Delivering on WPS: Consolidating Implementation and Accountability in a Fragmented Security Landscape

Welcome. Excellencies, distinguished diplomats, and guests, a warm welcome to everyone to the annual ministerial event of the Women, Peace, and Security Focal Points Network, as well as those joining us virtually. Hello, all out there on UN Web TV. My name is Pamela Falk. I'm a resident here, resident UN correspondent of U.S. News and World Report, and I am honored to be your moderator for the opening session. There's a moderator for the second session. This event is taking place 26 years after the adoption of a resolution 1325 that most of you know, and the Women, Peace and Security agenda. For me, it's particularly fitting. I know many of you here and have worked with UN Women, but it is also the year that I came to the United Nations 26 years ago. It marks the 10th anniversary of the network, which has grown exponentially from 45 founding members to 112 members, including 101 member states and 11 regional organizations. I want to recognize the co-chairs, Italy and the Philippines, whose theme for this year is delivering on women, peace and security in a fragmented security landscape. It's a tough topic. It is prescient given our current political and global environment. We are in a tenuous moment for multilateralism. UN Women serves as the network's secretariat, and in their recently released gender snapshot, they noted that 756 million women and girls live within 50 kilometers of at least one armed conflict in 2025. UN Women also tracked that the percentage of women who signed peace agreements in 2024 was on average about 20%. When you take away women's signatures from Colombia, that number falls to 7%. From the vantage point of a journalist who has been here for a quarter of a century, what I can do is commend the work of the UN Women and the Women, Peace and Security Network that has really kept their eyes on the prize, and that is defending women's rights in a very tough time. there is some room for hope and action. There are 117 countries and territories that have adopted Women, Peace and Security National Action Plans over the past 26 years. As a follow-up to this network's eighth capital-level meeting held in Rome this past June, We have a task ahead of us today to discuss how governments and regional organizations can fully integrate the WPS pillars of prevention. participation and protection, as well as relief and recovery into the defense and security decision making. A tall task. We have a packed agenda and I urge speakers to keep to their allotted time. Without further ado, I would like to give the floor to Her Excellency Maria Teresa Lazaro, who I just spoke with, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, to deliver opening remarks. Ms. Lazaro, you have the floor.

Thank you very much to our moderator. Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Philippines as co-chair of the Women, Peace and Security Focal Points Network, it is my honor to welcome you to this ministerial level side event. I extend my warmest greetings to Her Excellency also Sima Bahous, Executive Director of the UN Women and Secretariat of the Network. Our esteemed former chairs of the WPS Focal Points Networks, fellow ministers and senior representatives, colleagues from the UN and regional organizations, and our valued civil society partners, including women, peacebuilders, and young leaders present with us this afternoon. This gathering is especially meaningful as 2026 marks the 10th anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security Focal Points Network. Over the past decade, the network has grown into the world's largest platform dedicated to advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Today, it brings together 111 members, as has been mentioned, And this growth reflects a shared commitment to advancing women's leadership and participation in peace and security efforts around the world. Yet this milestone comes at a time of profound challenges. The global peace and security landscape is increasingly fragmented. The world is facing 65 active conflicts, rising interstate tensions, shrinking civic space, and growing pressures on multilateral institutions. Peace processes are becoming increasingly transactional, often narrowing opportunities for inclusive participation and sustainable peace. The impact is felt most acutely by those living through conflict. Today, approximately 120 million Women and girls require humanitarian assistance and protection worldwide. Conflict related sexual violence continues to rise. Women, peacebuilders and human rights defenders remain on the front lines of prevention, mediation, humanitarian response and recovery, often under difficult and dangerous conditions. These realities reinforce the urgency of the WPS agenda. At a time when multilateralism is under strain, the WPS agenda provides a practical framework for conflict prevention, stronger institutions and sustainable peace. The challenges before us require cooperation, political commitment and meaningful partnerships across governments, international organizations and civil society. This conclusion guided the eighth capital-level meeting of the Network held in Rome last June, under the co-chairship of Italy and the Philippines. In Rome, members reaffirmed the need to move from commitments to implementation. The joint communique called for greater investment in gender responsive conflict prevention, stronger support for women led organizations and deeper integration of WPS priorities into defense and security planning. It also underscored the importance of addressing emerging challenges from responsible artificial intelligence and technology, facilitated gender-based violence on climate-related security risks and disaster risk reduction. Excellencies, as we begin today's ministerial discussion, our objective is clear. The next decade of this network must be defined by implementation and accountability. Silence and inaction are not an option. Our discussions today should therefore focus on concrete actions and measurable commitments. How will we strengthen political leadership for WPS? How will we sustain financing that matches the scale of today's challenges? How will we ensure that the WPS core pillars, that is prevention, participation, protection and relief and recovery, are fully integrated into our security institutions and national strategies? As co-chair, the Philippines remains committed to helping shape the network's next chapter. We will continue to champion stronger accountability for implementation, greater investment in women-led peacekeeping, peacebuilding and conflict prevention, and integration of WPS priorities across security, defense and foreign policy institutions. At home, we are working to further institutionalize the WPS agenda through strengthened implementation of the national action plan, deeper localization efforts and initiatives that will help sustain WPS commitments across administrations and levels of governance. Our commitment is informed by experience. The Philippines peace process has demonstrated the transformative impact of women's leadership. The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which paved the way toward lasting peace in Mindanao, remains the only agreement in the world signed by a woman, chief government negotiator and peace mediator. We have also seen women continue to lead peace building efforts, including through the Kapatiran peace process, which is headed by a woman. This experience is a firm principle at the heart of the WPS agenda. The women are architects of peace. Looking ahead, the Philippines is committed to sustaining momentum beyond this anniversary year. Under our ASEAN chairship, we look forward to convening the ASEAN Women Peace and Security Conference in October, bringing together regional partners to advance cooperation and action. In November, the Philippines will also host a thematic meeting of the network, creating another opportunity to strengthen peer learning, deepen implementation, and advance accountability. As the network enters its second decade, it has built on the progress we have achieved and expanded our collective impact. We have made meaningful progress, but much more has to be done. Let us anchor the WPS agenda firmly within our institutions and multilateral processes, ensuring that international agreements are not just words on paper, but realities felt in the daily lives of women. Finally, let us continue to demonstrate that investing in women's participation is a strategic imperative for building more inclusive societies and more durable peace. Thank you, and I wish you all a productive discussion. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Minister Lazaro, for insightful comments. I want to also, as we turn to Italy now as the co-chair, acknowledge the USG who is here, Pramila Patton, we'll hear from you later, and also to thank Harriet Williams uh, Bright, who has, without whom this wouldn't be happening. So, thank you very much. Um, we now turn to Ms. Alessandra, uh, Molina, the Deputy Director General, Central Director for the UN Human Rights and International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Italy. She is also the co-chair of 2026 of the WPS. The floor is yours. Thank you.

