I've long admired Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric.
Jack would be out in his regional operations as often as he could, passing on the latest from head office and listening to the stories from each place and business. From 1981 when he became CEO to 2001 when he left the job he must have listened to thousands of divisional managers make their presentations, and he got pretty good at summing those manager-types up on the spot.
I remember smiling as Jack described a bloke running a division about 500 miles from head office. Trying to curry favour with Jack, the bloke brings out his up to date bio and list of achievements for the past year. Jack described him something like this, "The guy was on every Board imaginable, he was involved in government committees and who knows how many community organisations. He's got his year mapped out with what conferences he's speaking at, he even had an agent lining up speeches on the speaking circuit. Running the GE business seemed like a distraction from the main game for him - and so we agreed then and there that he'd be better off playing to his strengths without his day job holding him back".
In Australia at present people like that are everywhere. The problem is not so much that they exist, it's that no boss up the line pulls them into line. David Morrison is a perfect example of that archetype.
Here's a list of speeches delivered by the Chief of Army going back to 2012, taken from the Defence website.
Morrison's successor Angus Campbell (disclosure here, Angus is my mum's cousin) has been in the job 12 months and he's done 2 speeches, both to ADF conferences. One glance at that list and it's pretty clear where Morrison's head was at. It's pretty difficult to see how Australia's defences have been improved as a result.
Blokes who pick up the garbage for the council seem to get along all right without the need to lecture the world on their collateral brilliance. They're like most of us, they do their job. That's where Morrison was so clearly out of touch - the fact that he'd let a pressing matter like Williams slide while constantly making space for diversity speeches.
In his defence you have to look at the people who appointed him, the Gillard Cabinet, in particular Gillard herself and the wretched Stephen Smith who seemed hell bent on destroying our military's ethos and traditions. Morrison was like them and of their culture. Like them, he was at home spouting platitudes and stolen pithy lines about stuff that plenty of other people were already looking after like diversity etc.
But there was only one Chief of Army. And the buck stops with him.
By April 2014 Morrison was at the end of his office-job army career. He seemed to me to be socialised in the Rudd/Gillard Labor cabinet way of managing - i.e. large PR departments, glossy brochures, platitudes, regular media conferences, popping up at global functions etc etc etc.
So when media reports about a dubious character who'd managed to get a job working with children in the Army cadets after being booting from the Air Force lot started to hit his desk, it's no surprise that Morrison reacted the way he did.
Focus on the PR, hammer the message, deal with a few reliable media types and the details would look after themselves. That's the charitable view.
You get some insight into the bloke by looking at where his attentions seemed to be focussed at the time.
April, 2014, from the Fin Review.
Army chief David Morrison to stay in top job
Army Chief Lieutenant General David Morrison will have his tenure extended for at least a year to complete a restructure of the Army. Photo: Louie Douvis
Army chief Lieutenant-General David Morrison will have his tenure extended for at least a year to complete a restructure of the army and see a multibillion armoured vehicle project through its initial stages.
The fate of Lieutenant-General Morrison was one of the few positions in doubt as Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Defence Minister David Johnston considered a new defence leadership line-up to be announced on Friday.
The army chief is considered to have led the force at a time of high operational tempo, started army reform post-Afghanistan and crusaded to raise behaviour standards and clamp down on bullying, sexual misconduct and discrimination.
Here's Bernard Gaynor writing on his website about Morrison at the time:
(I thought) Anzac Day was all about remembering the sacrifices of Australian and New Zealand war veterans, especially those who gave everything they had for our respective countries. It also provided a day for a grateful nation to pause and pay tribute to those men and women who currently serve in dangerous corners of the globe to protect our freedoms.
But, apparently, that is not the case anymore.
At least, that’s the impression you’d get if you skipped the local Dawn Service and just tuned into what the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison, had to say about this most important event in the national calendar.
Morrison has spent the better part of the last week lambasting what he calls the myth of Anzac Day.
According to him, the national pride shown on Anzac Day is a primary reason homosexuals are not joining up. And then, on Anzac Day morn, he gave a speech that declared white Aussie Diggers have a lesser love for this nation than Aboriginals. Furthermore, Morrison went on to infer that Anzac Day was hurtful to the Indigenous community.
Morrison might like talking up the myth of Anzac Day, but the truth is that he’s just peddling a few porkies of his own.
Using Anzac Day to push the homosexual political agenda and to promote the lie of ‘Invasion Day’ is about as insulting as it gets. But there is one thing that rubs salt into the wounds more. And that is completely failing to mention those who currently serve on operations.
