Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks to the Security Council at the occasion of the open debate on women, peace and security, in New York today:
First, let me begin by wishing everyone a happy UN Day.
Every year, in this Chamber, the global community reaffirms its commitment to ensuring women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in conflict prevention, resolution, and recovery, and to upholding their rights during times of war.
Yet, progress remains dishearteningly slow. Peace and security decision-making is overwhelmingly dominated by men. And ending impunity for atrocities against women and girls is still but a distant goal. And the past year has been especially difficult.
In Gaza, tens of thousands of Palestinian women and girls have been killed and injured amidst continued war and a terrible humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, the plight of Israeli women still held hostage demands urgent action to ensure their safety and immediate release.
In Lebanon, an escalation of destruction and displacement threatens women and girls’ safety and livelihood. In Sudan, women are enduring extreme suffering, facing not only the loss of loved ones but also the dire lack of access to essential services and medical care.
I reiterate the Secretary-General’s calls: Civilians must be protected, civilian infrastructure must not be targeted, and international law must be upheld. The United Nations remains steadfast. We will not look away or lose hope. The women, peace and security agenda will always guide our work and show a path forward. Despite attacks on our offices and the detention and killings of our staff in unprecedented numbers, allow me to honour the work of my colleagues and share examples of what they do.
In peacekeeping missions, the women, peace and security agenda are a key political and strategic imperative. Our teams work tirelessly to help protect and assist women – from relocating human rights defenders to aiding women after their release from abduction by armed groups, from ensuring women’s representation in local dialogues to helping bring justice to women in places where sexual violence has long been met with impunity.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, 57 per cent of cases supported by the Mission’s Prosecution Support Cells in 2023 involved conflict-related sexual violence, contributing to the conviction of dozens of members of armed groups and State security forces.
In Abyei, earlier this year, one third of participants in a post-migration conference were women – this was a first. In the Central African Republic, the Mission is helping mobilize women for local elections that have not been held in 38 years.
Deploying more diverse teams to peacekeeping operations has helped us deliver better on our mandates. The representation of women in most categories of uniformed personnel has doubled in the last five years, and initiatives have been put in place to foster gender-responsive work environments for all peacekeepers.
Yet, much more remains to be done to improve the gender balance of our deployments and reap the benefits of inclusion and diversity. Success in peacekeeping hinges on the political support from Member States, especially those with the great honour of sitting in this Chamber to protect international peace and security.
I commend the efforts of the United Arab Emirates to empower women in peace and security. This initiative has provided training and capacity building opportunities for over 600 women from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in military and peacekeeping. The UN is a proud partner in these efforts that advance the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
Throughout the world, the UN reaches millions of displaced women and girls and survivors of violence with food, medical support, legal aid, shelter, access to safe spaces, psychosocial support, education, and jobs and livelihood opportunities.
Yesterday, survivors of conflict-related sexual violence from many war-torn corners of the globe gathered for a Survivor’s Hearing to mark the fifteenth anniversary of resolution 1888 (2009). Effective protection from sexual violence is fundamental to women’s effective participation in peacebuilding, conflict recovery, and sustainable development that leaves no one behind.
None of this would happen without women’s organizations in the front lines of crises and we are trying to find ways of channelling more resources to them. The Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund has supported over 1,300 local women’s civil society organizations since 2016, nearly half of them accessing UN funds for the first time, and 582 women human rights defenders and their families.
Last year, the Secretary-General invited all partners to contribute to the goal of raising $300 million for women’s organizations in conflict-affected countries. We still have a long way to go to get there. Forty per cent of all funding of the $25 million GBV-focused grant by the Central Emergency Response Fund to UN Women and UNFPA [United Nations Population Fund] was sub-granted to local women’s organizations and delivered remarkable results, a powerful demonstration that localization is both feasible and effective. The Peacebuilding Fund has now exceeded its internal target allocation of 30 per cent to gender equality for seven years in a row.
We know that the inclusion of women and gender-related provisions in peace processes not only advances gender equality, but also results in more durable peace agreements. From Guatemala to Northern Ireland, from Colombia to Liberia, research has shown how women in formal processes worked with diverse women’s groups to not only reach an agreement but also to strengthen the substance of peace agreements and opportunities for implementation.
Yet, women remain starkly underrepresented from peace negotiations and conflict resolution efforts – including in some of the most intractable conflicts over the last year. Historical data underscores this challenge: between 1992 and 2019, women constituted only 13 per cent of negotiators and 6 per cent of mediators in major peace processes.
More recent data from UN Women for 2023 shows that women on average made up less than ten per cent of peace negotiators and 13.5 per cent of mediators. The processes in Libya and Yemen, where conflict parties have not included women, highlight a continued resistance to progress.
In Afghanistan, the regression of women’s rights highlights the severe impact of excluding women from governance – and society altogether. It is imperative that we reinforce our resolve to support women in Afghanistan and elsewhere, advocating for their rights, agency and inclusion at every opportunity.
Collective action and solidarity are crucial. In today’s broader global mediation landscape, the United Nations is not always present. In fact, a diverse set of regional, State and other mediation actors initiates and leads mediation processes.
Many contexts feature joint or overlapping peace initiatives. This means that no single mediator can affect global and meaningful change on women’s participation. It is why, today, on behalf of the Secretary-General, I am pleased to launch the “Common Pledge on Women’s Participation in Peace Processes”, an initiative that brings together a broad array of mediation actors. By endorsing this Common Pledge, Member States, regional organizations and other mediation actors commit to join the United Nations in taking concrete steps on women’s participation in all peace processes they are involved in.
These commitments include: appointing women as lead mediators and ensuring women are an integral part of mediation teams; ensuring mediators advocate with conflict parties for concrete targets and measures that promote women’s direct and meaningful participation in peace processes, including as members of their delegations; consulting with a broad range of women leaders and women-led civil society organizations in all stages of peace processes; and embedding gender expertise in their mediation teams to foster gender-responsive peace processes and agreements.
This Pledge targets mediating entities and is intended as an operational initiative, and not another general statement of principle. It focuses on measures and decisions that are under the control of mediators and their organizations.
The Secretary-General invites Member States, regional organizations and other actors who are actively engaged in mediation to join this initiative and report on their progress at next year’s twenty-fifth anniversary Security Council open debate on women, peace and security.
We have no illusions about the challenges posed by today’s geopolitical landscape and the complexity of achieving diplomatic outcomes. As long as gendered power inequalities, patriarchal social structures, systematic biases, violence and discrimination continues to hold back half our societies, peace will remain elusive.
Yet, our collective experience has shown that progress is possible. Together, we can have an impact that is greater than the sum of our individual efforts. By leveraging our respective political capital and roles, let us dismantle the patriarchal power structures and advance gender equality, ensuring women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in political and public life. Thank you.
