UN Portal on Women in Justice and Security Launch event

Hi.

Hi, good morning, everyone.

Welcome.

We're going to just start with showing a quick film here before we get too formal.

Over to the film.

I think he's saying the problem's on the computer.

Yeah, that's what he said.

This Margaret Carragher.

Okay, colleagues, we'll do the film a little bit later.

It will come later, hopefully. So, excellencies, colleagues, friends, welcome and thank you for coming. It's a pleasure to see the room is quite full. And the meeting takes place during an important week for Women, Peace, and Security here in New York, as the Security Council and member states continue to reflect on progress as well as persistent challenges on this issue. A special welcome to Her Excellency, Ms. Liberata Mulamula, the Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on Women, Peace, and Security. So thanks so much for taking the time to join us. Thank you. And I'd like also welcome Megan Bastick and Simon Petitjean of DCAF. Thank you for your partnership and working so closely to make justice and security institutions more responsive and inclusive of women. And many thanks to the government of Germany, which believed in this and invested in this initiative from the start. And this investment is helping in the United Nations to make its support to countries more targeted and evidence-based. strengthening justice and security institutions, delivering people-centered services, and achieving real impact. I warmly welcome the four women leaders who will join us in this conversation. Ms. Margaret, excuse me on my pronunciation, Ms. Margaret Yambura Karanja. She's coming. She's coming, not here yet. Brigadier General Sandra Kaiter. Ms. Ines Zeitner, and Lieutenant Colonel Glory Mgwizu. Thank you all for joining. To the permanent missions who are represented here, especially to those who responded to our surveys, this is your portal, and this is your day to celebrate the good work you've done. Colleagues, I speak on behalf of Assistant Secretary General Elizabeth Spehahar, who asked me to convey her thanks to all of you. And let me explain in one sentence what this portal is. It's the first platform where member states can see side by side what countries know about women and their police services, courts, prisons, military justice, and mine actions. How many women serve, how far they rise, what stands in their way, and what has helped. It does not rank countries, it helps us learn from one another. When we launched the first round of data collection in March, we hoped a few dozen countries might participate. We had 54 responses at that stage. More than 100 justice and security institutions responded to our surveys, and 36 countries nominated 53 women leaders to.

Advise us.

You exceeded our expectations, and we are very grateful. The data shows real progress overall. In the countries that reported, women now account for half of all judges and prosecutors, and they represent about one in four police officers and one in four prison staff, with steady gains over the past decade. Behind these numbers are deliberate choices. We have documented 42 good practices on women's inclusion from 18 countries on the portal so that others can learn from them. A few examples. In Italy, When two candidates for the penitentiary police tie, the law gives priority to underrepresented gender. So when there's a tie, the underrepresented gender wins. In Latvia, the state police adopted a gender equality plan incorporating equality criteria into hiring, providing paid paternity leave. Women's share in the force has risen 15 percentage points since 2014. In Nepal, the armed police force has reserved one in five recruitment posts for women since 2007. Women now account for 19% of new recruits, up from 14% five years ago. In Romania, women hold just over half of all director-level positions in the prison system. In Spain, the General Council of the Judiciary commissioned a nationwide study into why so few women reach senior judicial appointments. Finally, in Zambia, the police service has trained and mentored women officers for senior commands since 2022. So a lot of mentoring going on in Zambia, and most have since been promoted. 40 accommodation rooms and daycare center are now enable mothers to attend peacekeeping training. So many other examples that are coming through the portal of what works and what helps enable greater women's participation in leadership. The higher we look, the fewer women we find, and that's true in many organizations. Across every sector, women's representation at senior level is lower than their share in the workforce overall. And women are close to half of all judges, but only about a third are senior judges. And they make up one in four police officers, but fewer than one in five senior officers. Fewer than half of the reporting institutions have assessed the barriers women face. In corrections alone, only one in five had done so. So the key is looking at the barriers and why women are not getting to those senior positions. Commitments are common, budgets are not. Fewer than a third of institutions reported having a dedicated budget for their gender equality measures. And when asked what holds women back, institutions pointed first to the same challenges across every sector. Institutional culture. This is a challenge we can change. Institutions are made of people, and leadership has a key role in shaping what institutions become, in shaping the culture. None of this is a verdict. It is a starting point. And one we have never had before, so we have the starting point. The practices you shared can help shape other institutions from other places learn from each other. Today, we launch Leading Her Way, 12 women leaders nominated by you from 12 countries, four continents, telling their stories in their own words. Their stories differ, but their diagnosis is strikingly similar. When asked about barriers, not one of them pointed first to law. They describe cultural barriers having to prove again and again a competence their male colleagues are assumed to have. And what helped them often costs very little, a mentor who believed in them, a network. a professional network, or a leader who made space for them. Colleagues, today, our meeting is a consultation. I invite every member state here to explore the portal, reflect on our findings, and tell us what data may be missing and what would help and what would be most useful for you going forward. The data is already available through a dashboard and the Peacebuilding and Peace Support Office website, accessible to all of you. And there's more to come. The portal will soon launch a United Nations masterclass on women's leadership in justice and security, delivered on film by women leaders themselves. We will also produce short videos highlighting the good practices you shared. And the second round of the survey is open until 26 February 2027, after which we plan to conclude the first phase of data collection. So, it is now my pleasure to give the floor to Germana, Germana D'Alberto, who's our tireless colleague leading our efforts from our PBO, PBSO office. It is now my pleasure to, you know, to turn over to you and also thanking Megan and Simon there, who have been a key part of this every step of the way. Over to you, Germana, to present the portal. Thank you.