This issues with Bernard Gaynor and Morrison's speech writer and sex-change woman Cate McGregor were a key focus during May - http://morningmail.org/army-values-gaynor/
Then came Morrison's crowning glory, his moment in the global sun. I'll let Julie Bishop tell the story:
Morrison's performance at this summit was disgraceful. He betrayed his own people and spoke in scurrilous terms about the "brutes" in our Army.
I was sickened researching what he did and said. I am ashamed of what we have become. This is not a Morrison-bashing exercise, the little guy is human and he was getting increasingly positive feedback as his ideas became more and more unhinged. Morrison should have been nipped in the bud by the CDF or his Minister - but they were too busy agreeing with him. Everyone was clapping, particularly the ABC!
How was Australia improved by the Chief of our Army spending a week in London to talk about a problem we don't have?
I tried to find the last time an Australian soldier was reported for raping a woman in a war zone while deployed on active service. I couldn't find a reference anywhere.
I think it's reasonably safe to say that Australia does not have a cultural problem with our soldiers going to war to indulge in some sexual violence on the side. In fact if you recall the 2010 decision of the Director of Military Prosecutions, Brigadier Lyn McDade to charge Australian commandos over the deaths of civilians when the Taliban brought the war to them it's clear we are at the opposite end of the spectrum.
But Morrison didn't get up and say "Australia has a unique insight into the scourge of sexual violence in conflict. We are nearing the end of our longest ever operational deployment in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the Muslim world. Our fighting men and women have seen first hand the shocking way these barbarians treat women. One of the great frustrations for our soldiers is their rules of engagement which do not allow them to shoot the perpetrator dead on the spot. So we face the horrifying prospect of our soldiers watching horrible violence dished out to women and they are unable to properly respond to it. We need to get serious about untying that hand that's fastened behind our backs".
Nope. It's the fault of Anglo Saxon men. The people who make up the bulk of the Army he was said to have led.
The Human Rights Commission reported Morrison's speech here:
Chief of the Australian Army Lieutenant General David Morrison AO has made a powerful speech about the need for the military to be more inclusive of women.
General Morrison is perhaps best known for his three minute clip on YouTube where he told his soldiers to leave the military if they don’t accept that women should be respected and treated as equals.
Addressing delegates from more than 100 countries at the Global Summit to end Sexual Violence in Conflict, General Morrison said military culture needs to change.
“I can state without hesitation that an end to sexual violence in conflict will not be achieved without fundamental reforms to how all armies recruit, retain and employ women; and how they realise the improved military capability that is accrued through more effective gender and ethnic diversity.”
General Morrison said that all soldiers must take responsibility for being protectors rather than perpetrators.
“There are no bystanders – the standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”
He went on to outline two initiatives that he says have a dramatic impact.
“First, make all areas of military service open to women. It wipes away the barriers to achieving potential and sends a clarion call to all who serve that talent will prevail, not gender. ”
His second point alluded to the ADF’s ongoing work with the Human Rights Commission.
“Secondly, appoint an independent statutory authority to review the treatment of women, and of men and women from ethnic minorities who comprise the force.”
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick and her team have been working closing with the General Morrison and the ADF for the last three years to improve the treatment of women in the military.
Lieutenant General Morrison’s comments came shortly after confirmation that the ADF and the Commission will continue to work together on issues around women in the military for the next four years.
The ADF posted a transcript of David's platitudes and insults here. Even though we're at war with institutionalised rape-merchants the Islamists (and have been since 9/11) - not so much as an oblique reference to the religion of peace.
Morrison's speech opens with this:
"To all victims of sexual violence I offer my compassion and my respect for your courage and your dignity."
Well David, I've spoken to the families of two of the young girls who were victims of Christopher Gordon Williams. While you were telling Anglina Jolie and the in-crowd about your compassion and your respect for the courage and dignity of all victims of sexual violence, two months had ticked by without much action by you on fixing the problems that delivered Williams to those kids. You said you'd take personal responsibility to make sure the allegations of his offending were properly inquired into. It's now 2 years later and we still have nothing as a result of you taking personal responsibility.
Remember Jack Welch and the show-pony? Morrison is a classic example of why we need feet on the ground leaders like Jack Welch to remind us all about the main game.
