PeaceRep analysis informs UN Secretary-General report on women, peace and security

Once again, PeaceRep research informed the UN Secretary-General’s report for the annual debate on women, peace and security.

The report draws on PeaceRep research to illustrate the slow progress in women’s participation and inclusion in peace processes. The report, released in September 2023, informed the annual UN Security Council Open Debate on 25 October 2023.

The Open Debate on Security Council Resolution 1325[i] has taken place every year since the adoption of the resolution in 2000. The debate aims to further the women, peace and security agenda. The focus of this year’s meeting was ‘Women’s participation in international peace and security: from theory to practice’.

The debate was informed by the annual report of the Secretary-General António Guterres on women and peace and security. In his report, Guterres noted that displacement and conflict can ‘turn back the clock on women’s rights’. Once again, the report[ii] draws on PeaceRep research to illustrate trends in women’s participation and inclusion in peace processes. The report includes a chart drawn from the PA-X Peace Agreements Database version 7, showing the percentage of peace agreements with gender provisions from 2000–2022. The report also cites analysis from a recent blogpost by Laura Wise and Fiona Knäussel, ‘(Still) Searching for Gender Perspectives in Peace Agreements’.

PeaceRep research is cited on page 3, point 8:

Trend data since 1990 show that seldom are representatives of women’s groups found as signatories of agreements. Of 18 peace agreements reached in 2022, only one (according to independent research) was signed or witnessed by a representative of a women’s group or organization.

PeaceRep research is also cited on page 5, point 13:

Peace agreements are key to creating the foundation for an inclusive and sustainable future. Research suggests that in 2022, 6 of the 18 peace agreements reached, or 33 per cent, included provisions referring to women, girls and gender. This is a similar proportion to recent years, with the proportion of agreements that include gender references plateauing between 20 and 35 per cent each year…

The report also includes further analysis from PeaceRep of substantive references to women’s participation in those peace agreements, and the difficulties of implementing those provisions in Sudan.

Read the research behind the report
(Still) Searching for Gender Perspectives in Peace Agreements

Local Peace Processes: Opportunities and Challenges for Women’s Engagement

Read the full UN Security Council report
Report of the Secretary-General: Women, peace and security

References

[i] Security Council Resolution 1325

[ii] UN Security Council Report of the Secretary-General: Women and peace and security