Thank you. And Excellency and woman leaders, the CAF, thank you so much for being here. I'm going to go directly to give you a brief snapshot of what the portal looks like currently, and then we will have the CAF colleagues presenting to you the initial findings. First and foremost, we have received 106 survey responses, which means that 106 national institutions have contributed to our portal. This comes from 53 member states. We initially expected in the first round collection to receive around 30 countries, and we already exceeded our expectations.

We are very grateful for your support.

And as you see, we also have received the same number of countries contributing to our expert panel of women leaders, and we have completed 15 interviews, which the first 12 already reflected in the Leading Her Way series, which you'll find the full report and first volume of our book with those interviews in our website.

So please check it out.

Just to give you a snapshot what the portal is. Basically, first, it brings data on women in justice and security together in one place, and is the first effort ever to provide member.

States with that resource.

Secondly, it aims to also inform a programming of the UN, but also programming of governments, in terms of, and also help them allocating resources so we can achieve greater impact. Aims to facilitate exchange of good practices that advance women's inclusion in justice and security. As you see, we have an entire platform of good practices from member states all over the world, and we will continue to populate that good practices knowledge hub so you all can benefit from. Provides evidence for policy reform and institutional change, helps countries meet gender parity targets in UN peace operations, and also gives visibility to women's roles and leadership. We encourage member states to participate in our second round of data collection. Those who have not contributed yet, please participate. The deadline is 26 of February. For those countries that contributed, just For some institutions, for instance, you send responses for police and corrections, but you have not yet sent responses for the judiciary. We also give you an opportunity now to participate with those institutions. A individualized link for online submission of your responses has been submitted to every member state. You can either use this. and submit your responses through our online link, or you can also use our Word.

Questionnaire and respond it in writing as well, and submit it to us by e-mail.

So in terms of world regions and where we are with the geographical diversity of survey responses, as you have seen, we have received a lot of responses from Western European countries, and then Asia, Africa comes as a second, and then Eastern Europe and Latin America is still a bit behind in their contributions. So we hope to do more outreach to increase the participation of the world regions that have not yet contributed as much as the other world regions. And we're going to do that in collaboration with fusion organizations, and we also plan to do few outreach events in those world regions. In terms of survey participation coverage, the larger number of countries that submitted response sent it only police.

So we have 29 countries submitting already data on their police.

Services, following by military justice, corrections, justice, and mine action. We also, in the second round, will target those other institutions that have not yet reach the same level of participation as the police and the military justice, for instance. And now we will show it to you, our dashboard in your website. This is in the PBPSO website. You have the QR code in your flyer. So as you can see, this is a dashboard with all the data. Everything that we have received from member states is public and accessible to you. So we have different tabs, overall coverage in terms of global participation, a map that shows which countries are participating, where is the data coming from. This is followed by a tab by different sectors that the portal is covering for now, which includes justice, data on police, data on corrections, military justice, and then also the key barriers as well. And we still have good practice, woman leaders and country profiles. As you see, the portal does not rank countries and really provides more overall analysis of the data that we received, aiming to really support you with programming and good practices in your institutions. And then on the woman expert panel already provide you some of the overview of the member states have already contributed. And we encourage you to send further nominations for our expert panel by the 26th of February as well. In the portal, you're going to see all the women leaders have already been nominated, their interviews, their contributions, and they are also experts in this area. So we hope to benefit from their expertise, promote and leverage their knowledge in reforms in the area that we work on. And this expertise is also now available to our member states, and we hope also now in the next months, we're going to do consultations with them on the findings and improve the portal based on their perspectives and needs. The Leading Her Way series provides an overview of all the interviews that we have undertaken so far. We were able to get 12 interviews approved, and they are now in a volume of a book that it's published in our website, and this will emphasize the most.

Powerful contribution of the portal.

The interviews with these women leaders really give you the challenges that there are for them to achieve leadership positions, but they also demonstrate that it's possible. So we encourage you to read, and you can find this again in this QR code. You can have full access to this book. We also have, as mentioned, uh, knowledge hub on good practices of measures supporting women's participation. For now, we have already identified 42 measures from 80 countries, and we hope to expand, uh, even more this knowledge database. How can member states use the portal now? We encourage you to review the portal, enter our web page, look at it, see what's missing, and then contribute to a second data collection exercise if your country has not yet participated. We also encourage you to share good practices and documents, for instance, footage for our films, which we are developing in the coming months. Nominating a woman leader is also very key to us because that will also be featured both in our good practices and the films that we are developing in our interviews, which provide qualitative data on women's experiences in just security sector that can help inform UN norms, policy, and guidance. And as Richard has also said, we also are developing now a masterclass film on UN woman. in leadership, in justice and security. So we hope that your contributions can support that training as well. Now I'm going to invite our colleagues from DCAS, Megan and Simon, to present more substantive water ordination findings of the portal. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Jomana, and thank you very much, Mr. Howard, for the welcome.