Thank you so much, honorable co-chair, distinguished ministers and representatives of international regional organization, Madam Executive Director of UN Women, Special Representative, members of civil society, ladies and gentlemen, friends, also on my behalf, a very warm welcome to today's meeting. Just three months ago, we hosted in Rome the eighth high-level meeting of the Network of National Focal Points for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda on the occasion of the network's 10th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of Resolution 1325. We keep working in this path today in New York with a high and valuable attendance by so many member states and international and regional organizations. Thanks again. The agenda stems from collective work built over time. Shared priorities emerged from our meeting in Rome, strengthening national action plans and making them verifiable. integrating the agenda into defense and security planning, supporting women's organizations working in humanitarian crisis, ensuring the effective participation of women in peace processes, and strengthening the link with the youth, peace, and security agenda so that younger generations are involved in decisions that affect them. The international context, increasingly fragmented, calls for concrete action, as the Minister just said. 120 million women and girls need humanitarian assistance today. while the organizations supporting them risk closing for lack of resources. Cases of conflict-related sexual violence verified by the United Nations have more than doubled in the past year. These data are a call to action for the network. In 2026, Italy co-chaired and co-chairs the network with the Philippines with two objectives: preserving the normative framework built over 25 years and orienting our work towards the future. Today, we invite all members to translate the commitments from the joint communique of the eighth meeting into measurable practice. In the coming months, Italy will keep working on four fronts. Supporting the Italian network for international mediation so that the standards of the agenda are part of every mediation process in which we participate. Implementing the fifth national action plan, which will guide our foreign and defense policy until 2029. supporting the reform of the Security Council, the body that launched this agenda, and renewing our financial contribution to women's organizations in crisis contexts. I wish to thank the Philippines for the great cooperation during our co-chairship and UN Women for its consistent and constant support as the network secretariat. Thanks also to all those who contributed to making today's event possible and so well attended. I look forward to hearing all speakers. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you so much, Director Molina, for very insightful comments. And I do have to now just commend both Italy and the Philippines for an incredible year, very successful. And we are now turning to one of our good friends here at the United Nations. Seema Bahous is the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. We all know her very well and her cooperation with so many different events. And the Executive Director of UN Women, which is, of course, the network, the WPS's secretariat. USG Bahous, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Excellencies, all protocols observed. I would like to start by thanking Her Excellency Maria Teresa Lazaro of the Philippines and Deputy Director General Alessandra Molina of Italy for their remarks and for co-chairing the Women, Peace and Security Focal Points Network this year. My thanks also to Japan, to Ambassador Takahashi, And also to Norway and to the Deputy Foreign Minister, who I think is late for this meeting, but he should be showing up soon. I need to thank him. Both are our troika members. And I also would like to thank all past chairs of this network. Ten years ago, this network had 45 members. Today, it has 112. As you continue to expand as a network, UN Women is honored to serve as your secretariat. We warmly welcome Albania, Iceland, Kyrgyzstan, Mozambique, Tanzania, and the League of Arab States. I salute the women peacebuilders who work every day to prevent violence, bring people together, and sustain peace. I very much look forward to hearing from you today. Excellencies, 81 years after the signing of the UN Charter and 26 years after Security Council Resolution 1325, we know that women help make peace more durable. Yet, they remain too often absent from decisions about war, about peace, and about recovery. This network exists to close this gap. 91% of its members have adopted national action plans on women, peace and security. You support women peacebuilders and are strengthening conflict prevention and transitional justice. This is progress we can build on. The need, however, continues to be urgent. In Afghanistan, in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in Gaza, in Ukraine, and Sudan, and many more, women and girls continue to bear the weight of conflict. As conflicts multiply, we must ensure that women have a place at every peace table. We know that with their leadership, we can achieve much. From Burundi to Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste to Colombia, women have helped societies move towards peace. Their place in shaping this peace must be secured. Take this commitment, and this takes commitment also. It also takes investment. At your meeting in Rome, you considered a stark imbalance, I recall. Global military spending reached nearly US $2.9 trillion in 2025, while nearly half of women's organizations in conflict setting risks closing within six months. More than 60% are worse off than a year ago, as was reported. If we can mobilize resources for war, I don't know why we can't mobilize resources for peace. I believe we can and we must. UN Women calls for investment in women, in peace, in security, of at least 0.07% of national military spending. This is an investment in women's leadership. It is an investment in prevention. It is an investment in lasting peace. Members of this network are showing us the way. Through this network, you are bringing women, peace, and security into defense and security plans, including work on climate and disaster risk reduction, maritime security, and artificial intelligence. You are funding women organizations and tracking that support. You are appointing women to peace talks, backing mediation that includes them, and seeks parity in your own teams. These are choices that give women peacebuilders and survivors the backing they deserve. Over 10 years, this network has built a shared commitment. We must now carry it further, bring women into decisions on peace, bring more women into decisions on peace, and invest in their leadership to sustain it, and more investment in their leadership to sustain it. UN Women stands with you all. And together, let us make peace more inclusive, more durable, and more possible for all. I thank you.

I thank USG Bahous. inspired words, and it's rare that a journalist can call something remarkable, but it's been a remarkable ascent of this WPS and within the UN Women context. So hats off. It is now my distinct pleasure to introduce our civil society speaker sitting right here next to me, Mary Akhrami, whose homeland of Afghanistan represents a marked example of what the absence of WPS principles, meaning women's leadership and participation, can mean for women and girls in an entire country. We spoke just before I told her Please understand there is a lot of support in this room for what you do. She is the founder and director of Afghan Women's Skill Development Center. Ms. Akhrami, you have the floor.

Thank you so much. Good afternoon. Salaam alaikum, Excellency, distinguished colleagues, and dear women peacebuilders. Thank you for giving Afghan women a voice in this important conversation. I speak today not only as an Afghan woman and a woman human rights defender, but as someone who has spent more than two decades working with women affected by conflict, violence, displacement, and exclusion. Afghanistan reminds us of a fundamental lesson of of the women, peace, and security agenda. Women cannot be protected by excluding them from decisions about peace and security. And women cannot meaningfully participate if they are not safe. Protection and participation must go together. For Half One Woman, this is not an obstacle principle. We have experienced what happened when women's voices are removed from political, peace, humanitarian, and security process. Women were once negotiating, leading organizations, providing humanitarian assistance, mediating within community, protecting survivors of violence, and contributing to peace process. Today, millions of Afghan women and girls face systematic restrictions on their rights and participation. But Afghan women have not disappeared. Inside Afghanistan, women continue to educate, organize, provide assistance, document violations, supporting their communities and resist peacefully, often at enormous personal risk. and Afghan women and diaspora continue to advocate, organize, and keep the voices of Afghan women inside Afghanistan connecting with the international community. So my call to member states and regional organizations is very concrete. First, make protection a political priority. Protect women human rights defenders women peace builders, humanitarian workers, and women lead organizations. Protection must include safe access to humanitarian and protection services, emergency support, and accountability for violence. Second, make women's participation a requirement, not an option. Half one woman must be at the table and discussion about Afghanistan future, peace, security, humanitarian response, and recovery do not speak about women without women. And for those working in defense and security decisions making, I ask you to move WPS from policy document into security practices. When women peace builders identify risk early, they are often identifying the very risk the security systems later have no response to. Third, invest directly in women lead organizations who know what works. Flexible and accessible funding mechanisms such as women, peace, and humanitarian funds have demonstrated the value of investing directly in local women organizations and peace builders, women, peace, and humanitarian funds. Funding should not only arrive when a crisis becomes visible. It must sustain the women who are preventing crisis, protecting community, and building peace every day. My message to Afghan people, both inside the country and in the diaspora, is also simple. We must remain connected, support one another, protect our unity, and keep Afghan women's voices at the center of our country's future. And to women peacebuilders around the world, especially those working in places where your rights and safety are under attack, please know that you are not alone. Continue building solidarity across borders, share knowledge, create safe networks, and never allow the world to normalize your exclusion. Finally, to all of us in this room, five years of Afghanistan should teach us that silence is not a strategy and exclusion is not peace. Let us not only promise women a seat at the table, Let us protect them enough to reach the table. Re-secure them and encourage to stay there and give them genuine influence over the decisions that shape their lives. That is how we turn women, peace and security from a commitment into action. Thank you so much.

You are a brave woman. Thank you very much, Ms. Akhrami. It's a tough time, and your insights are very important. I now would like to turn to co-chairs. As the network observes, the WPS network observes its 10th anniversary, it has had 13 chairs that have made unique contributions to shape this network into what it is today, the largest global network of member states and regional organizations sharing best practices and collaborating to advance women, peace, and security. I am very pleased to welcome the past chairs of the network to reflect on how to advance the agenda into the next decade. We are first going to turn to Japan as the 2026 troika member and 2025 co-chair. I welcome Ambassador Katsuhiko Takahashi as the extraordinary ambassador and plenipotentiary for women, peace and security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. The floor is yours.

Thank you. Excellencies, ministers, distinguished participants, let me begin by expressing my appreciation to co-chairs Italy and the Philippines and the UN Women as its secretariat for convening today's meeting. I am pleased to have this opportunity today to address you in the capacity of co-chair of the last year with Norway. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Focal Points Network. Over the past decade, the FPN has expanded its membership, while the number of WPS national action plans and regional action plans has also continued to grow. It is quite encouraging. This progress reflects the FPN's important role in driving international discussions on WPS and in highlighting its importance. We will continue to strengthen the FPN as a robust network and reinforce our solidarity so that the WPS agenda can be translated into concrete and sustained implementation. As Japan was the first co-chair from Asia, We have contributed to other things, WPS, especially in the Asia Pacific region, including through support for the development of national action plans. Another agenda was disaster risk reduction and WPS. Today, not only are the conflicts around the world, but also natural disasters and climate changes are having a profound impact on national security and the safety and well-being of individuals or human security. As a country frequently affected by natural disasters, Japan has incorporated WPS perspective into disaster risk reduction and has repeatedly advocated the application of WPS principle to it. It is encouraging to see growing international recognition of the importance of disaster response as one of the emerging areas of the WPS agenda, including the Rome Communique issued in June this year. Japan remains strongly committed to further advancing WPS in disaster risk reduction and response. Distinguished delegates, to further raise awareness of the WPS agenda and increase women's participation in decision making at all levels and across sectors, it is essential to engage and nurture the next generation. With this in mind, Japan has been implementing the Gender Next Generation Network program since 2025, with a focus on empowering and developing young people. Japan will work together with all countries for the effective implementation of the WPS agenda and for lasting global peace. Let us continue to stand united and advance the WPS agenda together. Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Thank you so much, Ambassador, and thank you for Japan's contribution. I now turn to Ms. Ana Alonso. Ambassador for Feminist Foreign Policy of Spain, the initiator and 2017 chair. The floor is yours, Embajadora. Over here.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Ten years ago, Spain launched the beginning of the Women, Peace and Security Focal Points Network with a clear conviction that it was necessary to move from words to action and to bring the Women, Peace and Security agenda closer to the reality on the ground. Today, Under the successful presidency of Italy and the Philippines, we reiterate our determination to continue supporting this agenda. This agenda is more valid now than ever. It is fundamental for getting to know our societies. And as Gloria Steinem said, it is easy to see how peaceful and democratic a society is, the easiest way to do this is to see how a society treats its women and what role women occupy in society. This year, Spain has introduced a new plan of action under women, peace, and security, and this centers around a center of gravity, measurable actions, quantifiable actions, the effective implementation of our plan falls to the whole government of Spain. The government of Spain will have to account for fulfilling this agenda in the medium term and also at the end of the plan. Ultimately, accounts will have to be presented to the legislature, to the Parliament. Furthermore, today, at a time of cutbacks in global financing all over the world, Spain is continuing to support the funds and programs of the United Nations tasked with implementing this agenda and the gender equality policies. Last year, Spain's contribution to UN Women was more than 11 million euros and this year we shall be increasing that further to reach more than 13 million euros. We have also approved a voluntary contribution of 100 million euros aimed at the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on sexual violence in conflict. and we will be increasing this contribution in 2027. Furthermore, we have also allocated 500,000 euros for the Fund for Peace and Humanitarian Aid of UN Women to offer support for those women who are actually implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda on the front line, on the ground.

