WPS at 25: Security Council Open debate exposes the frailty of the women, peace & security agenda
The extraordinary suffering of women and girls in Gaza experiencing a genocide puts the 25th anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 into stark relief.
This month will mark the 25 years since the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1325 on women, peace and security (WPS). The anniversary was marked today with the regular open debate at the Security Council, with Palestinian-American Noura Erakat addressing the debate on behalf of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace & Security.
Our network endorses wholeheartedly Ms Erakat’s contribution to the debate. Even in its brevity it provides the cold, hard truths of what women in Palestine are facing now in regard to their reproductive health and maternal mortality.
The reality of the WPS agenda is that 25 years on, women and girls continue to suffer disproportionally in conflict, while women remain marginalised in or excluded from peace and political processes. Implementation of the agenda is increasingly focused on security, rather than conflict prevention. These same points have been made by briefers and UN staff at nearly every open debate on WPS the Security Council has held.
The WPS agenda is more than the resolutions that gave it a formal framework. The movements demanding that the world protect women and girls affected by conflict, promote women’s participation and leadership in conflict prevention and resolution, ensure the needs of women and girls are met and justice and accountability for crimes committed against them, were led by women’s groups from across the world. These movements took the agenda to the Security Council, but have never relinquished the agenda in whole to governments and the international community. Activists have continued their work by leading advocacy to implement the agenda at national level, monitoring and evaluating the implementation, and leading efforts to localize and make the agenda a reality.
In this way, every week is women, peace, and security week for these activists. Everyday is a new opportunity to make WPS a reality.
Today, the Security Council has yet again been briefed on the reality of conflict and genocide for women and girls in Gaza. From bitter experience, we can never expect leadership from the Council on WPS, on justice, or accountability. But we remain determine to make them a reality.
Karama is a signatory to the open letter coordinated by the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security for Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in advance of the annual Open Debate on WPS.
Click below to read the letter.