But there was no restraint on Morrison, no handbrake and no limits to the demoralising effect he was allowed to have on the people he was paid to lead. He told Angelina Jolie and the in crowd this:
But armies that revel in their separateness from civil society, that value the male over the female, that use their imposed values to exclude those who don’t fit the particular traits of the dominant group, who celebrate the violence that is integral to my profession rather than seeking ways to contain it - they do nothing to distinguish the soldier from the brute.
In that paragraph he's pretty much describing every Special Forces soldier or sailor I know. Elite, separate, male-only for that job, highly values oriented, exclusive, torturous selection process, superbly controlled aggression, celebrates his ability to visit immense violence on our enemies. The special forces people I know are cultured, sophisticated, well read and very smart people. They laugh at half-wits big-noting by calling them names like "brutes'.
It's dangerous to make an inadequate limelight seeking half-wit the boss of blokes like that. Or to burden him with practical, normal, non-spotlight attracting work - like making sure that children in the care of Army Cadets are protected from sex offenders.
But General Morrison added a crucial, previously missing, element to the dialogue. It was not just that he made clear his zero tolerance approach to wartime sexual violence, his commitment to forging an inclusive military culture and his disgust at the squandering of women’s talent the world over. It was also that he embodied the military doctrine of command responsibility – he was a living, breathing example of the promise enshrined in the Geneva Conventions so many years before.
Command responsibility is a simple legal concept. Military commanders are humanity’s last line of defence against war crimes – society’s final hope for imposing order in the chaos of conflict. Commanders have a responsibility to create a climate of respect for the laws regulating armed conflict and a legal obligation to take meaningful action if they are put on notice that their subordinates have breached or might breach those laws.
Yet, so often in our discussions of preventing wartime sexual violence – indeed all atrocities – we gloss over the crucial role that commanders should play. So often, we see command responsibility simply as a legal doctrine that we can, perhaps, use to hold commanders accountable after the conflict for dereliction of their duty. We need new strategies for breathing more life into this duty as a conflict unfolds. We need to insist on command responsibility in real time.
I can't see a single benefit for Australia flowing from Morrison spending 4 days on this Fringe event, while it seems no one was doing much at all to look after the cadet children back home.
Forces for good? Changing military culture: Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict-Fringe event on military culture
12 Jun 2014
London
DCAF in collaboration with the OSCE hosted an important fringe event at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict that took place in London from June 10-13 June on the topic of military culture and responses to sexual violence.
The End Sexual Violence in Conflict Summit is the largest meeting ever held on this issue. Governments, civil society, the media, military, judiciary and the public attended.
The fringe event which gathered 150 people with a diversity of experience in the subject was opened by H.E. Dominik Furgler, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Kingdom,andAnja Ebnöther, Assistant Director, DCAF followed by key note speaker Lieutenant General David Morrison, Chief of Army, Australia.
The event chaired by Ambassador Miroslava Beham, OSCE Senior Gender Adviser, hosted an expert panel of senior military staff and subject matter experts including: Dr Susan Atkins, UK Service Complaints Commissioner; Commander Jan Dunmurray, Head of the Centre for Gender in Military Operations; Lieutenant-Colonel Kathie Knell, Deputy Chair of the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives; Major Lena Kvarving, former leader of the Gender Project- Norwegian Defense University College; and Ms Megan Bastick, Gender and Security Fellow- DCAF to discuss issues such as:
Is it important to have more women in militaries for sexual violence prevention and response, or can this expertise be developed equally in men and women?
What are the challenges in increasing the proportion of women in the military, who can potentially be deployed in missions concerned with sexual violence ad how are they being addressed?
How can internal oversight be strengthened, both as regards treatment of male and female personnel, and operational responses to sexual violence (accountability and oversight)?
What are good practices in military responses to sexual violence in conflict?
Key Note Speaker Lieutenant General David Morrison, Chief of Army, Australian Army and Dr Susan Atkins, UK Service Complaints Commissioner.
Dr Susan Atkins, UK Service Complaints Commissioner; Lieutenant General David Morrison, Chief of Army, Australian Army; Ambassador Miroslava Beham, OSCE Senior Gender Adviser; Major Lena Kvarving, former leader of the Gender Project Norwegian Defense University College; Commander Jan Dunmurray, Head of the Centre for Gender in Military Operations; Ms Megan Bastick, Gender and Security Fellow, DCAF and Lieutenant-Colonel Kathie Knell, Deputy Chair of the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives.
PS - Just a reminder, we are the good guys. This is the enemy.
First Class return to London - $20,000
Spending a week discussing sexual violence against women in war - without mentioning Islam? Priceless
Comments
What was David Morrison doing around April 2014 that might have taken his attention away from his Paedophile enquiry?