Good morning to everyone in the room. My name is Megan, and my colleague Simon and I are here, as you've heard, from DCAF, the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance. And it's really been our pleasure to work with Jomana and her colleagues in the UN on this project over the course of this year. So what we are going to do today is share the main findings and analysis from the first round of data collection that has contributed to the UN portal, and to talk a little bit about what.

Lessons we can draw from action.

So this first round of findings looks only at the police, corrections, and justice sectors, those surveys. And from the data received, DECAF has produced two analytical reports. So the shorter one here, which we've brought copies of, is also available.

On our website in English, Spanish, and French.

And then we have produced a much longer and more detailed report for those of you who are really keen on data. That really digs more into what we're finding sector by sector in terms particularly of issues.

Around barriers, measures, and the sort of what we can think about the impacts of different sorts of measures.

I want to start first by thanking not only our UN partners for working with us on this, but also our colleagues.

Who aren't in the room, Miles Lovell, Maria Giulia Vassallo, who wrote this report with us. and Pedro Martinez Labata, who worked with us on the data analysis.

And DCAF would like to thank.

The member states amongst you who supported us to undertake this work, and that's Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK. We're very grateful.

So why is this work needed?

Of course, gender equality, as we all know, is not peripheral to the security and justice sectors. It is essential to it. A security sector that serves or represents only one part of the population cannot be fully accountable or effective.

Yet, time and again, we find that actually concrete and detailed data, particularly qualitative data.

On women's participation, on the barriers they face, and on what measures are actually effective in overcoming challenges, that data remains very fragmented.

Without that, it's very difficult for us to develop evidence-based policy measures. It's very difficult for us to meaningfully monitor progress. It's difficult for oversight bodies to hold the security and justice sector to account. And it's difficult for us to really have conversations amongst us between states.

On the different sorts of measures and the impacts they're having. And that is the sort of gap that the portal is addressing. Simon's going to explain what we did.

Thanks, Megan. So the portal builds on a pioneering data set that the UN and DCAF created in 2024 on women in the defense sector. And in 2026, the UN and DCAF extended that approach to other justice and security institutions. Surveys went to all member states in early 2026. And this report represents the responses that were submitted between the 29th of April and the 21st of August of this year. And this report analyses the first three surveys. So 19 responses were received on policing, 15 on justice, and 16 on corrections, covering 2014 to 2024. Respondents came from, and Jomana, you mentioned it, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Oceania. I just want a side note, I want to be clear about what this is and what it's not. So in terms of this initial set of findings, the number of responses is modest. So the findings are indicative, not globally representative. Averages are means of country percentages, not shares of total personnel. And we publish no country-specific data beyond illustrative good practices. Everything is aggregated and anonymized. We see this as a credible baseline and for the portal to grow with every survey round.

So if we could have the next slide?

Let's start with this high-level analysis of who is in the institutions based on the survey data.

So across police, justice, and corrections, we see that women were on average.

37.4% of personnel in 2024, and this is based on data from 27 countries.

But in senior leadership, the average of women's participation then falls to 27.7%.

So we could say this is a leadership gap of 9.7 percentage points.

But this picture varied quite a bit, as you see, by sector. So justice had the highest.

Participation of women at 51.6%, corrections in the middle at 27.4%, and police the lowest at only 21% on average.

But we do notice progress. So among the institutions that.

Reported for both 2014 and 2024, we see that women's average participation had increased from 28% to 32.7%, gain of 4.7 percentage points across that decade. But really, in all the sectors, we see what I think we recognize as the glass ceiling.

So perhaps most obviously, in the judiciary, we have gender parity.

Amongst women judges, almost gender parity amongst prosecutors, yet women hold only 37.5 and a half percent of senior positions. And we see to less extreme degrees that leadership gap also in police and corrections. Then we also see a functional gender disaggregation in that the women's, the roles that women hold are unevenly spread. So as one might expect, for example, in police units dealing with violence against women, 57.5% women, but in rapid response units, for example, on average, only 4.9% women. And the data behind that is that there's a number of countries where there are just no women at all in those units.

Though that said, there was some surprising data in those measures. So there were units like drug enforcement units, anti-corruption units that had good high.

Proportion of women compared to the overall proportion of women. So the data is not always as you'd expect on some of these issues. In corrections, women, for example, are nearly half of all staff working on prisoner welfare issues, but only 22.2% of staff working on prison security. So we see these gaps in women's participation across roles, gaps in women's advancement into leadership. What are the barriers that women are facing in those institutions?

