Objectives:

1. Participation of women in conflict prevention and peacekeeping

• Strengthen the position of  women in uniformed services by increasing the presence of  women in  command and control structures, including in leadership positions;
• Increase the number of  women heads of  diplomatic missions and, in uniformed services and the number of women serving abroad; 
• Increase the participation of women in terms of numbers and positions/ functions in operations and missions abroad; 

• Support the participation of women in mediations; 
• Implement the WPS agenda as a support element of the SSR by missions and operations abroad; 
• Implement the WPS agenda as a support element of peace processes by missions and operations abroad.

2. Women, Peace and Security agenda in Polish humanitarian and development aid

• Implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals in relation to the WPS agenda;
• Protect and support the victims of  conflict-related sexual and gender‑based violence (SGBV); 
• Prevent such violence.

3. Protection and support of the victims of conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence

• Address the issue of impunity of perpetrators of conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence; 
• Prevent and combat the impunity of peacekeepers and other employees of  the missions and operations abroad who committed acts of  sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA);  
• Train people who are preparing to take part in  peacekeeping missions or operations or who are interested in joining them on the protection and support of the victims of conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence as part of pre-deployment training;
• Support victims of  conflict-related sexual violence who apply for international protection in Poland.

4. Promotion and development of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in Poland and through international cooperation

• Include information on the Women, Peace and Security agenda in reports on compliance with international conventions on human rights and equal treatment; 
• Actively promote and forward the Women, Peace and Security agenda within international organizations; –
• Involve Polish researchers and scientists, students, non-governmental organizations, think-tanks and media in activities aimed at implementing the National Action Plan; 
• Incorporate the subject of Resolution 1325 and subsequent resolutions on the Women, Peace and Security agenda to the training curriculum for persons preparing to join missions and operations abroad and for persons interested in such posts; 
• Foster cooperation in the field of exchange of experiences relating to the implementation of Resolution 1325.

5. Monitoring and evaluation

• Providing information on the results of the implementation of the NationalAction Plan;
• Assessing effectiveness of  the implementation of  the National Action Plan;
• Increasing the effectiveness of implementation of Resolution 1325 and subsequent resolutions on this subject by Polish institutions and nongovernmental organizations;
• Supporting the decision-making process in  the context of  setting outcomes and actions of the next National Action Plan.

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Commentary:

The Polish NAP is heavily focused on Poland’s role as a key NATO country, and therefore goes into some detail about NATO-level implementation of the WPS agenda. The plan itself is thorough and outlines many specific goals under its four main pillars. However, monitoring and evaluation and budget specificity remain low. However, the plan does pay attention to women as members of security forces and the need to support their career advancement into leadership positions.

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Civil Society:

Civil society groups were not heavily consulted in the drafting process of the NAP. However, the introductory sections of the plan highlight progress that has been made domestically in Poland in highlighting the role of women in security forces. These efforts focus on the work of civil society and other non-military institutions like the national museum in recognizing the role of women soldiers. It also looks at international civil society advocacy in the intersection of humanitarian aid and development. 

Peacekeeping Statistics:

Experts on Mission: 0 out of 6

Troops: 16 out of 227

References:

https://www.wpsnaps.org/app/uploads/2019/09/Poland-NAP-2018-2021.pdf

https://www.wpsnaps.org/nap/polish-national-action-plan/