Microphone for the speaker, please.

Thank you very much.

Sorry, but the microphone is being cut off.

Assembly, there is a cutoff point for the contributions, so I apologize in advance for the efficiency of this panel. We now turn So thank you very much. And we thank Spain very, very much. To Switzerland, Ambassador Paul Garnier, the Assistant Secretary General for U.N. Affairs, is here with us. Also the former chair of the 2024 Leadership Quad and 2022 co-chair. Welcome. The floor is yours.

Thank you, distinguished co-chair. Esteemed participants, Switzerland is honored to be joining you today. Ten years ago, this network was created around a simple idea: political commitments are more robust when countries learn from one another. when they tackle challenges and take action together. Ten years later, this idea is just as current. So we would like to place this agenda at the heart of our security approach. For Switzerland, this begins with prevention. Women are not just agents, actors to be included once a peace process has begun. Their knowledge and their leadership is essential for identifying risks, preventing escalation and for strengthening resilience. This also means that our commitments must be converted into concrete actions. As we have made a commitment under the Secretary General of the United Nations policy, it's not just about asking how many women are present in the room, we should also ask who holds influence, whose expertise is taken seriously, and who is absent from the decisions that affect their lives. Our experience as co-chairs of this network in 2022, alongside South Africa, has strengthened the importance of these questions and the integration of national and civil society perspectives. Finally, we cannot call for women's leadership while leaving women and women's organizations without lasting and predictable support. Switzerland is implementing this through our longstanding support for women who are taking action for the benefit of peace and security. Ladies and gentlemen, for the next 10 years, this network should contribute to institutionalizing the lessons that we have learned based on our experience. The women, peace, and security agenda must be fully integrated into foreign policy, into mediation, peace building, and also planning in the area of defense and security so that we can strengthen its efficacy. The next 10 years must lead to peace processes where women can hold real influence on security policies that take account of their realities and institutions that answer to their commitments. I thank you.

Thank you very much, merci, Ambassador Gurnier, and thank you for the Swiss participation in all of these activities and success. I now turn to our neighbor to the north, to Canada, to Mr. Michael Gort, the Ambassador and Deputy Perm Rep of Canada to the United Nations, in addition to having been the 2020 and '21 co-chair. Ambassador Gort, the floor.

Great. Thanks so much, Pamela. And of course, I'd like to start by thanking our dynamic duo of co-chairs, the Philippines and Italy, and of course to the UN, to UN Women for bringing us together today. Pamela, you've already said we were part of this. I won't, we were co-chairs alongside Uruguay in 2020-2021, very proud to have done that. And 10 years on, we see that the network continues to demonstrate a simple but powerful truth. More inclusive approaches to peace and security deliver better results. And this message is especially important today. Conflicts are increasing, civilian casualties are rising, Conflict-related sexual violence surged in 2025. Democratic backsliding continues, and the international rules-based order faces its most significant pressure in decades. Yet this network shows that meaningful international cooperation remains possible. Countries from every region continue to work together to address shared challenges and to advance practical solutions. And this approach resonates strongly with Canada. Under our Prime Minister's leadership, Canada is investing in both longstanding and new partnerships to strengthen our collective security, prosperity, and resilience. And our gathering today is an example of that commitment in action. And Canada's position is clear. Women, peace, and security is not an optional add-on. It is not separate from national security. It is not in competition with defense or economic priorities. It is a strategic enabler of them. Women's meaningful participation strengthens institutions, improves our understanding of threats, reduces blind spots, and builds resilience against disinformation, foreign interference, and instability. And it also helps to forge trusted partnerships we need in an increasingly fragmented world. Indeed, in a period of growing fiscal and geopolitical pressures, the case for WPS is becoming stronger, not weaker. Today, WPS informs our response to challenges that were barely part of the discussion 25 years ago, including climate security, artificial intelligence, and hybrid warfare. And the task before us, therefore, is not to retreat from our commitments, but to adapt them to a changing security environment. And this is where the focal points network adds real value. Canada remains fully committed to our efforts and it looks forward to working with all of you in the decade ahead. I thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador Gordon. Thank you all for being succinct, and I thank you for Canada's participation. We now turn to Namibia, to Ambassador Julia Imen Shanduru, Director and Head of the Department of Multilateral Relations and Cooperation of the Ministry of International Relations and Trade of the Republic of Namibia, who was also the 2019 19 chair. Director.

Thank you very much, moderator. Namibia, under whose presidency of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was anonymously adopted, congratulates the Women, Peace and Security Focal Network on its 10th anniversary and is proud to have been a founding member of this important network. We express appreciation to the 2026 co-chairs, Italy and the Philippines, and to the UN Women as secretariat for convening us at this important meeting. More than 25 years ago, our responsibility today is not simply to preserve its legacy, but to ensure its continued implementation. Namibia is currently preparing to develop its second generation National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, following the review of our first plan. We intend for this process to build on the lessons of the implementation and the core values reaffirmed through the Windhoek+25 Declaration adopted during the Silver Anniversary Commemoration of Resolution 1325 hosted in Namibia in 2025. focus will go towards strengthening the linkages between women at the grassroots level and peace and security decision making across all four pillars of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Namibia will therefore continue working to strengthen the integration of women, peace and security priorities into our security sector planning, capacity building and decision making. While Namibia was co-chair of the network in 2019, and our Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and current President, Her Excellency Dr. Neton Bondandindaitwa, announced the establishment of the International Women Peace Center, Namibia was the first African country to co-chair this network, and its International Women Peace Center remains a proud legacy of this time. Following a recent and extensive refurbishment, the center will provide an important platform for building women's capacity for meaningful participation in mediation and peace processes while strengthening national, regional, and international cooperation on women, peace, and security. At the continental level, Namibia will continue to support initiatives such as the SWACOPMUN process initiated by the African Union Peace and Security Council during its, during Namibia's presidency of the council. in March 2024. Under the leadership of her excellence in a tomb and in Daitwa, Namibia's first female president, we are reminded of what becomes possible when women are afforded the opportunity to participate and lead at the highest levels of decision making. We therefore remain committed to ensuring that.

I'm sorry, I've never seen this before, but it seems to be keeping us on time. So please, Ambassador, forgive us. But I thank you for the role of Namibia and the important contribution. I think you were pretty much there. Thank you. We now turn to Romania, who's right here. Elizabeta Maria David, the Director General. Thank you for being here. Also, Romania had the 2023 co-chair and the 2024 leadership quad. So the floor is yours. Thank you for being here.

Thank you so much. Your Excellencies, this year holds a double significance, 26 years since the adoption of the resolution 1325 and 10 years since the founding of this very network. I would like to appreciate all the co-chairs for steering the activity of the network so far. We meet, however, in a landscape far more fragmented than the one that gave birth to this network. New or protracted conflicts, blatant violation of the international law, including the UN Charter, Challenges to multilateralism, a shrinking civic space, rapid technological change, climate change are testing the resilience of the commitments we renew today. For Romania, the WPS agenda is a strong pillar within our defence and security institution. During our co-chairmanship of the Focal Points Network, we co-hosted major global forums in Washington and in Bucharest to counter anti-gender backlash, officially signed the WPS-HA compact to combat text-based security threats. Furthermore, Romania expanded its own domestic military integration by exceeding UN peacekeeping targets and appointing gender focal points across all national military units. With the Ministry of Defense as national coordinator for the WPS agenda, we continue implementing our second national plan built in through consultation with government, civil society, academia, parliamentary structure. Aligned with the commitments reaffirmed earlier in the meeting in Rome, we will keep strengthening women's voice in international negotiation processes. And at the diplomatic level, we continue upholding gender parity within our institution, with 55% of management roles and 41% of head of mission being held by women in 2025. To meet the commitments, the Ministry of Defense will continue the program preparing young women for leadership in defense, public order, and security careers, and for future roles in peacekeeping missions. From 2026 onwards, the program also includes sessions in civilian high schools, with activities aiming to present defense and security careers to all teenagers. Normalizing women's presence in these fields and promoting inclusive leadership will contribute to a generation of empowered women. As for reconstruction pillar, we hold a yearly course on conflict reconstruction with a session on women's active role in the fight against terrorism and post-conflict reconstruction processes. 2025 marked the fifth consecutive year with a course bringing together participants from South Africa, Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritania, Tanzania, Central African Republic, Somalia, Senegal, and the African Union. As we mark 10 years of this network, our responsibility is to defend and strengthen the framework we built with adequate resources, sustained political will, and continuous trust in women. Let us keep building that. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Romania. Let us keep rebuilding that peace is the final words that was cut off. Thank you so much. Thank you, Director General, and for Romania's participation. We are at our last speaker, which is Norway, which is here. Yes, yes, yes. No. All right. Then I have to defer to Harriet. I think we are closing this session. That brings us to the end of this opening session, sadly. Thank you to our speakers, to all of our speakers, and to all of you for listening. And I am pleased to pass on the moderator baton to Ms. Paivi Kanisto, here at the other end, Chief of Peace, Security and Resilience at UN Women. The floor is yours.

