Box 13.1 (cont.) 33. The issue of the participation of women in the military takes on a particular meaning in peace-keeping, the main purpose of which is to avoid or to defuse conflict in order to permit a peaceful solution. The absence of women among military personnel in United Nations peace-keeping forces reflects the absence of women in the military of those countries which provide troops to the peace-keeping operations. Women, however, have been active participants of those operations at the civilian level. In December 1992, two of the United Nations peacekeeping operations (Angola and South Africa) were headed by women from the United Nations Secretariat, and a relatively high percentage of civilian monitors, administrators and other personnel seconded from the Professional category were women. 34. As peace-keeping increases in importance, the question will need to be raised whether the exclusion of women from many peace-keeping tasks is acceptable. Given the fact that peace-keeping differs in many ways from the traditional military and involves characteristics related to conflict resolution, an increased presence of women could make some difference. The principle of non-discrimination against women in employment matters has been affirmed by several other international instruments, including Recommendation 1700 (2005) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on discrimination against women in the workforce and the workplace230 and the European Council Directive on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions.231 Some instruments refer to the military sector in particular: examples are the motion for a resolution on women in the armed forces presented at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2005232 and Council of Europe Recommendation 1742 (2006) on human rights of members of the armed forces.233 In the latter Recommendation, the Assembly recommends that the Council of Europe: pay greater attention to the issue of the status of women in the armed forces. A great many female soldiers are subjected to sexual harassment. The issues of access to military duties and to specific posts in the armed forces, career structures and equal rights are all relevant to discrimination against women, a matter requiring in-depth consideration in itself. The OSCE has affirmed on several occasions its commitment to end any kind of discrimination on the basis of gender and has also promoted initiatives to foster equality in OSCE participating States, such as the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality. ODIHR, in particular, assists OSCE participating States in complying with international instruments for the promotion of gender equality and women’s rights, and in reviewing legislation to ensure appropriate legal guarantees for the promotion of gender equality in accordance with OSCE and other commitments (see Box 13.2). ODIHR recently established a new programme on women and security that places the thematic area of women’s human rights in the context of the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security. Its objectives are to promote women’s rights and consideration of a gender perspective in relation to 230  Available at <http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/documents/adoptedtext/ta05/erec1700.htm>. 231  Council Directive 76/207/EEC of 9 February 1976 on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions, available at <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31976L0207:EN:HT ML>. 232  “Women in the armed forces”, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Doc. 10609, 21 June 2005, Strasbourg, available at <http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/documents/workingdocs/doc05/ edoc10609.htm>. 233  Available at <http://www.assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta06/EREC1742. htm>. 116 Handbook on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Armed Forces Personnel