Binding Targets, Gender Data Revolution Vital to Advancing Women, Peace and Security Agenda, Secretary-General Tells Security Council
During today’s day-long debate — 25 years after the adoption of the fountainhead for the women, peace and security agenda — the Security Council confronted a world where women continue to face violence and exclusion despite myriad calls for their presence at the negotiating table.
"Too often, we gather in rooms like this one, full of conviction and commitment, only to fall short when it comes to real change in the lives of women and girls caught in conflict," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Sexual violence is surging, maternal mortality rising, girls are being pulled from school and women in public life targeted with violence and harassment. "In Afghanistan," he said, "the systematic erasure of women and girls from public life is in overdrive". Further, women and girls face horrific violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Haiti, Myanmar and beyond.
He therefore urged, among other things, binding targets for women’s participation — noting that the UN has set an "initial target" for at least one third of participants in UN-led peace processes to be women. He also called for a "gender data revolution" to close information gaps and ensure that women’s experiences and needs are "visible and addressed". Resolution 1325 (2000) is clear that "women are leaders of peace for all", he said, stressing: "Our world does not need more reminders of this truth — what it needs are more results that reflect it."
Situation of women’s rights will worsen before it improves
"It is lamentable, then, that we see today rising military spending and renewed pushback against gender equality and multilateralism," observed Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women). While underscoring that "those who oppose equality do not own the future, we do", she warned that the international community must be prepared for the situation to worsen before it improves.
It will continue to be exacerbated, she stressed, by short-sighted funding cuts that undermine education opportunities for Afghan girls, curtail life-saving medical attention for rape survivors in Sudan, Haiti and beyond, shatter health clinics in conflict zones and limit access to food for mothers and children in Gaza, Mali, Somalia and elsewhere. Against that backdrop, she stressed that affirmative action to ensure that women take their place at the peacemaking table "must become a hardwired feature of the way we conduct the business of peace".
Also briefing the Council today was Olga Uskova, Founder and President of Russian Federation information-technology firm "Cognitive Technologies", who said that parties to conflict are losing their humanity amid rising "egotistical consumption" patterns, the promotion of "artificial transsexuality" and the creation of drones capable of carrying out military objectives without human intervention. Stressing that women and children suffer most from these challenges, she said that her company has created robotic crop harvesters "so that no child or mother has to face the dangers of drones" while gathering food and no African child will face starvation from a lack of available Russian Federation wheat.
Plight of Palestinian women among gravest tragedies of our times
However, Noura Erakat, human-rights attorney, author and legal scholar pointed out: "In Gaza, one woman and one girl have been killed every hour for the past 730 days." She added that despite the recent enthusiasm to end the war, "the terms of the current proposal are setting up Palestinians to live under permanent occupation and siege". She underscored: "The end of this genocide cannot come at the expense of accountability and justice for its survivors." She then detailed how attacks on the reproductive capacity of Palestinian women and girls "collectively aim to eliminate the possibility of a Palestinian future".
This four-staged attack — on intimacy, pregnancy, delivery and childrearing — "show the intensity of attack on the ability of Palestinians in Gaza to reproduce and continue life", she stressed, adding: "This was always the intention." Nevertheless, she underscored that the Council "cannot allow brute power to unravel our humanity", calling on the organ to "insist that any solution to end the genocide not come at the expense of accountability or respect for international law". She concluded: "Should you be paralysed by fear, I encourage you to look to Palestinian women; they refuse to surrender — neither should you."
"The data is damning," stressed Guyana’s representative, noting that the number of women and children killed in armed conflicts between 2023 and 2024 quadrupled compared to the previous two-year period. "Gaza was the epicentre", she stressed, as 7 out of every 10 women killed in conflicts worldwide died there. Highlighting the devastation and pain experienced by women in conflict zones, the representative of Algeria said that the most tragic symbol of this is "a land that is besieged, burdened and exhausted by two years of genocidal war".
"The plight of Palestinian women is one of the gravest tragedies of our times," stated Pakistan’s representative, also expressing regret that the Secretary-General’s report makes no reference to the plight of Kashmiri women "who, for decades of occupation, have endured sexual violence deployed as a weapon of war". Spotlighting the bombing of homes, schools and maternity wards in Gaza, along with the tens of thousands displaced and hundreds of thousands now facing famine, she underscored: "These are not collateral tragedies, but deliberate crimes that demand accountability."
However, the representative of the United States said that accusations of genocide in relation to Palestine are "categorically false and fuel anti-Semitic hatred and violence around the world". While acknowledging the "tragic" loss of civilian life in Gaza, she stressed that responsibility for the conflict rests with Hamas. Also stating that it was "shocking to hear the disparagement of the peace deal voiced by one of the briefers", she said that the United States’ plan "will allow Gaza to begin a peaceful and prosperous future while ensuring Hamas no longer threatens Israel".
