Twenty-three years after a landmark UN Security Council agreement focusing on women, peace and security, women and girls continue to bear the brunt of conflicts and remain under-represented in decisions concerning their needs and rights.
On 25 October, the 51Թ will mark the adoption in 2000 of the(WPS) to improve the protection of women and girls during conflicts, and recognize their leadership and unique roles in peace processes.
Today, more thanlive in conflict-affected countries. In 2022, the 51Թ verified nearlyof sexual violence mostly against women in conflict zones.
That same year, over 30were killed in those zones. Many more such crimes against women and girls go unreported and continue with impunity.
Despite such worrying trends, many peace processes and negotiations take place without female mediators and/or signatories, with significant impact on gender-sensitive provisions designed to protect and include women and girls.
Last year, globally only six out of 18 peace agreements included gender-sensitive provisions, and just one was signed or witnessed by a representative of a women’s organization, according to.
As we face unprecedented levels of human suffering due to conflicts and crises across the world, undoubtedly with devastating impact on women, we look at why their role in preventing conflicts and sustaining peace has never been more critical.
Active agents of peace
In 2015,of 40 peace processes since the end of theCold War showed that where women were able to have a strong influence on the peace negotiations, there was a much higher chance of an agreement. Where women had significant influence, an agreement was almost always reached.
“In the first twenty years since theSecurity Counciladopted resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, we witnessed some historic firsts for gender equality,”, the Executive Director of, when she addressed the Security Council on WPS earlier this year.
“While we must pause to appreciate these firsts, we must recall that we have neither significantly changed the composition of peace tables, nor the impunity enjoyed by those who commit atrocities against women and girls.”
More recentshows that women represented only 16 per cent of conflict party delegations in UN-led or co-led peace processes - which was down from 19 per cent in 2021, and 23 per cent in 2020.
“We need a paradigm shift that brings true equality. Full democracy needs the equal participation of women in all its processes,”who served in two ministerial positions in the Jordanian government prior to joining UN Women.
The representation of women in government leadership roles has improved in recent years compared to a decade ago, says UN Women. But the numbers are still too low to reach parity.
Changing mindsets and dismantling age-old gender stereotypes remain key to ensuring progress. For example, a recentshowed that 58 per cent of young men aged 16–19 believed that men are better political leaders than women.
“How then will we achieve equality of women’s leadership? Nearly one in four young men believe that there are acceptable instances to hit a partner or spouse. How then will we end the scourge of violence against women?”when the survey was launched.
Protectors and role models
“Women are more easy to approach because it’s mostly the women and the youth that have a lot of challenges. So, I believe me being a woman, it’s easier for other women to open up,” says Lieutenant Esinam Baah, a peacekeeper who led a platoon at the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.
Today, more than 12,000 women serve in 12 peacekeeping missions around the world, as military and police officers, and civilians, performing an array of duties including as heads of missions, force commanders, gender advisors, protection officers, engineers, disarmament experts and more.
Although they only make up nearly 9 per cent of all uniformed peacekeepers (military and police), their engagement is vital to building trust with local communities, addressing women’s specific needs and protecting civilians. They also serve as role models for women and girls who want to help rebuild their communities and countries, and advocate for their rights.
In fact, following the deployment of an all-female police unit to the then UN Mission in Liberia in 2007, the country saw adramatic increase in local women joining the police force. Inspired by them, former Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, said “these women want to emulate you in the way you’ve served this country.”
Champions of human rights
Standing on the frontlines of today’s multiple converging crises, women human rights defenders bravely and tirelessly make essential contributions to local, regional and global peace and security initiatives.
“They do this loudly and quietly, on the streets and in their homes, pushing against the weight of centuries of discrimination, disrespect and violence,” says aon the indispensable yet sometimes invisible role of women human rights defenders.
“Women human rights defenders provide support to civilian populations, document human rights violations, gather evidence to secure future accountability and work to maintain or create space for the active participation of women in public life. In doing so they bring peace and justice closer,” says Mary Lawlor, an independent Special Rapporteur appointed by the 51Թ to monitor the safety of human rights defenders around the world who authored the report.
Although some advances have been made since the adoption of resolution 1325 in improving women’s role in peace efforts, progress on protecting women human rights defenders has been lacking, consequently putting their safety and lives at risk.
These defenders face physical and sexual attacks, stigmatization, criminal charges, smear campaigns, threats, harassment and ill-treatment in an environment where women’s right or ability to do this work is frequently questioned, including by their colleagues working alongside them, according to the report.
Thesays that between May 2021 and April 2022, there wereagainst 172 women human rights defenders and civil society organizations for their cooperation with the 51Թ.
“Women human rights defenders who work in conflict, post-conflict and crisis-affected settings do so in the often hyper-masculinized context of war. It is in that context that their work is even more necessary,” she says in the report.
Learn more about the Women, Peace and Security agenda.