Last month, the Foreign Affairs Council adopted Conclusions on Strengthening Civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), in which Foreign Ministers once again highlighted the importance of mainstreaming human rights and gender into all missions’ activities in order to improve their effectiveness.

One of the key elements in translating this policy commitment into practice is the deployment of Gender and Human Rights Advisers in CSDP missions. Their goal is to ensure that gender and human rights are integrated consistently across all missions and operations, which requires constant exchanges with EU colleagues and external partners, including civil society. This can be challenging in certain contexts, especially given the limited resources available and the many requests to which Gender and Human Rights Advisers need to respond.

In this brown bag lunch discussion, Sanna Kaskeala, Human Rights and Gender Adviser at the European Union Integrated Border Assistance Mission in Libya (EUBAM Libya), as well as Emma Hickey, Human Rights Adviser, and Irina D’Almeida, Gender Adviser, both working at the EU Co-ordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support (EUPOL COPPS), will share their practical experiences and discuss ways of improving the functioning and impact of EU CSDP missions from a gender and human rights perspective.

Participants are welcome to bring their own lunch and EPLO will provide tea and coffee.

Please note that places are limited and registration is mandatory. Please contact Colin Cogitore by Wednesday 20 June if you would like to participate.