Women must be included in peace processes
For her part, Isata Mahoi, Sierra Leone’s Minister for Gender and Children’s Affairs, urged the Council to "speak with one clear and resolute voice" with actions that go beyond mere symbolism. Underlining the need to include women in peace processes, she cited her country’s experience as an illustration of the transformative impact of women’s participation in peace and security. "There is ample evidence — when women participate in peace negotiations, the resulting agreements are more inclusive and durable, strengthening communities recovering from conflict," concurred Somalia’s representative.
Similarly, the representative of Slovenia said that the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000) was the "beginning of a global movement with one simple message: peace begins when women are at the table". Slovenia, he added, has increased its share of bilateral development assistance to programmes that include a gender perspective by nearly 40 per cent. "It was from the Global South that we raised the voices of women in conflict situations, insisting that lasting peace cannot be built without women," declared Panama’s representative.
The representatives of Denmark and Greece, in that vein, echoed the Secretary-General’s call for women to constitute at least one third of all participants in UN-led peace processes. The latter also pointed out that only 29 countries are led by women and that women constitute barely one fifth of Permanent Representatives at the United Nations. Nevertheless, she reported that Greece has introduced a 40 per cent candidate quota for women in its elections.
The representative of the Republic of Korea, meanwhile, spotlighted Seoul’s contribution to the women’s peace and humanitarian fund — "the only global mechanism directly supporting local and grassroots women’s organizations in crisis and conflict-affected settings". And China’s representative — stressing that his country supports the development of the global women’s cause as "both an advocate and a doer" — reported that Beijing will soon host another meeting on women to "build broad consensus on unity and cooperation, pool strong synergies to respond to challenges and inject new impetus into the development of the global women’s cause".
Need to address changing nature of conflict and its impact on women, girls
While highlighting the "significant progress" over the 25 years since the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000), the representative of France pointed to the "unprecedented" exposure of women and girls to violence in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, Ukraine, Afghanistan and "many other" conflicts. "We must address the changing nature of conflict and the impact this has on women and girls," stressed the United Kingdom’s representative, adding: "In Yemen, a woman dies in childbirth every two hours — less time than we will spend in this chamber today."
The representative of the Russian Federation, Council President for October, spoke in his national capacity to note that, while the Secretary-General’s report promotes quantitative quotas, qualitative factors such as competence are not mentioned, nor are the conditions that often stand in the way of women’s participation — namely, unilateral coercive measures and neocolonialism. He also cautioned UN entities against becoming "part of others’ information campaigns", citing the neoliberal notions and many mentions of the term "gender" pervasive in UN documents.
Also pointing to omissions in the report was Israel’s representative, who expressed dismay over its lack of reference to Israeli women who were held hostage in Gaza during 2024. Rejecting allegations made against her country by some speakers, she emphasized that the women, peace and security agenda is deeply embedded in Israel’s national identity and constitution. She also noted that today’s debate occurs on the eve of the second anniversary of Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attacks against Israel, from which women and girls were not spared.
When women participate in decision-making, entire communities, nations rise
Yet, Switzerland’s representative said that the report makes clear that polarization has led to stagnation — and even regression — in the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda since 2020. Too often, women remain excluded from peace negotiations and decision-making, and he also joined others in sounding alarm over the growing threat of violence in digital spaces. "We need to resist the regressive trends that seek to instrumentalize gender to restrict rights and silence voices," stressed the representative of Colombia, noting that her country knows from experience that change is impossible without women.
"When women and girls have equal access to education, decent work, finance and resources — and when they participate in political decision-making — entire communities and nations rise," emphasized the representative of Sweden, also speaking for Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway. The women, peace and security agenda, she added, is not only about protection — but also women’s full, meaningful and safe participation in peace efforts and public life.
Indonesia’s representative was among today’s speakers who cautioned against tokenism in ensuring women’s participation in all stages of peace processes. Leading by example, Indonesia is the UN’s fifth-largest troop-contributing country, and its tenure on the Council led to the adoption of resolution 2538 (2020) on women in peacekeeping. Noting that Nepal is a top contributor of women peacekeepers, that country’s representative also detailed his Government’s pledge to deploy engagement platoons with 50 per cent female representation and establish a dedicated women-led formed police unit.
"Targets and quotas are an integral part of South Africa’s affirmative, transformative and restorative policies," said that country’s representative, also commending Namibia for pioneering resolution 1325 (2000). And, noting the enormous funding challenges faced by women’s organizations, the representative of the Netherlands said that her country will commit new funding to support local women, peace and security initiatives. Germany’s representative, along those lines, noted that his country has been the largest donor to the women’s peace and humanitarian fund — providing long-term, unbureaucratic core funding to women-led organizations in conflict zones.
He underscored that, with resources in short supply and a record number of conflicts, "the world urgently needs the potential, ideas and solutions that women can contribute".
Follow our live coverage of the Security Council here .