So what did we do? We presented a range of acknowledged barriers to women's participation to member states, and we asked institutions which ones were present over the time period that we were analyzing, and how severe they were rated. Most were rated minor, and police and corrections acknowledged barriers more readily than justice institutions. Where barriers were rated moderate or higher, one stood out in particular: male-dominated institutional culture. It had the highest average severity in police and correction, and the joint highest alongside sexual harassment in the justice sector. Limited work-life balance came next, which in some instances appeared to be linked to shift patterns and remote postings in police, and to heavy caseloads in justice. Societal perceptions that the work suits men better than women were also reported in police and corrections. Here, we would like to underline two cautions. These are institutional self-assessments, so they may actually understate what women actually experience on a daily basis. And few institutions only have rigorously analyzed the situation. So only 35% in police, 27% in corrections, and 42% of justice respondents have actually assessed obstacles to women's participation since 2014.

So our research then asked the question, what are institutions doing about this? And the most widely reported measures, as you might expect, are things like maternity and paternity leave.

So often basic regulatory requirements, and things like providing toilets, bathrooms, changing rooms for women. Actually, measures that go further than this were much rarer. So in police institutions, for example, which were more likely to report having recruitment measures for women?

Still, only 41% actually set recruitment targets or quotas for women.

Only 29% were running campaigns that were aimed at women, and only 15% were running mentoring programs for women. I mean, frankly, measures that we expected to be much more widespread. The second very obvious gap was between policy and resources and structures.

So many institutions, I mean almost all in police and justice, have a national strategy on women's participation.

So 89% in police, 77% in justice, only 36% in corrections institutions.

But among police services, for example, with a strategy like this, only 56% actually had any dedicated budget, any mechanisms?

Set up to deliver the strategy, such as gender advisors or gender focal points.

So we saw this.

Pattern across the research, commitments to gender equality in policy, but huge gaps in terms of actually setting up any structures or resources to deliver it. I did want to flag, as was said earlier, that there are good examples.

In the longer form.

Version of our report, you see examples from Latvia, Zambia, Chile, Algeria, Guatemala, Kuwait, and Spain, for example.

So our report's recommendations follow from this, and there are six. First, it is crucial to widen the pipeline for women's recruitment and to support the advancement throughout their careers. So recruitment measures, promotion and leadership pathways, campaigns, and mentoring are exactly what is missing in order to open up positions, diverse roles, and career paths for women. Secondly, addressing work-life balance holistically and culturally, including by supporting men to take on care responsibilities or allowing flexible working measures for all. Thirdly, strengthen national data systems. Most Member States could not provide comprehensive data on history, seniority, and function. There are established tools, such as DCAF’s MoWIP and Gender Self-Assessment Guide, that can help. Fourth, match commitments with resources and structures. Wider research has shown that institutional structures and measures to promote women’s participation are key to progress, including resources, expertise, and leadership support. Assess barriers regularly, because without that, reform has no evidence base to inform reviews of policy and practices and to surface structurally entrenched issues. And finally, close the gaps on sexual misconduct and invest to transform sexist institutional culture, the barrier institutions most often report as severe.

So really simply to close, the portal's value as a global evidence base will grow with every single survey that member states submit. We echo the UN's invitation to continue completing the surveys and really invite you all to start to use this portal data when you're developing your national policies, when you're reshaping your WPS national action plans, when you're thinking about security sector reform programming.

And look for ways to share your experience through the portal and elsewhere to share your experiences and good practices.

Thank you so much for your attention.

We realize this has been quite a lot of data.

We very much look forward to any questions you might have, and we'll have time for questions, feedback on the portal, and discussion after the panel segment of today.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for such a well-organized, well-structured, clear presentation from you both. And we're going to go over to Ambassador Mula Mula, did I say your name right.

Mula Mula, beautiful name, for your remarks.

And then we'll open up for everybody for your comments and questions.

Thanks.