Thank you very much. And Big thank you to Pamela Falk for so eloquently moderating us through the opening session. And let me say UN Women is so appreciative to see all of you here. To me, this is how multilateralism looks like, 101 member states and 11 regional organization maintaining international peace and security through advancing women, peace and security. Thank you for being here. You've heard about the Rome meeting. The Rome Communique captured strong recommendations. And as a follow up, we have asked our speakers today to state a key action or commitment that your government and organization will take to increase political engagement, sustain financial support, and strengthen integration of the foundational pillars of a women, peace, and security agenda, participation, protection, and relief and recovery prevention into defense and security decision making. So we are looking forward to the interventions from members. And I am sorry, we are continuing this rude way of cutting of speakers and except the timing is even shorter, it's two minutes now. And I apologize for that. I also apologize that I will probably mispronounce your names and I'm so sorry about that in advance. So, but before we go to member interventions, we are very pleased to have with us here, as we had in Rome, Ms. Pramila Patten, UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. So please, SRS-G Patten, floor is yours.

distinguished participants, the WPS agenda has never been more relevant or more severely tested. It faces an unprecedented crisis driven by severe funding shortfalls, rising militarization, and political rollbacks. The Secretary-General's latest annual report on CRSV reflects a world in crisis, marked by intensifying conflict, military spending, arms proliferation, record levels of forced displacement, geopolitical divide, shrinking civic space, and growing attacks against women rights defenders and gender equality norms. In 2025, the number of cases documented more than doubled from the previous year, with women and girls accounting for 88% of victims. Life-saving programs are being defunded right when needs are mounting. Today, women are disappearing from peace and mediation processes. In Sudan, across myriad diplomatic initiatives, not a single Sudanese woman participated in actual negotiations. In Ukraine, only men feature in peace talks. Sadly, as the new mediation landscape sidelines the United Nations, women's exclusion worsens. Last year, the UN led only three peace processes compared to 14, 15 years ago. Since the establishment of this mandate 17 years ago, we have transformed the understanding of conflict-related sexual violence into a critical peace and security issue. These hard-won gains must be protected. We must move beyond rhetoric to resolute action by investing in sustainable and predictable financing for holistic services for survivors, ensuring accountability by enhancing reporting, investigation, and prosecution, and ensuring women's meaningful participation in peace processes as vital stakeholders. Excellencies, the road ahead demands courage, compassion, and unwavering commitment. Women's leadership, participation, and protection are not peripheral concerns, but strategic imperatives essential for sustainable peace.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, SRS G. Patten. And now moving to members' interventions. And the first one I'm calling here, His Excellency Minister Sjoerdsma of the Netherlands.

Please.

Thank you. And my friends, in armed conflicts today, it is probably more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier. Women and girls are the first to feel the impact of the war, yet they are the last to be included in a solution, and that's why the Dutch commitment to women, peace, and security agenda remains unwavering. we have three priorities. First, participation. In the Netherlands, we try to increase women's participation in security forces. But women are not only crucial to security. They also play an essential role in securing lasting peace. That's why we support initiatives to bring women to the table. In Sudan, we supported women-led peace groups, even though they did not reach the table, as Pramila just said. In Ukraine, the Women's Fund. But also, participation starts here, the UN. But alarmingly, the number of civil society briefers to the Security Council has decreased. And I stress, we can only amplify a voice if it's allowed to be expressed. Our second priority is protection. Sexual violence and using it as a weapon of war is always unacceptable. And as Pramila said, this must stop. Perpetrators must be held accountable. That's why survivors are at the heart of our response. We support health and mental health services, and we work to ensure that sexual violence is addressed in accountability mechanisms. And third, funding. Across the globe, funding is decreasing, and women-led organizations are crucial to reach people others cannot reach. We will be increasing our funding over the coming years, and I call upon everyone else to do the same. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Minister. Next, I'm asking Her Excellency Minister Mahoi of Sierra Leone to speak. Please.

Sierra Leone has adopted three national action plans on the WPS agenda. We have also aligned the NAP with our national priorities and also the medium-term national development plan, which also has used the WPS as an enabler to human capital development. We have made significant achievements. We have adopted legislative and policy frameworks. we have enacted several laws and with those laws we are now implementing because you cannot have laws without implementing them but we are also mindful that there are strategies that we should work together especially with the security sector. We have seen an increase in the percentage of women in security sector holding decision-making processes. However, significant challenges still remain. We have also strengthened GVB prevention and response. We and we want to ensure that every woman and girl have access to services in Sierra Leone. The challenges that remain, we Looking forward to get more data, because without data, you will not be informed to undertake policies. Also, the limited financial gap, and also ensuring that women are also at the center of peacekeeping operations. This is what Sierra Leone has done, and we continue to focus our commitment to ensuring no woman or girl is left behind. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Minister. Next, I'm calling His Excellency Minister Fern of Malta. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. Peace negotiations shape who exercises power, contribute to how security is organized and how communities rebuild. Women must contribute to these decisions while the choices are still open and not just be invited to speak once they are settled. Women, peace and security remains a key priority for Malta. Following our service on the United Nations Security Council and our OSCE chairmanship, we continue to focus on keeping our commitments at home and internationally. Last December, Malta launched our second national action plan, providing a practical framework for our work until 2030. Development through consultations with government entities developed through consultations with government entities, disciplined forces, academia and civil society. It is built on four pillars, promotion, prevention, participation as well as relief and recovery. Our commitment extends beyond the national level. Malta serves as focal point on gender provisions under the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons until the end of this year. Political commitment needs to be backed by resources. Malta continues to support international implementation of this agenda through financial contribution to partners, including UN Women and the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. Sustaining this work requires more than reaffirming our commitments. It requires measurable action and a willingness to hold ourselves accountable. This means looking honestly at whether our institutions are actually changing how they work and whether women have meaningful influence in peace and security processes. As we work with our partners to advance this agenda, these are questions that Malta must answer to. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you, Minister. Next, I'm asking Her Excellency Minister Athanase of Tanzania, please. Okay, not in the room. Then kindly asking Her Excellency Minister Obaid Islam of Bangladesh. Please go ahead.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, we thank the Philippines, Italy and UN Women for convening the meeting. As we mark 25 years of Security Council Resolution 1325, its unfinished agenda remains as urgent as ever. In 2000, Bangladesh, as an elected Council member, played a pioneering role in garnering support for the resolution and bringing gender issues within the Council's jurisdiction. Since then, progress has been made in advancing women's meaningful participation in conflict resolution and peace building. Yet, peace tables and security institutions remain male dominated, while women continue to bear disproportionate burdens in crisis. This makes renewed action and stronger implementation imperative. Bangladeshi women carry a proud legacy of courage and leadership. The biranginas of our liberation war made extraordinary sacrifices for the independence of our country. Our first female prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, made a significant contribution to women's political participation and girls' education. Today, our women contribute across administration, politics, business, judiciary, diplomacy, sports, and culture. Building on this legacy, the government under Prime Minister Tariq Rahman is advancing women's empowerment through farmers and family cards, free education for girls to postgraduate level, entrepreneurship, skills development, and employment. These efforts complement our commitments under the WPS agenda. We adopted the first WPS national action plan in 2019 and are developing the second one. Globally, our women contribute to UN peacekeeping. We remain committed to CEDAW and actively engage in global initiatives.

Including the Beijing Declaration and Action Plan. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Honorable Minister. Thank you. And next, I am asking Her Excellency Minister Al-Maksoumi of Somalia, please.

