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Meeting Records 2007 NATO Nations National Briefings and Reports Belgium Bulgaria Canada Denmark France Germany Greece Hungary Italy Latvia Lithuania Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Turkey United Kingdom THE 2007 MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN IN THE NATO FORCES (CWINF) was held at the Julius-Leber Barracks, Berlin, Germany, from 11 June to 15 June 07 The Chairperson, Colonel Dr. Matschulat emphasised in her introductory remarks that, the main goal of the meeting was to finalize the ‘’CWINF guidance for NATO gender mainstreaming’’ related to all aspects of NATO Operations. A welcome address was given by Brigadier General NASKRENT, DEUAR stating that the current Armed Forces had faced the requirement of possessing an increasing number of the specialists/experts having the skills necessary to solve today’s conflicts. The participating Delegates of NATO nations and Representatives from PfP- and MD countries gave their national Briefings, with updating information on their national gender policy or legislation, new programs, plans, techniques or initiatives to support the integration of the gender dimension in their National Armed Forces. A Briefing by Mrs. Koppell (.PDF/28 KB) , Director of the Initiative for Inclusive Security and the Washington DC office, of the ‘’Hunt Alternatives Fund’’, presented the necessity of female participation in the negotiation process and at the decision level in conflict areas in order to obtain their contribution to long-term and sustainable peace.  She also presented the advantages of female participation in operations, based on long-term research.  The Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology of ISCTE Mrs. Professor Carreiras (.PDF/49 KB) , a researcher involved in many projects concerning the gender issue gave a briefing which presented the results of her research and explaining that due to the various factors and despite the existence and implementation of gender and diversity policies in many nations, the social integration of female personnel was not always a fact.  She also explained why women were still not highly represented in important positions.  The Chair Elect Lt.Col. Bergmans introduced the ‘’CWINF Guidance for NATO Gender Mainstreaming’’ and decided that the final version of the guidance would be used as a basis of a CWINF publication. On the last t day of the Meeting the previous Chair Elect – Lt. Col. Bergmans took over the duties as the CWINF Chairperson for next 2 years.