Thank you for hosting us. I would like also to thank the team from DCAF for that wonderful presentation. I was here during the CSW week in March, exactly on 17th March this year, when this portal was introduced to us. And it was very inspiring. I'm happy to come back and hear what you have collected from your surveys. But looking around the room, I was saying whether it was deliberate because the statistics are very gloomy and the room is dark. So, but on a serious note, I want to thank you, but I'm also happy. When I look around, seeing the women in uniform, I would like to recognize you, and I must say you inspire us. But also on my right, just as a coincidence, I'm speaking under his protection, is the Brigadier General from Tanzania, who is defense attaché at the mission, so I'm protected. Richard on this side, William Brigadier again on this side. So let me say, you can see I'm delighted to be with you today at this launch because our appetite was, you whetted our appetite in March, but now I can see how much you have already done. I want to congratulate you once again and DICAF for also bringing us today, as we mark the WPS week, I say this is our week, the Women, Peace and Security Week, which has also been livened by the launch of this United Nations portal on women in justice and security. Let me say, as we are celebrating the WPS week, It's been a week of reflection, because looking back at 25 years of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda since it was launched with the Security Council Resolution 1325, it is clear that our task has evolved, but also seeing the presentation today, we still have a long way to go. So today, our real challenge, let me say, is not just gathering maybe data or getting promises, because I had a lot of commitment and promises from the UN Security Council open debate yesterday. I was saying if these promises and commitments could be translated into tangible and measurable results, will be like riding horses. Let me say for the African Union, women's participation in justice and security is at the heart of building institutions that people trust, institutions that deliver justice, institutions that protect our communities, and help build lasting peace. Across Africa, let me say, women increasingly serve as police officers, as judges, as prosecutors, as correctional officers, as military personnel and peacekeepers. This is why I am so excited to see Lieutenant Colonel Gloria Mkuize from Tanzania People's Defence Forces. makes us proud. But then, from what we have heard, there are considerable gaps. The gaps still persist, particularly in senior leadership positions. I was taking down notes. I cited 7.5% of senior posts in the police. I don't know when we get into this disaggregated data, what countries are leading. But then, we must also move beyond counting women, because I said there has to be a time where women are not numbers, especially in these institutions, to move from counting numbers, but also examining whether they have opportunities to advance, they exercise authority and influence decisions. Because we say participation, women participation, is meaningless if they cannot influence decisions or cannot be at the table when decisions are made. So, dear colleagues, Again, at the African Union, we recognize that meaningful institutional reform requires credible evidence, sustained monitoring, and political accountability. I want to share with you, we have one of, I am always proud to say we have this flagship tool, which was adopted by the African Union Peace and Security Council way back in 2018. This is the African Union Continental Results Framework on Women, Peace, and Security, which enables member states to systematically monitor and report on the commitments of their, on the implementation of their commitments. The office of my mandate, I mean, the mandate of my office as a special envoy on WPS, I am a watchdog. We collect this data on an annual basis, and this constitutes the report of the African Union chairperson to the summit. But let me say, with time and with evolving technology, so the Member States we have, we saw that, of course, submitting reports, if you come to my office, I have piles and piles of hard copies of this report. But thank God, in my office, I have these young, I call them innovators, Gen. Z. They said to the ambassador, why can't we digitize this tool? This is what they have done. That's why I came with them. This is my team. So we have digitized this tool to allow the member states to upload their reports online and through the portal. And I was happy when I was invited again, I couldn't say no, because I said, now we are in sync, because now they are on the pilot scheme trying to have a portal. They are still struggling. So now, partnering with you, I think we'll be able to establish that portal at the continental level. And this is what I put to you. So let me also say, of course, our challenge has been accessing reliable, disaggregated information, especially from the security institutions. That remains our persistent challenge. Because, of course, when you have to collect data from the military, from the security, the information is always over-sensitive, confidential. But then what we seek from you And when you share that data, what we need is just to see women's presentation. We are not asking the inside information. We want to know how these women are deployed. We want to know what positions they are holding, the system of promotion within defense and security institutions. This is what we are thinking, Brigadier General. We are not getting into other sensitive information. So we recognize, of course, again, I must admit, we recognize the sensitivities surrounding the national security information. But then what I'm putting to you is that we have to make a distinction between confidential operational information and the aggregate institutional data. needed to measure the women's participation in leadership. This is what I'm saying we are seeking. So let me say, in closing, I want to bring this to for this meeting as we launch this portal. We have trained already 50 Women, peace and Security National Focal Point from the African Union Member States, and we are planning another cohort training. And this is what I would like to ask the Megan, if we could also work together in training, in training our WPS focal point. I know, of course, maybe you can't come physically, but at least through the technology virtually. Maybe you can also help us train them. I must also say, we see considerable cooperation between the African Union, the United Nations, and ECOWAS, particularly in strengthening our national data capacities, exchanging methodologies, promote complementary reporting indicators. and share good practices. You mentioned several times about the good practice. Let's share this. So let me put in closing what I see as three priorities we should guide our partnership and cooperation. First and foremost, because as I've mentioned this, strengthen our national capacities, capacities in national institutional coordination, to ensure reliable, disaggregated data is available, including from separate institutions, while respecting legitimate confidentiality requirements. And secondly, to ensure that the portal findings reach policy makers. and institutional leaders with the authority to translate evidence into decisions, into reforms, and funding allocations. Because the measures that you highlighted, they are very cosmetic. We want to see institutional measures. We want to see policy changes. We want to see serious reforms of these institutions. And thirdly and lastly, We need to strengthen collaboration among global, regional, and national monitoring mechanisms to promote complementarity, reduce duplication, and improve accountability. So let me say, because I've also been a position, we said finally and lastly, and in closing, let me say the success of this portal should ultimately be measured not by the volume of data collected, Richard, but by the decisions it informs and by the barriers it helps to dismantle and the opportunities it creates for women to lead. And let me assure you that the African Union stands ready to share its experience from the continental result framework, digital reporting, and national capacity development while learning from member state partners. So our collective ambition must be to move from data to decisions, from representation to influence, and from commitments to measurable institutional transformation. Once again, I wish to congratulate you on this remarkable launch. of the United Nations portal on women in justice and security, and wish you all the best of success. Thank you very much for your attention. And as we say in Tanzania, sante ni sana, merci beaucoup, shukrani jazira. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you, Ambassador.