For Somalia, women, peace and security is not only policy agenda. It is about the daily lives of women, families and community affected by conflict and insecurity. Women are often among those who carry the greatest burden of conflict. At the same time, they are also peace builders, mediators, community leaders, and important part of prevention and recovery. For this reason, Somalia believes that women should not only have the presence of peace and security discussion, they must have a real voice in the decision that shapes the peace. Our national action plan helped strengthen the role of women and peacebuilding, mediation, and prevention. We are now building on this experience through our second-generation national action plan. Allow me to highlight the three priorities. First, we are working to strengthen responsibility and monitoring so that the implementation can be measured clearly. Second, we will continue supporting women peace network across our federal member state, where the women are working directly with the communities. Third, we will continue promoting women's and participation in our police and security institution and the strength, the integration of women, peace and security into the security and defense planning.

For Somalia, the direction is clear.

From participation to leadership, from plans to implementation, and from commitment to result for women and.

Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Next, I am calling His Excellency Minister Ali Nafti of Tunisia. Okay, I think we wait a little bit. In that case, let me call Her Excellency Minister Mutsvanga of Zimbabwe.

Thank you, Chair. Chair, the government of the Republic of Zimbabwe reaffirms its commitment to the women, peace, and security agenda. This is an essential component of sustainable peace, national cohesion, inclusive governance, and sustainable development. Zimbabwe's implementation of the WPS agenda is anchored in the Zimbabwe National Action Plan.

And is supported by the constitution of the country. The government continues to promote women's meaningful participation in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, reconciliation, mediation, and post-conflict.

Recovery, while strengthening measures to protect our women and girls from violence and promote the rights and their security.

There are key initiatives which government is doing, that is.

Strengthening national coordination and implementation, also promoting women's meaningful participation in peace and security decision-making, also capacity.

Building on gender-based violence and the implementation.

Of the National Action Plan. There are also provincial dialogues so that we don't leave anyone behind, the traditional leaders, religious leaders. We are also strengthening community-based peace-building mechanisms. and also leveraging on the role in the United Nations Security Council. The Women, Peace and Security agenda remains a key priority for Zimbabwe, particularly as Zimbabwe strengthen its contribution to global peace and security.

Zimbabwe's tenure as a non-permanent.

Member of the United Nations Security Council provides an important opportunity to advance the principles and commitments. We thank you sincerely for organizing this meeting. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Minister. I am now calling His Excellency Ali Nafti of Minister Tunisia. Please go ahead.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I'm delighted to speak on behalf of the women in Tunisia, which firmly believes that the Women, Peace and Security agenda must now move decisively from commitments to implementation. This conviction is at the heart of Tunisia's second national action plan on Security Council Resolution 1325 or 2025-2030, which places particular emphasis on prevention, women's effective participation, and institutional accountability. For Tunisia, indeed, prevention begins well before conflicts erupts. It means addressing the factor that create vulnerability and exclusion, strengthening the resilience and community, and ensuring that women are fully involved in identifying risks and shaping responses. Our national action plan seeks to further strengthen women's participation in the security, military, diplomatic, and custom sectors, as well as in crisis prevention, mediation, peace building, and decision making. It also reinforces protection mechanism for women and girls before, during, and after crisis. We are equally convinced that women must never be viewed solely as persons affected by conflicts and wars. There are leaders, mediators, diplomats, peacekeepers, peacebuilders, and actors of prevention. Tunisia will therefore continue investing in their capacity and expanding their meaningful participation at every level.

Thank you, Minister. Thank you so much for your statement. And next, I am calling Her Excellency Minister Makura of Serbia. Please.

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. More than 25 years after the adoption of United States Security Council Resolution 1325, its central message is more relevant than ever. For the Republic of Serbia, the Women, Peace, and Security agenda is a commitment that we continue to translate into our national policies and institutions. Serbia adopted its national action plan in 2010, and its third one last year. Our goal is not only to increase the number of women in the security sector, but also to encourage their meaningful, effective participation in decision-making, diplomacy, and peacebuilding. As security challenges become more complex every day, our policies must address emerging risks through prevention and long-term resilience. Our national action plan pays particular attention to the security of women and girls in emergency situations, especially at the local level, where the consequences of crisis are felt most directly. Developed with state institutions, civil society, and independent experts, with support from UN Women and OSCE Mission to Serbia, the plan reflects our belief that peace and security require a whole of society approach and the women's dialogue first perspective. Experience teaches us that peace depends on the people who create space for dialogue and make agreement possible. This is precisely why women, but also the network that we build today, matter. We are here to exchange experiences, learn from one another, and advance the women, peace, and security agenda together. Serbia remains ready to.

Work with all the international partners.

Thank you very much, Minister. Thank you so much. I am next asking Ambassador Mula Mula, Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security of African Union. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, Madam Moderator. I know we have only two minutes. Don't shut me out. I'll try to make it in two minutes. Good afternoon to you all. Let me begin. by reaffirming the African Union's commitment to translating the women, peace and security agenda from political commitments into concrete action across our peace and security architecture. Excellencies, through the office of the Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security, the African Union will continue to institutionalize WPS within continental peace and security decision making, with a particular focus on strengthening political ownership, predictable financing, and accountability. Our commitment is to move from policy to implementation in practical ways, namely advancing continental guidelines on WPS national action plans, And two, strengthening monitoring and accountability through the continental results framework. And three, supporting member states, regional mechanisms, women-led organizations, and women peace builders to translate commitments into programs and results. Excellencies, crucially, we will work to ensure that all the four pillars, namely the prevention, participation, protection, and recovery are reflected across peace and security planning in decision making and resource allocation, including--

Thank you so much, honorable.

Very, very. Okay.

We have the union strategic plan on WPS for 2026, 2028, your excellencies. We just launched been recently launched this month. Places those principles at the center forward. Alongside stronger monitoring and predictable financing.

So that thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ambassador. I am next asking Director Fjorren of the OSCE. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thanks to the Philippines, Italy, and UN Women for organizing this event. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, we must be clear-eyed. Meaningful participation of women in peace processes is not only a matter of fairness. The evidence is clear. It is a prerequisite for sustainable peace and prosperity for all. That is why the women, peace and security agenda is an essential pillar of the OSCE's comprehensive approach to security. For my organization, for the OSC, peace means building resilient and stable societies in which everyone can participate equally and where human rights are effectively upheld. The 25th anniversary of UNSCR 1325 last year provided an important opportunity to reaffirm our commitments, and the OSC continues to invest in the WPS agenda. This includes supporting our 57 participating states in implementing their WPS commitments, including through assistance in developing and implementing national action plans on UNSCR 1325, building on the OSC's extensive experience, expertise, and best practice, and investing in intergenerational exchanges with a particular focus on young women to strengthen leadership, mentorship, and networks. Ladies and gentlemen, the OSCE's mission to tackle today's enormous security challenges and to build a prosperous and peaceful future for all, the full realization of gender equality must be an integral part of that future. I thank you.

Thank you very much. I will call next His Excellency Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Mr. Elmore of the United Kingdom.

I am pleased to join everyone here to mark 10 years of the Women, Peace and Security Focal Point Network. This agenda has seldom mattered more than it does right now. Conflicts are becoming more complex. At the same time, the international guardrails that we have relied on for so long are increasingly under strain. We need to remember that women already build peace. When they influence formal processes, too, that peace is much more likely to last. Yet, women and girls continue to face exclusion. That is not only unjust, it undermines the very outcomes we are trying to achieve. To help change that, the UK will focus on three priorities. First, we will champion women, peace and security internationally. That means using our position and influence, including as penholder at the UN Security Council. It also means supporting women peacebuilders, protecting civic space and ensuring women shape decisions at all levels. That is why we made this a priority during our Security Council presidency in February, ensuring that women could safely brief the council on Syria, Sudan and the Middle East peace process. That is why the UK is putting the rights of women and girls at the core of our international work. Second, we will strengthen implementation and accountability. Through our refreshed national action plan, the UK will advance this agenda across our diplomacy, defence and security work. Supporting women and girls affected by crisis and conflict-related sexual violence will be core to that. From providing safe spaces and medical support for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan, to helping survivors in the DRC to access justice and remain safe from reprisals, survivors will be central to our efforts. As the UK special envoy for preventing sexual violence in conflict, when I say that, I really mean it. Third, we will work in partnership with member states, the UN and women and girls on the ground. Women-led organisations are central to community resilience and are first responders when crises hit, yet they continue to face reprisals.

Thank you very much, Special Envoy. Thank you. And next, kindly asking Her Excellency Vice Minister Liko of Austria. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Security Council Resolution 1325 was born out of the conviction that sustainable, lasting peace is linked to the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all their diversity. Our vision of peace duly includes those who usually bear its highest cost. I would like to thank the co-chairs as well as the WPS focal point secretariat for their tremendous efforts. The focal point network offers a key platform for dialogue, networking, and sharing best practices and expertise to further the implementation of the WPS commitments globally. Above all, the network supports countries in their efforts to draft and implement national action plans. National action plans are the most useful tool for translating WPS commitments into concrete actions. Worldwide, there are 117 of these plans in place. However diverse they might be, their shared goals are clear. We must continue to strengthen women's equal and meaningful participation at all stages of peace and security decision-making processes. prevent and respond to all forms of sexual and gender-based violence, and ensure that women's voices, perspectives and interests are integrated across our security and peacebuilding efforts within and also beyond our own borders. Austria is determined to use the opportunity of its Council membership to reaffirm our resolve to advancing the WPS agenda by joining the shared commitments of WPS and by drafting a new national action plan.

