome the barriers to women’s full, equal, meaningful and effective participation in ammunition management. One of the mechanisms to support this goal is the expansion and consolidation of the Women Managing Ammunition Network (WoMA-Network). Through their engagement and participation, the 14 participants from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada, Cuba, Cyprus, Greece, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Moldova, Morocco, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda, will contribute to the worldwide growth of this network which seeks to promote gender equality and diversity in the field of ammunition management.
The importance of strengthening women’s meaningful participation in ammunition management was highlighted by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen of the Republic of Austria when he welcomed the women ammunition technical experts at the Hofburg palace. This visit demonstrated Austria’s commitment to the implementation of this multi-year training programme to support women ammunition technical experts.
Through this training programme, UNODA endeavors to continue deliver on its goals to disseminate the IATG for the enhanced safety and security of ammunition stockpiles and to strengthen gender mainstreaming and women’s participation in ammunition management in accordance with Objective 14 of the Global Framework for Through-life Conventional Ammunition Management.
To learn more about this training, listen to the testimonies of women ammunition technical experts and the organizers of the training.