Very inspiring, but also constructive and directed. And also to your young team that's making it all happen from behind. Thank you so much. Now we'll turn and listen to our women leaders, I understand, from the panel. So we'll turn over to Megan for that.

Thanks so much.

So now the exciting part of the event that we frame is the conversation, and as you've heard from Jomana, The experiences, the knowledge, the expertise of women in uniform, they're really at the heart of what the UN is trying to do with this portal. It's not just sort of cold data on surveys.

We really need to listen to women in institutions.

So I am thrilled to be introducing four really incredible women, and I will just shortly tell you a little bit about each of them. ask a couple of questions of each of them, and then we'll have time for you to ask them your questions. So, starting with my left here, Brigadier General Sandra Kijer from the Netherlands. She has held several commander positions in the Netherlands, also served in key UN policing positions, including with the UN mission in Afghanistan and with the Department of Peace Operations. So since this year, she's had a particular.

Role on strengthening gender responsive policing, working both at international and national levels. So very interesting.

On her left, Lieutenant Colonel Glory Afumani Mkwizu of, sorry, far left, I'm reading it in the wrong order. Sorry, glory. On the far left in green, Lieutenant Colonel Mkwizu of the Tanzanian People's Defense Force. So she is serving here in New York as a special military assistant to the chief of staff.

In the Office of Military Affairs within the Department of Peace Operations.

So Glory has extensive experience in peacekeeping, in conflict prevention and capacity building, and has been a.

Dedicated advocate of the WPS agenda.

So her work now is focused on empowering and preparing female peacekeepers for effective leadership.

And community engagement within UN peace operations.

So second to my left, to go back into order, introducing Commissioner Margot Karanja from Kenya. She's a senior police commander with more than 17 years of experience, currently holding the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police. She served as the acting police commissioner with the AU Transition Mission in Somalia. She's been the chief instructor at the Kenyan National Police College, and there she oversaw instructional content, supervision of training programs, and has also been the officer in charge of police legal affairs.

In the Kenyan National Police Service. So you hear like a really very diverse career.

She's published on police reform in.

Kenya and the international justice system, and she's now serving as a UN Deputy Police Advisor.

Last but not least, Assistant Chief Constable Innes Zeitner, who is a police advisor.

From UN Women and brings more than four decades of experience in policing and public service. So before joining UN Women, Assistant Chief Constable Zeitner has held leadership positions in the German police service, including championing gender equality within the German services as an equal opportunities officer. At UN Women, her role involves advancing women's participation and leadership in justice and security institutions, and more holistically promoting gender responsive policing in support of the WPS agenda. So, we're going to start the panel with two questions for each of our panellists, and I'm going to ask the first question to the two of you on my left, Commissioner Karanja and then Brigadier General Kaija.

And the question is about your own personal professional paths. So what we would like you to reflect on is what has helped you in your own careers to advance to where you are today. And of course, this It's a complex question, you could probably talk about it all day, but when you reflect, are there particular policies or institutional structures, were there particular people, particular?

Opportunity that you found really made a difference.

So starting with you first, Commissioner Karanja, please.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much for the opportunity, as I have been introduced, my name is Margaret Karanja, I'm current UN Deputy Police Advisor. And to start with, I wish to say that having come from a different background and at a very young age, in joining police, I had different expectations. And of course, I also saw opportunities, but of course, there were challenges. And if I can try to look at the challenges in a very brief way, the challenges were structural, as it has been mentioned, the societal perceptions on who a woman is, and the role that the woman should play in the society, and the police as a career that is male-dominated. And to me, I saw opportunities and I didn't want to concentrate on the challenges. So I had to overcome these challenges through deliberate trainings, through looking at the mentors, the leaders who have been there and have managed, they have made it. And also continuous training. This has enabled me to overcome the challenges that I have mentioned and have made me progress, not because I have not been able to experience these challenges, but with the positive attitude and seeing the opportunities and the sense that the role of women is required in police, in serving the community, and in serving the society, and in ensuring that the police service is delivered effectively. to the community that we are expected to serve, I took up as a challenge. And I wish to encourage all women of diverse background and regions and age to take up the challenge and see these opportunities and be encouraged. When they see women rising, they should know that there is career in it and they should not fear. despite, you know, the existing challenges within the police institution. So, also, what also made me grounded in the police is because there were policies that were, you know, supportive of human advancement, and these policies, which include gender mainstreaming in the police service, and then, you know, I felt that I have a place. in that. So that's all I would wish to say on that part of the question. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Commissioner. And then turning to General Kaiser with the same question about the path.