Thank you so much, Vice Minister. And now, kindly asking His Excellency, Deputy Minister of Armenia. Please go ahead.

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, as we mark the 10th anniversary of the network, our attention should remain firmly focused on implementation. We should move on from declarations into real actions. The WPS agenda can make a difference when our commitments are translated into national policies and institutions and when women meaningfully participate to decisions affecting peace and security. Armenia continues its efforts in this direction. Our third national action plan for 2025-2027, entitled Investing in Global Peace, serves as an important instrument for advancing these objectives and strengthening women's meaningful participation in peace and security processes. Its implementation is closely linked to Armenia's broader human rights priorities, including conflict prevention, ongoing reforms in security and defense sectors, and the promotion of equal rights and opportunities for women and men. We see the WPS agenda as an important part of our efforts to strengthen peace building and contribute to the institutionalization of sustainable peace in our region. Armenia promotes also women's participation in areas ranging from economic and cyber security to access to healthcare and social services. We continue working towards balanced representation of women and men in diplomatic service, armed forces, and police. Distinguished colleagues, Armenia remains committed to further strengthening the implementation of the WPS agenda, improving coordination among national institutions, and ensuring meaningful participation of women in shaping decisions on peace and security. In today's fragmented security environment, our task is clear: to preserve the political commitment to women in peace and security, and most importantly, to translate it into sustained and practical action. I thank you.

Thank you very much, Deputy Minister. And next, asking Ambassador Zeika Al-Saif Al-Sabah of Kuwait to speak, please.

Of Kuwait, advancing the Women, Peace, and Security agenda is about ensuring that women are not simply represented, but fully integrated into the institutions and decisions that shape our security and our future.

In recent years, we have taken important steps forward.

Kuwaiti women are now serving across our armed forces, Kuwait Air Force, and Coast Guard, while taking on new roles within our own judicial institutions, as well as our police force.

Building on this progress, Kuwait is working to complete its first national action plan on women. peace and security through our National Committee on WPS in coordination with ESCWA and our national partners.

Our commitment is to further integrate the four pillars of the WPS.

Agenda into our defense, security, and justice institutions, while expanding women's meaningful participation, including in leadership and in decision-making.

This commitment reflects Kuwait Vision 2035 and our belief that when women are meaningfully integrated and empowered to lead, they strengthen our institutions, build more resilient communities, and contribute to lasting peace.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Ambassador. Next, asking Ambassador UN Director Ms. Ramit from Iceland, please.

Distinguished delegates, Iceland reaffirms its commitment to the WPS agenda, not as a standalone issue, but as a core.

Security and defense imperative in an increasingly volatile and complex security environment.

We are committed.

To help bridge the gap between political commitments, policy development, and implementation, a challenge repeatedly highlighted in our discussions.

Over the past year.

Iceland is proud to rank among the world's leading countries in both gender equality and peace indexes. Our own experience has shown that equality makes society stronger, more thriving and resilient, and thus better equipped to counter all challenges, also in security and defense. This November, Iceland will convene two high-level international events in Reykjavik, on the margins of the Reykjavik Global Forum. The aim of the first event is to discuss how peace and security can be advanced through women's leadership. And the aim of the second event is to examine how the WPS agenda can be moved from the margins to the mainstream of security and defense work.

Iceland's commitments are reflected in our fourth national action plan on WPS around three priorities.

Women's full, equal and meaningful participation, the protection of women and girls, and to better walk the talk on integrating gender perspectives in security and defence policy and projects in Iceland. Iceland continues to invest in gender equality while integrating WPS across daily work. This includes support to Ukraine, such as gender equality training programs, partnerships with NATO and the OSCE, and the deployment of gender advisors to international missions. Thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador. And next, asking Acting Deputy Managing Director, Ms. Wierzyni-Do of European Union. Please, the floor is yours.

Dear Excellencies, dear colleagues, dear friends, we meet at a critical moment. The geopolitical and security environment is changing profoundly. Gender equality and women's rights are facing growing pressure. We're seeing an increasingly organized and well-founded backlash against gender equality, against women's rights. And this development is not happening in isolation, and it is not only a gender equality issue. It is a challenge to open, inclusive and safe societies and to democracy itself. It is a security issue, as anti-gender narratives are used as tools for destabilization. The European Union is committed to being a reliable and trusted partner, one that stands up for gender equality and women's rights, including when these values are under pressure. The Women, Peace and Security agenda is an essential part of this effort. The agenda offers sufficient and effective strategies to respond to today's pressing security challenges. For instance, when gender disinformation seeks to drive women out of public life, To weaken democratic representation and undermine peace processes, we must step up efforts to support women's full, equal, and meaningful participation. And we must counter disinformation in a gender-responsive way and engage women to identify, report, and respond to emerging threats online or offline. Like we have done in the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the EU has supported women-led networks to establish local early warning mechanisms to report emerging threats, such as attacks against communities by armed groups. This is prevention. This is security in practice. Therefore, the WPS agenda is central to the European Union's work for peace and security. And how? First, we're embedding WPS into every strand of our common security and defence policy. We have included WPS commitments in our security and defence partnerships with third countries. Second, we invest in gender-responsive leadership internally to build stronger political and institutional support. Third, we continue to support women's rights organizations and peace builders as a core priority. Fourth, we're updating the EU Women, Peace and Security Action Plan, linking it to emerging security priorities and threats. To conclude, as wars and crises multiply, the WPS agenda is more indispensable than ever to prevent and end conflicts, to sustain peace and to ensure justice. The European Union will continue to advance this agenda financially and politically, working in close partnership with the UN, member states and civil society.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Director. Then, asking Ambassador at Large, Ms. Rohn of France. Please go ahead.

Distinguished ministers, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, more than 100 countries have adopted national action plans to implement the Women, Peace and Security agenda, which is something we can be proud of. Yet, the global context today is characterized by setbacks, oppression and discrimination. And as we know, women and girls are systematically targeted, as violence against women and girls escalates in conflicts, and as inequalities widen As crises intensify, it is more urgent than ever to adopt a concrete, cross-cutting, and bold approach that places women and girls at the heart of all our responses, whether in the areas of peace, security, or humanitarian aid. France has adopted four national action plans, the last one in March 2026. combating sexual violence in times of conflict remains a top priority. This fight requires an approach centred on survivors, promoting genuine access to justice, care and reparations, and ensuring that impunity is rigorously combated. We must also address challenges which are accelerating rapidly, such as climate change, as well as the rise of new technologies and artificial intelligence. I am convinced that today, Today, perhaps more than ever, we have a collective responsibility, that of listening to survivors, of supporting those working on the ground, of giving a voice to those who have been silenced for too long, but above all, of making gender equality a reality, including and especially in the most fragile contexts. It is no longer enough to say that women must be peacemakers. We must give them the means to do so. Women's rights are neither incidental nor conditional, but inseparable from a just, stable, and sustainable international order. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Ambassador. And now, asking Head of UN Department, Mr. Alden, of Sweden.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Excellencies.

Let me begin by thanking Italy, the Philippines, and UN Women for their leadership and steadfast commitment to the WPS agenda. 26 years after the adoption of the Security Council Resolution 1325, the normative framework of the WPS agenda has probably never been stronger.

Today, we have 117 national action plans.

Which represent virtually a global commitment to this agenda. Yet, despite this progress, the reality before us remains deeply troubling. A record high number of armed conflicts have disproportionate and devastating effects on women and girls. We are also witnessing alarming setbacks for gender equality, shrinking civic space, and increasing threats against women, human rights defenders.

And peace builders.

We must redouble our efforts to ensure women's participation in decision-making on peace and security, in supporting women human rights defenders, and in strengthening accountability for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Sweden is committed to systematically integrating WPS and gender perspectives in the decision making on security and defense. We are translating this commitment into concrete action through training, leadership programs, and operational implementation. Integrating the WPS perspectives strengthens decision making, operational effect, resilience, and force generation. It also strengthens trust, cohesion, credibility, both within our institutions and with the populations we serve. Let us remain united in defending the principles of this agenda, and most importantly, in translating our commitments into action.

