25 Years of Action: Women Shaping Peace and Security in the Region

The geopolitical dynamics of the ECE region are shaped by conflicts rooted in historical grievances and ethnic divisions. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has triggered Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, while unresolved tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan and Georgia's struggles with Abkhazia and South Ossetia highlight ongoing instability in the South Caucasus. In Belarus, authoritarian governance heightens the risk of civil unrest, and disputes over ethnicity and resources persist in the Ferghana Valley among Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The Western Balkans, meanwhile, continue to face deep ethnic divisions stemming from the Yugoslav Wars, compounded by political instability and economic hardships.

UN Women calls for a renewed commitment to women’s resilience and inclusion in conflict prevention and resolution. Achieving 50% representation of women at peace negotiation tables and in conflict prevention initiatives at all levels is imperative. This requires integrating gender perspectives, amplifying women’s voices, and addressing the root causes of conflict through feminist principles. Empowering women is not just an aspiration—it is a necessity for fostering resilient communities and ensuring sustainable peace.

Protect women and girls from the devastating impacts of conflict, ensuring their safety and fundamental human rights

Localizing the Pact for the Future enhances preventive diplomacy and fosters intergenerational collaboration among women peacebuilders and mediators. This approach is rooted in a gender-responsive early warning system and conflict analysis, ensuring more inclusive and effective conflict prevention and resolution.

In 2023, there were over 170 active armed conflicts globally and the proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled compared to 2022¹. One in six people worldwide are estimated to be affected by conflict today².

Implement gender-responsive reforms in security, justice, and reintegration to address women's and girls' needs and contributions in post-conflict recovery.

In 1995, the BPfA called for a reduction of excessive military expenditures and control of the availability of armaments – 30-years on, this commitment remains unfulfilled and military spending has doubled. Gender responsive disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs are crucial, but women often lack representation in these processes. Investing in women's economic opportunities during transitions from conflict to peace is crucial for recovery and achieving the SDGs.

In 2023, global military spending hit a record $2.44 trillion, a 6.8% rise from 2022. Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia rank among the top 10 on the Global Militarization Index³.
Women remain significantly underrepresented in disarmament discussions - less than one-third of participants in arms control⁴.
70-90% of CRSV incidents involve a weapon⁵.
Funding for gender-focused disarmament initiatives represent only about 5% of expenditures in relevant programs⁶.
Reducing military spending by 2% annually can prevent violence, protect civilians, and fund 575 million new jobs and the SDGs by 2030⁷.
The Women4Security platform brought together 300 partners from Moldova and Romania, including parliamentarians, ministers, diplomats, mayors, media, business, and civil society representatives, to form a security network.
In 2023, in Western Balkans, six national networks of women in police signed declarations on regional cooperation, to foster the WPS agenda.
In Georgia and Lebanon, the Ministries of Defence implemented strategies to increase women's integration and retention, promoting gender equality through a gender mainstreaming approach for commanders and personnel.

Ensure women's full and meaningful involvement in conflict prevention and peace negotiations for lasting and inclusive solutions.

Barriers for inclusive peace processes must be removed, enabling the active engagement of women-led organizations. 50% quotas for women’s participation in conflict prevention and peace building need to be introduced. Formal mechanisms for their involvement in Track 1 negotiations must be set up and their contributions need to be officially recognized through awards.

9 out of 10 top-performing countries on WPS are from the ECE region – Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Austria, and Netherlands – due to their strong commitments to gender equality and inclusive peace processes.

All parties to conflict must immediately cease all forms of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), which disproportionately affects women and warrants zero tolerance for perpetrators

The international community must ensure accountability, justice for survivors, and preventive measures, including provisions in peace operation mandates.

Women and girls account for more than 95% of the total 3,622 UN-verified CRSV cases⁸.
In 1,186 cases of CRSV the victims were children - 98% of them are girls⁹.
From 24 February 2022 through 31 May 2024, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) documented 304 cases of CRSV (201 men, 91 women, 10 girls, 2 boys).

82 percent of countries have National Action Plans

82% of UNECE members states have National Action Plans on WPS

National Commitments on Women, Peace, and Security

Countries' National Action Plans and Policies

Global Commitments on Women, Peace, and Security

Women, peace and security resolutions

Resolution 1325 (2000) [S/RES/1325 (2000)] – Affirms the importance of the participation of women and the inclusion of gender perspectives in peace negotiations, humanitarian planning, peacekeeping operations, and post-conflict peacebuilding and governance.
Resolution 1820 (2008) [S/RES/1820(2008)] – Recognizes sexual violence as a tactic of war and a matter of international peace and security that necessitates a security response.
Resolution 1888 (2009) [S/RES/1888(2009)] – Strengthens efforts to end sexual violence in conflict by establishing a Special Representative of the Secretary-General and team of experts on rule of law and sexual violence in conflict.
Resolution 1889 (2009) [S/RES/1889(2009)] – Establishes indicators for the monitoring of resolution 1325 and requests the Secretary-General to submit a report on women’s participation and inclusion in peacebuilding.
Resolution 1960 (2010) [S/RES/1960(2010)] – Establishes a monitoring and reporting mechanism on sexual violence in conflict.
Resolution 2106 (2013) [S/RES/2106(2013)] – Stresses accountability for perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict, as well as women’s political and economic empowerment.
Resolution 2122 (2013) [S/RES/2122(2013)] – Positions gender equality and women’s empowerment as critical to international peace and security, recognizes the differential impact of all violations in conflict on women and girls, and calls for consistent application of WPS across the Security Council’s work.
Resolution 2242 (2015) [S/RES/2242(2015)] – Establishes the Informal Experts Group (IEG); addresses persistent obstacles in implementing the WPS agenda, including financing and institutional reforms; focuses on greater integration of the agendas on WPS and counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism; and calls for improved Security Council working methods on women, peace, and security.
Resolution 2467 (2019) [S/RES/2467(2019)] – Positions conflict-related sexual violence as firmly rooted in the broader women, peace and security agenda; stresses justice and accountability efforts; calls for support and protection to women’s civil society organizations; and calls for attention to the issues of children born of rape.
Resolution 2493 (2019) [S/RES/2493(2019)] – Calls for full implementation of all previous resolutions on women, peace and security; requests the UN to develop context-specific approaches for women's participation in all UN-supported peace processes; and urges Member States to ensure and provide timely support for the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women in all stages of peace processes, including in the mechanisms set up to implement and monitor peace agreements.

2015 peace and security reviews and their follow-up

The report of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO) undertook a review of current UN peace operations and the emerging needs of the future.
The report of the Advisory Group of Experts (AGE) on the UN Peacebuilding Architecture, which coined the term sustaining peace, gave impetus to UN Security Council resolution 2282 (2016) and UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/70/304. These identical resolutions on the “Review of the peacebuilding architecture” are also known as the “sustaining peace resolutions”.
The Global study on the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 demonstrated the substantial challenges that remain in implementing UN Security Council resolution 1325 and offered concrete recommendations to address the gaps.
In 2019, an independent assessment, “Mapping of the gender recommendations in the three 2015 peace and security reviews”, was undertaken of implementation of the recommendations related to women and peace and security relevant to the UN system drawn from the three peace and security reviews undertaken in 2015.