Yeah, thank you very much also for this opportunity. And I think when I look back at my career, there was not a master plan for me. It was not like what often is thought of women, oh, she's a career woman, she has defined all these steps. For me, it didn't go that way. I was really wanting to contribute to society. I wanted to fight injustice. I wanted to help people. So the police was a good choice for me. And it was not a master plan. And when I look back, of course, I met a lot of barriers, like we all did. And it's threw me constantly back to my choice. Did I make the right choice for this profession? And every time the answer was yes, so that kept me going also. But what also kept me going was some people that I met during my career who really supported me because they saw my capacities and supported me in the choices that I wanted to make, which were not always the choices that the organization wanted to make for me. For example, I wanted to work in serious and organized crime, but I was young, and they said, "Well, you are young, you're a woman, this culture is not good for you. We want to protect you." So I said, "Well, if you want to protect me this way, it's never going to change. So if you support me, I can handle it and we'll go for it." And there were two leaders in that department who really supported me, and they got my back. And that was also kind of necessary because when I was there, I felt that the culture was not super welcoming me, so to speak. But sometimes you really need, or sometimes I think structurally, you need people who got your back so you can step forward. At a certain point, I was doing the riot police for a long time. It's like part-time job beside of the job that I had. I was just one of the few women, and there had never been a platoon commander, a female platoon commander. And at a certain point, I felt I was ready for it, but the decision was made differently. And when I digged into it, because I was really angry that they didn't take the right decision, in my opinion. They said, well, my commander in my daily job had had a negative advice. So I talked to him and he said to me, well, you know, I think that big, strong men are better equipped for this work, literally. Which is like something you expect ages ago, but not like it was, I think, 30 or 25 years ago. So, but that is an opportunity because he really spoke to me in that way, so I could do something about it. So, but those moments are really like, what am I fighting here? I just want to do my job. So I called the highest commander of the force and I said, this is what he said to me. So you do what you have to do, but I'm not going to accept it. So let me know what you want to do with this. Because a couple of weeks before that incident, there was a young woman and she said to me during we were dressing up for the riot police, and she said, "You know what? I want to become like you." And that was the first time, which was also really in my face. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I have a big responsibility here." But I thought about her during this week that they had made the wrong decision, like, i need to go on, whether it's the last thing I do or not. Because after me, you know, I know the reason now that I'm the first one, but after a week, they called me and they said, "Is it okay for you if we take the other decision that you become the first female platoon commander?" And I said, "Yeah, that's good enough." So, yeah. But it's really something, I think, that responsibility, I think we all feel that, to open the doors for the people behind us, the Gen. Z, the digital generation. And that's something I think we have a responsibility. But also, a portal like this can help to tell these stories, to share these common experiences that we all have and hopefully inspire young women to keep on going and go for being the good professional that we need in this justice and security domain. I'm going to stop here. Thank you.

Thank you, General.

This is so great. I mean, there's so much we could continue to dig into, but I'm really hearing from both of you, you're both talking about supporters or mentors. You're really both talking about being fearless and being willing to push, to grab opportunities, to take challenges. And to really have the courage to be that first woman or to push at an institution.

That doesn't think you quite belong in that role that you think you do belong in, and that's really inspiring. So we're going to then ask some questions now, more about barriers more concretely. And first, I'm going to come to you, Chief Constable Zeitner, and then you, Lieutenant Colonel McWhisou.

So the question that we want to explore continues to be, what is still holding women back in your institution? And then what has helped remove some of those barriers? And if you could share perhaps one question, one practice from your institution that has been effective with other countries?

What would it be and why was it effective? Colonel Zaina, please.

Thank you for having me. When we talk about barriers for women in policing and security, we often ask, what should women do differently? Perhaps the real question is, what should institutions do differently? Women do not face a single barrier. They face a combination of structural, cultural, and practical obstacles. And that means there is no silver bullet. Progress requires action on multiple fronts and at the same time. But one factor is particularly powerful, what researchers call a critical mass around 30%. Below that threshold, women often have to navigate the culture. At around 30%, they begin to shape it. They are no longer seen as exceptions. They become part of the norm. Yet representation is only part of the story. Recruitment gets women in, but retention reveals the reality behind the numbers. The question is not only how many women join, the question is whether they choose to stay. That requires flexibility where operationally possible. It requires challenging the mindset of, we have always done it like this, and above all, It requires listening. Too often, institutions design solutions for women without speaking to women. Ask them. Listen to them. Then act. In Germany, we asked female police officers what was holding them back. One answer was unexpectedly practical. The challenge was not capability. It was equipment. Even uniforms and protective equipment had been designed primarily for men. We addressed it by introducing better-fitting body armor and uniforms tailored to women's operational needs. The result was better performance, greater safety, and improved comfort. We would never have identified that issue if we had not asked the right question and looked at the evidence. That is why, if I could recommend one practice to every institution, it would be this. Stop guessing, start measuring. Measure recruitment, measure retention, measure promotion, measure leadership appointments. Because data don't argue, data reveals. It shifts the debate from, do we have a problem, to what must we do next? Gender equality is not only a matter of fairness, it is a matter of effectiveness. When institutions lose talented women, they lose capability, credibility, and effectiveness. and in policing and security, that makes all of us less safe. We can't afford that. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Chief Constable.

So now turning to you, Lieutenant Colonel Mukwizu, with the same question, what do you see holding women back?

What has helped to challenge those barriers?