Also when times get tough.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. And now asking Director General, Mr. Sanchez-Keeley of Mexico, please.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you very much. Mexico participates in this event to reiterate its historic commitment to a global gender equality agenda and protection of human rights, fighting inequality and promoting justice and development for women and girls. in light of the black sighting that we've seen globally when it comes to the gender equality agenda, Mexico maintains a firm position, as has been mentioned by President Claudia Sheinbaum. It is time for equality and women. Mexico reiterates its support to the implementation of the WPS agenda in step with our feminist foreign policy as a concrete expression of Mexican humanism. We express our support to the joint statement adopted by this network in Rome of June of this year, which reiterates the political commitment to incorporate the fundamental pillars of the WPS agenda in decision making when it comes to security and defense and connecting this agenda to youth, peace and security. It is a pleasure to share with you. that recently Mexico presented its second national action plan for resolution 1325 to ensure that gender equality is cross-cutting in all prevention and peace-building efforts. This consolidates our feminist foreign policy and also reiterates our commitment to lasting peace. It's only possible with the full and equal participation of women in gender equality and decision-making. This brings women, peace and security closer to communities and turns these commitments into concrete actions. An example of this are initiatives such as peace builders, and also efforts to ensure that WPS efforts can be implemented at the community level. Also, there's an intergenerational approach that promotes the agenda of youth peace and security through rural development efforts, peaceful coexistence efforts with participation of young people when it comes to school and digital spaces. At the international level, we continue strengthening the presence of Mexican women in peace operations, through the UN and also we promote development activities through the Latin American network of women mediators to promote the participation of women in our region in mediation and peace building efforts at the local, regional and global levels. We recognize that there are challenges for the full implementation of this agenda, particularly when because of the ultra-conservative trends that may lead to backsliding when it comes to gender equality and the full enjoyment of rights of women that have been achieved in the past. You can count on Mexico to continue working together so that together we can create a fairer world. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next, asking Director General Mr. Rokos of Croatia, please.

Thank you very much, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. Croatia thanks the Philippines and, of course, our neighbors, Italy, for their efforts. For Croatia, women, peace, and security is not an abstract policy agenda. It's closely connected to our own experience of war and aggression against our country, peacebuilding, and post-war recovery. We know that peace and security cannot be achieved without women's full, equal, and meaningful participation. I'll make three brief points. First, we must ensure that WPS principles are prioritized in peace and security processes in general. Croatia's new and third national action plan has introduced stronger monitoring and evaluation to ensure a real and more measurable impact. However, the challenges are, of course, not national, but global. Better cooperation of all actors at the international level is needed. Croatia actively shares its knowledge and experience. The best example of that is that Croatia has been hosting and is proud to host For many years, the United Nations certified pre-deployment trainings for women police officers, the UNPOC course, and military observers, the UNMOC course, for women across the globe, with the aim to further support the participation of women in peacekeeping missions as well as engage in capacity building. Second, the implementation must be accompanied by accountability. Our experience with national reporting and monitoring of the action plan has shown the importance of having clear responsibilities and measurable progress. It is important to protect and maintain the standards we have already achieved. Rights, once secured, cannot be taken for granted. Third and final, we must invest in those who build peace on the ground. Our development cooperation, through our development cooperation, we support initiatives that strengthen women's participation and resilience in partner countries affected by conflict and fragility. We should focus on, not on adding new commitments, but on implementing the ones we have. It is ultimately about one thing, ensuring that women are not only protected in times of conflict, but have a real voice, an equal voice in preventing conflict, building peace, and shaping our common security. If elected to the Security Council for the term 2030-31, Croatia will bring this topic also into the chamber. I thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Next, I'm asking Director General, Ambassador Kontoleontos of Greece. Please, go ahead.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I would like, first of all, to extend my sincere gratitude to the co-chairs of the WPS Focal Points Network, but also UN Women, for convening such a timely side event with a theme to which my country accords the highest importance. Greece, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, with a strong commitment to multilateralism and to the universal, indivisible, and interrelated character of human rights, has placed the WPS agenda as one of its top priorities during its tenure, bringing implementation and accountability to the fore of our actions. In doing so, my country strives to mainstream WPS throughout the work of the Council in parallel with the relevant UNSC framework on children and armed conflict seeking system-wide coherence across the UN's architectures and guided by a gendered and human rights-based approach linked to the very crucial, especially nowadays, notion of national security. As a member of the UN Group of Friends for WPS and guided by our National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, we expend every possible care towards promoting this crucial topic throughout the work of the UNSC, as well as of other UN organs, such as the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly and the ECOSOC Commission on the Status of Women. Also, on the 27th of October 2026, we will host a high-level open debate on WPS, commemorating adoption of the landmark SC resolution 1325. It will be chaired by a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. A signature of shared commitments on WPS, Greece is committed to ensuring WPS implementation in concrete and tangible ways, including implementation of the WPS normative framework during our SC presidency in October 2026. Finally, I would like to emphasize that our National Action Plan on Women, Peace Peace and Security, as well as a successive four-year National Action Plan for Gender Equality 2026-2030, are the much-needed strong deliverables demonstrating political will to translate the UN Security Council agenda on WPS into concrete, results-oriented national, domestic and foreign policies by means of a whole-of-government approach to their application. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Madame. Next, asking Deputy Director General Ms. Phatomros of Thailand, please.

Yes, thank you very much. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, Thailand wishes to express our sincere appreciation to Italy and the Philippines for convening this event. As a member of the Women, Peace and Security Network, Thailand is fully committed to advancing this important agenda, guided by four key priorities. First, effective national implementation is essential. Thailand launched its first comprehensive national action plan on WPS for 2025 to 2027, anchored in gender equality, human rights, and responsiveness to the diverse needs of women. Second, holistic and coordinated implementation across the peace continuum is critical. WPS principles must be well integrated into every stage from conflict prevention and peacekeeping to peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery with greater coherence and coordination across the UN system. Third, women's participation and leadership must remain at the heart of all peace and security efforts. Thailand continues to deploy Thai women personnel to the UN peacekeeping operations and special political missions in line with the UN's uniform gender parity strategy for 2018 to 2028. Fourth, strong multi-stakeholder partnerships are crucial. Thailand will continue to work with all partners to strengthen capacity, harness technology, and raise public awareness to empower women's full and meaningful participation. Thailand reaffirms its determination to work with all partners to ensure that peace is not only negotiated and maintained, but also inclusively owned and shaped and sustained by all. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam. Next, kindly asking Deputy Director General, Ms. Raine, Finland. Please go ahead.

Excellencies, dear focal points and members of civil society. We strongly believe that advocating women, peace and security agenda and empowerment of women is central to building peaceful, prosperous and sustainable societies. Women's expertise in peace and security is not questioned anymore. However, at the same time, there are less formal peace processes and less women included in conflict prevention and in peacemaking. This gap must be addressed. Finland supports women peace mediation networks, such as FemWise Africa and Global Alliance for Regional Networks, and aims for women's voices to be better heard in peace processes. Women, peace and security leads to better decisions, more inclusive policies and more durable peace. WPS is more important than ever before because of the gender pushback agenda of today. Then a few key actions and commitments from our side. We have supported country level work in Africa, Middle East and Asia with UN Women and are currently discussing ways to support policy level work. WPS is also part of our long-term peace mediation cooperation with African Union. We are also pleased to support women peacekeepers through FINCENT, our center for crisis management training. This year, we will promote inclusivity as part of our water diplomacy work in the UN Water Conference. Let me conclude with one more commitment. As my President announced yesterday, Finland is seeking a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for 2029-30. We would work very hard in the Council for inclusive peace processes where women are the agents of sustainable peace. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madame. Next, I'm asking Director Mr. Pisinger of the Czech Republic. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Chair, Excellencies, distinguished colleagues. Let me begin by thanking Italy, the Philippines and UN Women for convening today's meeting and by congratulating the WPS Focal Points Network on its 10th anniversary.

As we face an increasingly complex security environment and growing pressure on women's rights.

It is important to safeguard the gains achieved under the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

And translate commitments into practical results. WPS should not be treated as an optional addition to security policy.

It is essential to effective conflict prevention, sustainable peace and societal resilience.

For Czechia, our primary framework for delivering.

On WPS commitments is the implementation of our third national action plan on women, peace and security for 2026-2030.

Drawing on lessons learned from the impacts of Russia's war against Ukraine, the plan places greater emphasis on resilience, preparedness for future crises and responses to conflict related displacement. It also strengthens the integration of a gender perspective across peace and security policies, including in areas such as cybersecurity, radicalization, and climate-related risks. Our commitment is now to turn this framework into action. Progress in the implementation of the NAP will be evaluated annually through a report to the government. We will also continue to involve civil society, academia, and relevant public institutions. as meaningful participation and independent expertise are indispensable to ensuring accountability and lasting impact. Sustaining financial support is equally important. Even under growing budget pressures, investment in gender equality, women's participation, and women-led organizations should remain a priority.

This commitment is reflected in Czechia's development cooperation and humanitarian.

Assistance, where gender equality is systematically integrated across programs and interventions.

As we look ahead, Czechia stands ready to contribute actively to the efforts of this network.

We value the opportunity to learn from others, share our experience, and work together to strengthen implementation, accountability, and collective political support for the WPS agenda. Thank you.

Thank you very much, sir. And I'm asking next, Acting Director General, Ms. Pipan of Slovenia. Please go ahead.

