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.

The Past, Present, and Future of Women, Peace, and Security

Portrait of peace activist Arzu Abdullayeva

Peace Activist

Building Truth and Trust

Azerbaijan

Arzu Abdullayeva is an internationally recognized peace activist from Azerbaijan, contributing to peacebuilding, democracy, and women's leadership.

Portrait of peace activist Nigar Goksel

Conflict Analyst

Fusing Policy and Research

Türkiye

Nigar Goksel is a conflict analyst and peacebuilder from Türkiye, who has spent over twenty years working at the intersection of policy, research, and diplomacy across the region.

Portrait of peace activist Guncha Annageldiyeva

Youth Peace Activist

Empowering Youth for Sustainable Peace

Turkmenistan

Guncha Annageldiyeva, 26, Ashgabat activist, inspires youth and young women to lead change in sustainable development and peacebuilding, championing rights and inclusion across Central Asia.

Portrait of peace activist Zinaida Emelianova

Women's Business Champion

Empowering Women Economically for Peace

Moldova

Zinaida Emelianova, Director of the Agency for Innovation and Development and Women’s Advisory Board Member, champions women’s economic empowerment and leadership in Transnistria, Republic of Moldova, near the Ukrainian border.

Portrait of peace activist Johanna Poutanen

Peace Practitioner

Promoting Peace and Dialogue

Finland

Johanna Poutanen, Head of Inclusion and Digital Innovation at CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation, champions women’s participation in peace processes and global gender-sensitive mediation, drawing on her extensive experience in international peace and security initiatives.

Portrait of gender equality activist Selma Acuner

Gender Equality Advocate

Power of Negotiation in Gender Advocacy

Türkiye

Selma Acuner is a dedicated gender equality advocate and policy expert who has played a key role in bringing feminist perspectives into international negotiations and multilateral processes.

Portrait of peace activist Bozgul Dodkhudoeva

Peace Trailblazer

Following a Legacy

Tajikistan

Bozgul Dodkhudoeva is a trailblazing politician and activist who played a crucial role in post-civil war reconciliation and championed women’s leadership and girls' education in her country.

Portrait of peace activist Shahla Ismayil

Peace Activist

Building Platforms for Peace

Azerbaijan

Shahla Ismayil, Chair of the Women’s Association for Rational Development and Director of Gender Port, is a leading advocate for gender equality and women’s rights in Azerbaijan, with over 25 years’ experience in advancing peace and inclusion across the South Caucasus.

Portrait of peace activist Sonja Licht

Peace Trailblazer

Leading the March for Peace

Serbia

Sonja Licht is a sociologist and civic activist since the 1960s, who has founded many local and international CSOs and women’s organizations, and received numerous international peace and human rights awards.

Portrait of peace professional Colonel Biljana Blazheska

Peace Professional

Lifelong Commitment to Peace, Leadership and Mentorship

North Macedonia

Colonel Biljana Blazheska has served in the Army of the Republic of North Macedonia for 26 years. As one of the first women to rise through the Army’s ranks, for Biljana, service is not just a profession, it is a lifelong commitment to peace, leadership and mentorship.

Portrait of peace advocate Natalia Albu, PhD.

Researcher for Peace

From Research to Impact

Moldova

Natalia Albu, PhD. is an Associate Professor at the ‘Alexandru cel Bun’ Military Academy in the Republic of Moldova, and Co-founder of the Platform for Security and Defense Initiatives NGO, and a leading voice on Women, Peace and Security in Moldova, who contributed to key strategies in the country.

Portrait of peace advocate Alice Bouman-Dentener

Women for Water Warrior

Interlinking Water Governance, Social Inclusion and Gender Justice

The Netherlands

Alice Bouman-Dentener is a biologist/ethologist from the Netherlands who has won international acclaim for her expertise on water governance, social inclusion and gender.

Portrait of peace advocate Damira Tukhtasinova

Peace Trailblazer

Empowering Women as Local Peacebuilders

Uzbekistan

Damira Tukhtasinova is the Director of the Center for Social and Legal Support for Women and Their Families “Kalb Nuri”, Fergana Region, leading efforts to bring together diverse ethnic and cultural groups and confront discrimination and conflict in Uzbekistan’s tense border areas.

Portrait of peace and human rights advocate Seida Karabašić

Advocate for the Missing

Tirelessly Locating Missing Persons

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Seida Karabašić dedicated her life to locating missing persons and advocating for stronger laws and support for women’s rights, roles and recognition in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Portrait of peacebuilder Knarik Mkrtchyani

Young Peace Activist

Advocating for women’s resilience and peacebuilding

Armenia

Knarik Mkrtchyani is an Armenian human rights defender and co-founder of the Women’s Agenda – a women-led civil society organization focused on women’s resilience and peacebuilding.

Portrait of peacebuilder Ana Nemsadze

Young Peacebuilder

Advocating for the rights of internally displaced people

Georgia

Ana Nemsadze is a peacebuilder from Georgia who grew up in a conflict-affected community, inspiring her to take action for peace, gender equality and the rights of internally displaced people.

Portrait of writer Anna Povkh

Activist Writer

Writing for women's rights

Ukraine

Anna Povkh, 22, is a Ukrainian author who wrote the book "Це дівчача справа!", which features the stories of 36 women confronting a variety of gender stereotypes in war-torn Ukraine.

Portrait of brigadier General Vehbije Kuti

Brigadier General

Leadership and empowering women in security

Albania

Brigadier General Vehbije Kuti, Albania’s only woman general, advocates for more women in command roles and champions their meaningful participation in peace and security decision-making.

Portrait of a female peace broker

Peace Broker

Centering women's voices, experiences and leadership in peacebuilding

Armenia

Gulnara Shahinian, an international human-rights expert and the first UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, helped design Armenia’s first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security and champions women’s voices in peace and democracy.

Peace Trailblazer

Mobilizing Youth for Peace

Georgia

As a young peace activist, content creator, and researcher, Eleonora Tchania works to address the gap in youth-accessible, reliable information about conflict transformation and peacebuilding.

Peace Activist

No Peace without Equality and No Equality Without Peace

Denmark

Ida Brorsdatter Harsløf, a long-time peace activist from Denmark and a participant of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, reflects on the progress achieved since 30 years.

Empathetic Prosecutor

Justice for War-Time Sexual Violence Survivors

Kosovo

Drita Hajdari, a human rights lawyer from Kosovo[1] and the first domestic prosecutor to file an indictment for war-time sexual violence as a crime against humanity in the country, reflects on the importance of justice for conflict-related sexual violence survivors.

Peacekeeper

Keeping Peace on the Frontlines

Kazakhstan

Major Dana Zhamaliyeva, a military observer in Western Sahara, is forging a path for women in Kazakhstan's Armed Forces to lead global peace missions.

Border Management Director

Leading Equality in Border Security

Iceland

Iris Björg transforms national policing as Head of the International and Border Management Division, championing a forward‐thinking, gender‐responsive approach.

Peace Activist

Driving Gender Equality for Lasting Peace

Slovenia

A seasoned politician, professor, and civil society activist, Sonja Lokar's decades‐long fight for women's rights continues to shape global peace efforts.

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 member 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.