I've long admired Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric.
Jack would be out in his regional operations as often as he could, passing on the latest from head office and listening to the stories from each place and business. From 1981 when he became CEO to 2001 when he left the job he must have listened to thousands of divisional managers make their presentations, and he got pretty good at summing those manager-types up on the spot.
I remember smiling as Jack described a bloke running a division about 500 miles from head office. Trying to curry favour with Jack, the bloke brings out his up to date bio and list of achievements for the past year. Jack described him something like this, "The guy was on every Board imaginable, he was involved in government committees and who knows how many community organisations. He's got his year mapped out with what conferences he's speaking at, he even had an agent lining up speeches on the speaking circuit. Running the GE business seemed like a distraction from the main game for him - and so we agreed then and there that he'd be better off playing to his strengths without his day job holding him back".
In Australia at present people like that are everywhere. The problem is not so much that they exist, it's that no boss up the line pulls them into line. David Morrison is a perfect example of that archetype.
Here's a list of speeches delivered by the Chief of Army going back to 2012, taken from the Defence website.
Morrison's successor Angus Campbell (disclosure here, Angus is my mum's cousin) has been in the job 12 months and he's done 2 speeches, both to ADF conferences. One glance at that list and it's pretty clear where Morrison's head was at. It's pretty difficult to see how Australia's defences have been improved as a result.
Blokes who pick up the garbage for the council seem to get along all right without the need to lecture the world on their collateral brilliance. They're like most of us, they do their job. That's where Morrison was so clearly out of touch - the fact that he'd let a pressing matter like Williams slide while constantly making space for diversity speeches.
In his defence you have to look at the people who appointed him, the Gillard Cabinet, in particular Gillard herself and the wretched Stephen Smith who seemed hell bent on destroying our military's ethos and traditions. Morrison was like them and of their culture. Like them, he was at home spouting platitudes and stolen pithy lines about stuff that plenty of other people were already looking after like diversity etc.
But there was only one Chief of Army. And the buck stops with him.
By April 2014 Morrison was at the end of his office-job army career. He seemed to me to be socialised in the Rudd/Gillard Labor cabinet way of managing - i.e. large PR departments, glossy brochures, platitudes, regular media conferences, popping up at global functions etc etc etc.
So when media reports about a dubious character who'd managed to get a job working with children in the Army cadets after being booting from the Air Force lot started to hit his desk, it's no surprise that Morrison reacted the way he did.
Focus on the PR, hammer the message, deal with a few reliable media types and the details would look after themselves. That's the charitable view.
You get some insight into the bloke by looking at where his attentions seemed to be focussed at the time.
April, 2014, from the Fin Review.
Army chief David Morrison to stay in top job
Army Chief Lieutenant General David Morrison will have his tenure extended for at least a year to complete a restructure of the Army. Photo: Louie Douvis
Army chief Lieutenant-General David Morrison will have his tenure extended for at least a year to complete a restructure of the army and see a multibillion armoured vehicle project through its initial stages.
The fate of Lieutenant-General Morrison was one of the few positions in doubt as Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Defence Minister David Johnston considered a new defence leadership line-up to be announced on Friday.
The army chief is considered to have led the force at a time of high operational tempo, started army reform post-Afghanistan and crusaded to raise behaviour standards and clamp down on bullying, sexual misconduct and discrimination.
Here's Bernard Gaynor writing on his website about Morrison at the time:
(I thought) Anzac Day was all about remembering the sacrifices of Australian and New Zealand war veterans, especially those who gave everything they had for our respective countries. It also provided a day for a grateful nation to pause and pay tribute to those men and women who currently serve in dangerous corners of the globe to protect our freedoms.
But, apparently, that is not the case anymore.
At least, that’s the impression you’d get if you skipped the local Dawn Service and just tuned into what the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison, had to say about this most important event in the national calendar.
Morrison has spent the better part of the last week lambasting what he calls the myth of Anzac Day.
According to him, the national pride shown on Anzac Day is a primary reason homosexuals are not joining up. And then, on Anzac Day morn, he gave a speech that declared white Aussie Diggers have a lesser love for this nation than Aboriginals. Furthermore, Morrison went on to infer that Anzac Day was hurtful to the Indigenous community.
Morrison might like talking up the myth of Anzac Day, but the truth is that he’s just peddling a few porkies of his own.
Using Anzac Day to push the homosexual political agenda and to promote the lie of ‘Invasion Day’ is about as insulting as it gets. But there is one thing that rubs salt into the wounds more. And that is completely failing to mention those who currently serve on operations.
