NPA, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 27: 2021 NATO PA Women for Peace and Security Award

NATO's Parlamentariske Forsamling 2020-21
NPA Alm.del Bilag 27
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THE PRESIDENT

LE PRÉSIDENT

148 CIR 21 E

24 September, 2021

TO SECRETARIES OF MEMBER DELEGATIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION

TO ALL MEMBERS

Re: Selection for the 2021 NATO PA Women for Peace and Security Award

Dear members,

As you know, the Standing Committee decided earlier this year to create a

“Women

for Peace

and Security” Award to honour a woman who has made a particular contribution to the equal

participation of women and men in the field of peace and security, the protection of women in

conflict situations and/or the mainstreaming of women's needs and perspectives into relief and

recovery initiatives in post-conflict countries.

I am pleased to inform you that the Selection Committee, composed of the Bureau members

of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, voted on Friday 17 September to grant the 2021 award

to the

Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

Beside Ms Pelosi, we received five excellent nominations from the Heads of the following

delegations:

-Bulgaria

–

Captain Slavena Zhelyazkova-Genkova, Commander of the Third Mechanized

Infantry Company, Bulgarian Army

-Germany

–

Ms Helga Schmid, Secretary General of the Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

-Greece

–

Lieutenant Commander Vasiliki Sartzetaki, Greek Navy

-Poland

–

Ms Malgorzata Gosiewska, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm

-United Kingdom

–

Ms Nusrat Ghani, Member of the UK House of Commons, member of the

UK delegation to the NATO PA

We are grateful to all the delegations who submitted nominations for their participation and the

quality of the submissions, which we are certain will remain high for the next editions. We are

also grateful to the office of the NATO Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security

for their support.

While the Special Representative’s

position is currently vacant, the office has

been kept informed throughout the process.

INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT

· SECRÉTARIAT INTERNATIONAL

Place du Petit Sablon 3

B-1000 Brussels

+32 2 504 81 55

[email protected]

www.nato-pa.int

NPA, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 27: 2021 NATO PA Women for Peace and Security Award

THE PRESIDENT

LE PRÉSIDENT

Ms Pelosi has been informed and is grateful to the Assembly

–

of which she was a member

for over a decade - for this distinction.

As the nomination letter from the US delegation highlights,

“in

her 33-year career in the House

of Representatives, Speaker Pelosi has broken gender barriers and shattered countless glass

ceilings as the first woman Speaker of the House, the first three-term Speaker in more than 60

years, and currently the second-in-line to the U.S. presidency. As a leader on security and

intelligence matters, she has advocated for the equal participation of women in international

security missions, raised the plight of women in conflict, and fought for the involvement of

women in reconciliation and recovery initiatives around the world.

“As

a former NATO PA delegate, Speaker Pelosi has led efforts to strengthen transatlantic

security through U.S. congressional engagement with and support for NATO, Allied countries,

and the Assembly. Since her re-election as Speaker in 2019, she has led large, bipartisan

congressional delegations abroad, including to the 2019 and 2020 North Atlantic Council and

NATO PA Joint Committee meetings in Brussels. She also facilitated NATO Secretary General

Stoltenberg’s joint address to the U.S. Congress in observance of the 70

anniversary of

NATO, making him the first ever multilateral organization leader to do so and providing him

with a platform to propound on the importance of the NATO Alliance and the unique

transatlantic bond.

“Speaker Pelosi often says “every issue is a women’s issue” as a way to encourage women to

become involved in and lead on matters such as peace and security, which are all too often

dominated by male voices. It is in this spirit she has lifted up the cause of women in conflict,

including elevating female leaders in the wake of the Arab Spring and working to counter

violence against women amid the Syrian civil war. Under her leadership, the U.S. Congress

has advanced sweeping gender equality initiatives both domestically and abroad as she has

urged women

around the globe to “know your power.”

I know Assembly members will welcome this opportunity to recognise

Speaker Pelosi’s

exceptional contribution with this award.

Yours sincerely,