Thank you so much. Excellencies, co-chairs, and colleagues, in today's deeply fragmented security landscape, the women, peace, and security agenda is a strategic necessity for survival and stability. My country remains firmly committed to ensuring principles are translated into action. Our approach is anchored in our third national action plan on women, peace, and security. which mandates a gender perspective across our entire foreign and security architecture. We are aware that for WPS implementation to be meaningful, it must be comprehensive. This includes inclusive peacebuilding. Slovenia actively supports the participation, agency, and leadership of women and girls across all peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and post-conflict reconstruction efforts. Second, integrated relief. We have successfully integrated a strong gender perspective into our formulation of responses to complex crises, protection protocols, and humanitarian aid distribution. However, implementation cannot succeed without rigorous accountability. In a fractured world, accountability means holding ourselves and international systems answerable to the women on the front lines. We therefore strongly advocate for a robust engagement with both international and regional organizations to monitor, report, and enforce WPS commitments. To conclude, an inclusive approach to security is the only viable path to securing sustainable peace and global as well as regional stability. Slovenia stands ready to work with all focal points to turn WPS into a lived reality for all. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madame. And next asking Director Ambassador Mr. Viegas of Brazil, please.

Thank you. As we mark the 10th anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security Focal Points Network, we should reflect on the role this community can play in a geopolitical environment marked by fragmentation, mistrust, and growing recourse to the threat and actual use of force. Military expenditure continues to rise exponentially while resources for development, conflict prevention, peace building, and women-led peace building are shrinking. Fallacious narratives that present conflict as inevitable and rearmament as the only credible response are sadly gaining ground. Women's full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation must be ensured from the get-go. Women must be present where decisions are made, not merely consulted from the margins. Brazil has long understood that peace is shaped with women. At the San Francisco conference in 1945, Brazilian delegate Bertha Lutz told an almost exclusively male audience that there would be no peace in the world unless women helped to build it. Her message remains as valuable today as it was more than 80 years ago. Brazil champions dialogue, preventive diplomacy, and the peaceful settlement of disputes. We joined the Secretary General's common pledge for women's full, equal, and meaningful participation in peace processes at its launch, and participate actively in international networks that strengthen women's role in mediation and peace initiatives. Over the past decade, the network has established itself as an important platform for cooperation, peer learning, and accountability. As geopolitical divisions deepen, its relevance should extend beyond exchanging experiences. The world needs more women, peace and security, not less. As geopolitical divisions deepen, this agenda can be instrumental in helping us restore dialogue, rebuild trust, and reaffirm that peace is shaped collectively with women as full participants in the decisions that define our common future. Thank you.

Thank you very much, sir. And then Our final speaker of the members is Deputy Secretary Ms. Lawson of Australia. Please go ahead.

Deputy Chair, let me begin by thanking Italy and the Philippines as this year's co-chairs. Your leadership comes at a critical moment. The international peace and security landscape is increasingly shaped not just by geopolitical contest, climate pressures, rapid technological change, and shrinking.

Civic space, but also, as others have said.

By a backlash against gender equality. The evidence remains clear that societies that uphold gender equality are more peaceful, stable and resilient. That is why Australia is advancing gender equality at home and internationally by scaling up investments in women, peace and security; by partnering with South East Asian Women Peace Mediators and the Pacific Women Mediators Network to support women peacebuilders, mediators and leaders to shape peace and security outcomes. Australia is deeply concerned by the growing nexus between misogyny, technology-facilitated gender-based violence and youth radicalisation. We are responding by investing in efforts to prevent, detect and disrupt online violent extremism, including through a dedicated national centre to help build more resilient societies. We remain committed to advancing accountability for conflict-related sexual violence and ensuring that survivors have access to justice, support and interim reparations. Our campaign for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2029-30 term reflects our broader commitment to international peace and security. If elected to the council, Australia would amplify the women, peace and security agenda across our work. We will pledge to listen, to partner, and to protect. Australia looks forward to working with all members to elevate women's leadership across all levels of conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And I thank for all the excellencies, distinguished speakers, for your very inspiring statements and commitment for women, peace and security, we can truly expect a remarkable decade in women, peace and security in the future. Thank you. Thank you for your dedication. We are moving to the closing session. And before we hear from our very distinguished co-chairs here, I would like to also recognize our Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Nyaradzo Kumpunswanda, here on the table and for a short remark, please go.

Thank you so much, moderator. Your excellencies, the co-chairs of the network, the Philippines and Italy, thank you for hosting us in Rome, an event that participated and very much appreciate. I also want to recognize the former co-chairs, Japan and Norway. Your excellencies, listening to your sharing about the work in our countries, in our regions. I felt the ethos of the United Nations Charter coming to life. Thank you so much for placing that notion of we, the people, which is the founding words of the United Nations Charter, at the heart of the national action plans for positioning that which is in Article 55 of the United Nations Charter, which with clarity speaks to non-discrimination and to inclusion. So the national action plans for us, as we were sharing the work that you are doing, gives us hope, gives us courage. You shared the issues, the challenges of the moment, including resources, thank you so much, and I was sitting here and wondering, How can the security sector budgets resource more, a little bit more, the women, peace and security agenda so that we are not also just looking at the development budget to support the security sector intervention of the national action plans? But lastly, also with my heart as a person who grew up in war, In my own country, Zimbabwe, I was a young girl during the war. I felt healing when I heard and saw Member States coming together to say another world is possible and little girls should not live the experiences that some of us would have lived. So I want to really give my commitment, the UN Women commitment, my Executive Director has already expressed. We are on our feet to support you as our member states, to work with communities, to work with the intergovernmental regional bodies, to uphold the ethos of the United Nations Charter, a world of peace, human rights and development for all. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Deputy Executive Director, Ms. Kumbonswanda. And I also want to invite in, like I said, our distinguished co-chairs to speak. We are very privileged to have here Miss Maria Tripodi, Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy here, and Mr. Jonathan Miano, Under Secretary and Vice Minister, Office of the Presidential Advisor on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity of the Philippines. So, Miss Tripodi, over to you first. Please.

Honorable Chair, dear colleagues, distinguished representatives of international and regional organizations, members of civil society, dear guests. Ten years ago, 45 founding countries launched the network on the idea that the women, peace and security agenda should be a shared responsibility of states and not only of a few specialists. Today, the network has 112 members, including 101 states and 11 regional organization, and 89% of them have adopted a national action plan. Italy, together with the Philippines, led the network this year with a method based on listening and inclusion. I would like to mention three elements that, in our view, should guide the upcoming phase continuity, ownership and sharing the responsibility. Continuity as with every handle between co-chair, there is a risk of losing the working method and the trust built over time. Sharing the responsibility as not staken on its own, close the gap between the current humanitarian needs and the resources available to face them. I would like to thank the Philippines for the great collaboration during our co-chairmanship and UN Women for its constant support as the network's secretariat. Thanks as well to all the national focal point for their work to civil society, which has accompanied every stage of this process. And to the delegation here today for confirming their commitments. More generally, beyond our co-chair, Italy's commitment to the women, peace, and security agenda will certainly not slow down. We will continue to support women, their leadership in negotiation, their essential contribution to post-conflict reconstruction and organizing, and individuals who work on the ground every day with courage and determination for this purpose. Thank you, and I hope there will soon be new opportunities for us to meet and work together. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Ms. Tripodi. And over to Mr. Miano, please.

Excellencies, colleagues, good afternoon. It is an honor to address this ministerial-level side event of the Women, Peace, and Security for Gulf Women's Network. Allow me to extend our deepest appreciation to those who made this gathering possible. To the United Nations and to UN Women in particular, thank you for paving the way for the Philippines to co-chair this network alongside Italy. The United Nations has never wavered in its commitment to the Philippine peace process, and UN Women, together with UNDP, continues to deliver essential support towards the attainment of a just and lasting peace in our country. To our gracious co-chair, Italy, Grassy, we remain especially grateful for your generous hosting in Rome this past June and for the leadership that turned our shared goals into tangible outcomes. Our thank as well to your mission here in New York for its unwavering support throughout this partnership. To all our speaker today, Thank you for your invaluable contribution to this discussion. It is through these exchanges such as this that our community of practice continues to grow in influence and relevance. Time does not permit me to thank each of you individually, but please know that your insight have enriched this conversation immeasurably. Our Office of the Presidential Advisor on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity also extend its heartfelt gratitude to our fellow public servants here in New York and in Rome. We are aware that many of your engagement with counterparts in Manila took place at very early hours of the morning or late into the night. And while modern technology has made distance more manageable, it cannot replace the value of face-to-face diplomacy, the handshake, the conversation, and the trust built in person. As we look ahead, the Philippines reaffirm its commitment to advancing the women, peace, and security agenda. We will continue to strive for progress in our WPS journey and remain a steadfast partner in peace building for our nation and for the world. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Italy and the Philippines, for your inspiring leadership. And thank you for all the previous co-chairs who have built this network to what it was. You have been so inspiring and lovely here. So we would like to have one more photo with everyone in it. So please stay and let's make it also inner image unforgettable event. So please join for a group photo here in the front. Thank you so much.