This issues with Bernard Gaynor and Morrison's speech writer and sex-change woman Cate McGregor were a key focus during May - http://morningmail.org/army-values-gaynor/
Then came Morrison's crowning glory, his moment in the global sun. I'll let Julie Bishop tell the story:
Morrison's performance at this summit was disgraceful. He betrayed his own people and spoke in scurrilous terms about the "brutes" in our Army.
I was sickened researching what he did and said. I am ashamed of what we have become. This is not a Morrison-bashing exercise, the little guy is human and he was getting increasingly positive feedback as his ideas became more and more unhinged. Morrison should have been nipped in the bud by the CDF or his Minister - but they were too busy agreeing with him. Everyone was clapping, particularly the ABC!
How was Australia improved by the Chief of our Army spending a week in London to talk about a problem we don't have?
I tried to find the last time an Australian soldier was reported for raping a woman in a war zone while deployed on active service. I couldn't find a reference anywhere.
I think it's reasonably safe to say that Australia does not have a cultural problem with our soldiers going to war to indulge in some sexual violence on the side. In fact if you recall the 2010 decision of the Director of Military Prosecutions, Brigadier Lyn McDade to charge Australian commandos over the deaths of civilians when the Taliban brought the war to them it's clear we are at the opposite end of the spectrum.
But Morrison didn't get up and say "Australia has a unique insight into the scourge of sexual violence in conflict. We are nearing the end of our longest ever operational deployment in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the Muslim world. Our fighting men and women have seen first hand the shocking way these barbarians treat women. One of the great frustrations for our soldiers is their rules of engagement which do not allow them to shoot the perpetrator dead on the spot. So we face the horrifying prospect of our soldiers watching horrible violence dished out to women and they are unable to properly respond to it. We need to get serious about untying that hand that's fastened behind our backs".
Nope. It's the fault of Anglo Saxon men. The people who make up the bulk of the Army he was said to have led.
The Human Rights Commission reported Morrison's speech here:
Chief of the Australian Army Lieutenant General David Morrison AO has made a powerful speech about the need for the military to be more inclusive of women.
General Morrison is perhaps best known for his three minute clip on YouTube where he told his soldiers to leave the military if they don’t accept that women should be respected and treated as equals.
Addressing delegates from more than 100 countries at the Global Summit to end Sexual Violence in Conflict, General Morrison said military culture needs to change.
“I can state without hesitation that an end to sexual violence in conflict will not be achieved without fundamental reforms to how all armies recruit, retain and employ women; and how they realise the improved military capability that is accrued through more effective gender and ethnic diversity.”
General Morrison said that all soldiers must take responsibility for being protectors rather than perpetrators.
“There are no bystanders – the standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”
He went on to outline two initiatives that he says have a dramatic impact.
“First, make all areas of military service open to women. It wipes away the barriers to achieving potential and sends a clarion call to all who serve that talent will prevail, not gender. ”
His second point alluded to the ADF’s ongoing work with the Human Rights Commission.
“Secondly, appoint an independent statutory authority to review the treatment of women, and of men and women from ethnic minorities who comprise the force.”
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick and her team have been working closing with the General Morrison and the ADF for the last three years to improve the treatment of women in the military.
Lieutenant General Morrison’s comments came shortly after confirmation that the ADF and the Commission will continue to work together on issues around women in the military for the next four years.
The ADF posted a transcript of David's platitudes and insults here. Even though we're at war with institutionalised rape-merchants the Islamists (and have been since 9/11) - not so much as an oblique reference to the religion of peace.
Morrison's speech opens with this:
"To all victims of sexual violence I offer my compassion and my respect for your courage and your dignity."
Well David, I've spoken to the families of two of the young girls who were victims of Christopher Gordon Williams. While you were telling Anglina Jolie and the in-crowd about your compassion and your respect for the courage and dignity of all victims of sexual violence, two months had ticked by without much action by you on fixing the problems that delivered Williams to those kids. You said you'd take personal responsibility to make sure the allegations of his offending were properly inquired into. It's now 2 years later and we still have nothing as a result of you taking personal responsibility.
Remember Jack Welch and the show-pony? Morrison is a classic example of why we need feet on the ground leaders like Jack Welch to remind us all about the main game.
