Women, Peace and Security: Open Debate on Women’s Participation in Peace Processes
Tomorrow (17 June), the Security Council will hold an open debate on women, peace and security (WPS) titled “Peace is decided with women: Emerging from conflict by enhancing their participation”. UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous and two women civil society representatives are the expected briefers. Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio will chair the meeting, which is a signature event of Colombia’s June Council presidency.
Colombia is expected to deliver a statement prior to the meeting on behalf of the signatories to the Shared Commitments on WPS initiative—Colombia, Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, Liberia, Panama, and the UK. It seems that, among other things, the statement may call for the full implementation of Security Council resolutions on WPS and emphasise that the underrepresentation of women in political, humanitarian, and security decision-making hinders the legitimacy of outcomes agreed in those spaces. It may also call on the Council to translate its commitments on WPS into action, including through its decisions on UN peace operation mandates.
Building on Colombia’s experience with its own conflict resolution process, the open debate aims to highlight the importance of women’s active participation in peace processes. The concept note prepared by Colombia ahead of the meeting stresses that the full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation of women in political and electoral processes “is not only a matter of rights” but also a “condition for representative, legitimate and responsive governance”. It notes that changes in the mediation and peace negotiations landscape—where the UN has been less involved in mediation efforts and member states and regional organisations have increasingly taken the lead in efforts to resolve crises—have resulted in fewer opportunities for women’s participation. It further stresses the importance of the Council examining ways to improve women’s participation in the current context of international mediation.
The concept note says that while the WPS agenda underscores the critical role of women as agents of change in peace, recovery, and peacebuilding processes, significant implementation gaps persist. For instance, it notes the “persistence of structural barriers, including limited access to power, financing and security” as factors that continue to hinder women’s participation. It further notes that recovery and reconstruction efforts often do not systematically incorporate gender perspectives, thereby missing important opportunities to address the structural inequalities that fuel conflict.
The concept note poses several questions to help guide the discussion:
- What concrete measures can be adopted to ensure women’s full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation in peace negotiations and political transitions?
- How can women-led civil society organisations be supported and protected in conflict and post-conflict settings?
- How can feminist movements and women-led civil society be recognised and supported as central actors in promoting and sustaining peace?
- What lessons learned and good practices demonstrate the impact of women’s participation on the sustainability of peace?
At tomorrow’s open debate, Bahous is expected to emphasise that women continue to be largely excluded from or underrepresented in peace and political processes, including those aimed at addressing major crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Sudan, and Ukraine. She may express concern that the UN has become increasingly marginalised in the current changing mediation and conflict resolution landscape and underscore the importance of UN engagement in supporting women’s meaningful participation in processes it leads or supports.
Among other suggestions, Bahous might urge UN member states to report on the measures taken to include women in peace processes and endorse the minimum target set by the UN Secretary-General in 2023 that women comprise one third of participants in mediation and peace processes, while aiming for 50-50 parity in decision-making as recommended by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) in its General Recommendation 40 in 2024.
The civil society briefers may identify good practices and highlight gaps in realising women’s meaningful participation in peacebuilding and conflict resolution, and may share their experiences of participating in peace processes.
Many speakers at tomorrow’s open debate are expected to underscore the importance of women’s full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation in all political and peace processes, including in negotiation and mediation roles, and across the peace continuum. In this regard, the Secretary-General’s most recent annual report on WPS, issued in September 2025, notes that, in 2024, women made up 14 percent of mediators and only seven percent of negotiators on average worldwide, while nearly nine out of ten negotiation tracks included no women negotiators at all.
Tomorrow, several Council members may cite the 2016 Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace signed between the government of Colombia and the former rebel group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) as a positive example of a gender-responsive and inclusive peace process. Some speakers might also mention the “Common Pledge for Women’s Full, Equal, and Meaningful Participation in Peace Processes” launched during the 2024 annual open debate on WPS. Through this initiative, and in recognition of the changing mediation landscape, the Secretary-General invited mediation actors, including member states, regional organisations, and others, to commit to concrete steps to advance women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation in all peace processes of which they are a part.
While protection issues are not expected to be the main focus of tomorrow’s meeting, several members may express concern about the devastating consequences for women and girls in crises and armed conflict—including in Afghanistan, Haiti, Lebanon, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Sudan, and Yemen—and condemn all forms of gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence. Some members may stress the link between protection and participation, including that women’s full participation in public and political life depends on the presence of a safe and enabling environment, free from violence and reprisals.
Several speakers might reflect on the broader climate of heightened concern for the WPS agenda and more broadly for women’s rights, gender equality, humanitarian action, and international law. (For background, see the brief on WPS in our June 2026 Monthly Forecast.) Some may stress the importance of continuing to extend support to women’s civil society organisations, including through direct and predictable funding.
Some participants might more broadly urge the international community to increase efforts to strengthen conflict prevention and resolution efforts. Several participants are also likely to reaffirm their support for women’s participation in peacekeeping operations.
Several Council members are expected to highlight specific national and regional policies and programmes to support the implementation of the WPS agenda, such as National Action Plans on WPS, or initiatives in the field of promoting women’s leadership and participation in peace processes. Some members may also stress women’s economic empowerment, education, and development; the reduction of inequality; and the eradication of poverty as essential for both gender equality and peace.
Some participants might also note that there has yet to be a woman Secretary-General in the UN’s 80-year history and note that the current selection process for the next Secretary-General could be an opportunity to rectify this.
Tomorrow’s open debate takes place in the context of difficult Council dynamics on WPS and human rights. While several members, particularly among the signatories to the Shared Commitments, have continued to advocate for the retention of WPS language in Council outcomes, the US has regularly sought the deletion of references to gender or their substitution with narrower references, converging with Russia’s longstanding resistance to incorporating extensive references to WPS and human rights in Council outcomes. As a result, negotiations on these issues have become more contentious, with outcomes reflecting compromises that result in less robust language.
