THE UNITED STATES FORCES CHANGES

There was a Defence Minister’s conference taking place last week for the hemisphere in Peru. All the countries of the hemisphere and the Caribbean sub region were there, and the question was what would the declaration be in the end document? Everything was fine except when the US intervened they wanted this paragraph taken out: “The recognition of the fundamental role and men and women in international peace and security and the importance of women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in defence institutions and decision-making processes, including through the peace and security guided by United Nations Resolution 1325 (2000) and its subsequent resolutions, in accordance within national policies and frameworks”.  Totally innocuous but the U S insisted that it go and the conference capitulated. These are interesting times.