But there was no restraint on Morrison, no handbrake and no limits to the demoralising effect he was allowed to have on the people he was paid to lead. He told Angelina Jolie and the in crowd this:
But armies that revel in their separateness from civil society, that value the male over the female, that use their imposed values to exclude those who don’t fit the particular traits of the dominant group, who celebrate the violence that is integral to my profession rather than seeking ways to contain it - they do nothing to distinguish the soldier from the brute.
In that paragraph he's pretty much describing every Special Forces soldier or sailor I know. Elite, separate, male-only for that job, highly values oriented, exclusive, torturous selection process, superbly controlled aggression, celebrates his ability to visit immense violence on our enemies. The special forces people I know are cultured, sophisticated, well read and very smart people. They laugh at half-wits big-noting by calling them names like "brutes'.
It's dangerous to make an inadequate limelight seeking half-wit the boss of blokes like that. Or to burden him with practical, normal, non-spotlight attracting work - like making sure that children in the care of Army Cadets are protected from sex offenders.
But General Morrison added a crucial, previously missing, element to the dialogue. It was not just that he made clear his zero tolerance approach to wartime sexual violence, his commitment to forging an inclusive military culture and his disgust at the squandering of women’s talent the world over. It was also that he embodied the military doctrine of command responsibility – he was a living, breathing example of the promise enshrined in the Geneva Conventions so many years before.
Command responsibility is a simple legal concept. Military commanders are humanity’s last line of defence against war crimes – society’s final hope for imposing order in the chaos of conflict. Commanders have a responsibility to create a climate of respect for the laws regulating armed conflict and a legal obligation to take meaningful action if they are put on notice that their subordinates have breached or might breach those laws.
Yet, so often in our discussions of preventing wartime sexual violence – indeed all atrocities – we gloss over the crucial role that commanders should play. So often, we see command responsibility simply as a legal doctrine that we can, perhaps, use to hold commanders accountable after the conflict for dereliction of their duty. We need new strategies for breathing more life into this duty as a conflict unfolds. We need to insist on command responsibility in real time.
I can't see a single benefit for Australia flowing from Morrison spending 4 days on this Fringe event, while it seems no one was doing much at all to look after the cadet children back home.
Forces for good? Changing military culture: Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict-Fringe event on military culture
12 Jun 2014
London
DCAF in collaboration with the OSCE hosted an important fringe event at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict that took place in London from June 10-13 June on the topic of military culture and responses to sexual violence.
The End Sexual Violence in Conflict Summit is the largest meeting ever held on this issue. Governments, civil society, the media, military, judiciary and the public attended.
The fringe event which gathered 150 people with a diversity of experience in the subject was opened by H.E. Dominik Furgler, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Kingdom,andAnja Ebnöther, Assistant Director, DCAF followed by key note speaker Lieutenant General David Morrison, Chief of Army, Australia.
The event chaired by Ambassador Miroslava Beham, OSCE Senior Gender Adviser, hosted an expert panel of senior military staff and subject matter experts including: Dr Susan Atkins, UK Service Complaints Commissioner; Commander Jan Dunmurray, Head of the Centre for Gender in Military Operations; Lieutenant-Colonel Kathie Knell, Deputy Chair of the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives; Major Lena Kvarving, former leader of the Gender Project- Norwegian Defense University College; and Ms Megan Bastick, Gender and Security Fellow- DCAF to discuss issues such as:
Is it important to have more women in militaries for sexual violence prevention and response, or can this expertise be developed equally in men and women?
What are the challenges in increasing the proportion of women in the military, who can potentially be deployed in missions concerned with sexual violence ad how are they being addressed?
How can internal oversight be strengthened, both as regards treatment of male and female personnel, and operational responses to sexual violence (accountability and oversight)?
What are good practices in military responses to sexual violence in conflict?
Key Note Speaker Lieutenant General David Morrison, Chief of Army, Australian Army and Dr Susan Atkins, UK Service Complaints Commissioner.
Dr Susan Atkins, UK Service Complaints Commissioner; Lieutenant General David Morrison, Chief of Army, Australian Army; Ambassador Miroslava Beham, OSCE Senior Gender Adviser; Major Lena Kvarving, former leader of the Gender Project Norwegian Defense University College; Commander Jan Dunmurray, Head of the Centre for Gender in Military Operations; Ms Megan Bastick, Gender and Security Fellow, DCAF and Lieutenant-Colonel Kathie Knell, Deputy Chair of the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives.
PS - Just a reminder, we are the good guys. This is the enemy.
First Class return to London - $20,000
Spending a week discussing sexual violence against women in war - without mentioning Islam? Priceless
