In partnership with the Embassy of Chile in the UK.
Chile was the first Latin American country to have a National Action Plan for the delivery of its commitments under the UN Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. WPS is a priority in Chile, a commitment that was reaffirmed in a second National Action Plan. In this event Marcela Vergara will talk about the Chilean approach to implementation of the WPS agenda, and why it is both a national and collective responsibility.
About the speaker
Marcela Vergara was the first Chilean female Officer deployed to the Haitian peacekeeping mission as part of the Chilean forces in the UN Haitian Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) during 2011, where she served as Legal Adviser to all Chilean forces in Haiti and as Deputy CIMIC (Civil and Military Coordination).
Since 2009, her work related to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 has been developed in two main areas: as professor in the Joint Peace Operations Center of Chile, in all pre-deployment training for the Chilean troops as peacekeepers in UNFICYP (Cyprus), MINUSTAH (Haiti) and EUFOR (Bosnia-Herzegovina); and as the representative of the Chilean Navy during the launching of the Second National Action Plan for the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
She also has participated in several multinational exercises: TEAM WORK SOUTH (2017), RIMPAC (2016), PANAMAX (2014-2015) and UNITAS (2015), and planning War Games held in Canada (2014-2015), Argentina (2016) and Peru, opportunity where her main role has been as Legal Adviser, to ensure the correct application of International Law in Armed Conflicts, International Humanitarian Law and the protection against gender violence and sexual abuse.
She currently serves as a professor and at the Chilean Navy War Academy, after she graduated in 2013, as the first woman Officer of the Armed Forces her country, and also as the Legal Fleet Advisor.
Dr Marsha Henry is Deputy Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security and Associate Professor at the Department of Gender Studies.
Event recording
Recording of the event