Thank you once again for the opportunity given. Barriers are not the same across countries, organization, or mission. Women may have different challenges depending on their rank, professionals, ethnicity, disability status, or their family circumstances. While significant progress has been made so far, there are still, as the research has revealed, some barriers that are still holding females back. Gender bias is still experienced for recruitment, promotion progress. There are also in-advocate family support policies. There are also limited access to women for training and leadership opportunities. In some circumstances, as my fellow says, equipment and facilities available does not meet women's need. Also, there are limited mentorship for women. to support them, to excel where they're supposed to be. Also, women face work-life balance challenges, especially when we talk about peacekeeping for a woman to be deployed. This work balance should be taken into consideration, taking care that we are women, we are military, we are also mothers, we are also family members, with which all those factors affect us differently. And also, the institutional cultural practices may be unintentionally creates barriers. in advancement of women. What might help these barriers in addressing those? Systematic analysis, evidence-based assessment, which will underline, help to determine those institutional and structural barriers. And also, these studies will help institutions to understand the different barriers that affect them. And also, it also requires a strong leadership commitment. It's require also gender responsive policies within our institution, and mostly important, mentorship and professional development opportunities, like this one of the portal, the stories are going to be tell, are going to mentor a lot of women who are going to access those stories. And most importantly, willingness to examine those barriers and share those findings that other countries can learn from the best practice in what has been done. If I could want to share a practice that what I've done, I would like to recommend what my country have done of taking MOIPU assessment, which is still going on in my country. And what I know, the assessment is still going on. Through this assessments where my country is conducting and other countries also have been doing the same, conducting comprehensive very assessments, it will help them to get finding and act upon those finding. Through this assessment, it's going to replace assumptions that we have for years, and we have the evidence which institution can use to address the root causes of these barriers, implement targeted solution, and most important, create inclusive environment that can enhance participation, strengthen operational effectiveness, and improve overall institutional performance. Most importantly, these finds are shared to all the countries, and it's high time now to call upon other countries also to take step forward to use this methodology that are available of conducting assessment for these barriers. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Lieutenant Colonel.

So, I mean, a lot of very interesting reflections there.

I really take from the both of you the point about the importance of having structured mechanisms to consult women, like not just to top down, have somebody.

Dictate what the right policy intervention will be, to have perhaps mechanisms around women's networks or staff surveys. It would be very interesting to understand better how your institutions have done that. And of course, a great example of that in the sense of the MOIP being really robust, detailed methodology for understanding barriers to women. And, you know, of course, acknowledging our colleagues from UN Women in the room.

Who do such amazing work on the MOIP and, you know, all the efforts that have been put into that assessment tool and the impact it's having.

So, we wanted to also ask each of you, and acknowledging some of you have already have started to.

To reflect on the significance of the portal and these sort of processes of data collection. Why is it important to understand where exactly women are represented in institutions and the barriers they face?

How do you see the portal's?

Evidence as helping to target support to remove those barriers and improve opportunities for women.

And I mean, feel free to reflect.

On this either in your capacity from a national perspective or in your UN role if that feels more appropriate. So go in the same order, perhaps starting with you, Commissioner Karanja, please.

Thank you again for the opportunity. To start with, I want to echo the common saying that what gets measured gets managed. Without data, barriers that we just said will continue to remain hidden, and progress cannot be tracked. And efforts to advance gender equality risk being guided by assumptions rather than evidence. That is why gender disaggregated data gives visibility to where women are represented across police, including in operation and leadership roles. And more importantly, it helps us understand why gaps exist by identifying the institutional, structural, and cultural barriers that limit women's full and meaningful participation. For us leaders and policy makers, This evidence will be indispensable, and it enable us to move beyond generic solutions and invest in targeted interventions that address the specific obstacles that women face. With UNPOP, for example, analysis on gender disparities has informed the development of all human preselection and assessment team, that is the PSAT program. which helps address gaps in skills and exposure, which include skills that are required, like driving, ammunition handling, basic computer literacy, that continue to impede human readiness for the deployment. And as a result of the, more women have successfully qualified for UNFOR assignments as individual police officers. That has also been instrumental in shaping the UNPOL Human Command Development Course, that is the WCDC, thanks to our partners who have generously enabled us to conduct this training year by year. By identifying barriers faced by senior human police officers in assessed leadership positions, UNPOL developed this program that equip participants with the skills confidence and preparation that are needed to compete successfully for senior roles within the UN system through the computer-based interview. On this, I would wish to say that to date, we have eight alumni of the WCDC who have taken up senior and coordinating positions, taking a position for in head of police components, as well as deputy head of police components. In UNIFICEF, UNISFA, MONUSCO, MINUSCA, UNMIK, all those missions have been led by humans who are alumni of this initiative. Similarly, the cross components survey on barriers affecting uniformed personnel. that was conducted under the auspices of the Office of the Commission for the Share and Services, provided critical insights into challenges that are faced by human officers. Its findings informed initiatives, including support through the SE Initiative Fund that supports gender-responsive improvement of infrastructures and other operation barriers, which has contributed to improved deployment, participation, retention of human police officers in the field. And this is why data is not only important, but it is indispensable. Police divisions commend this initiative through the Peacebuilding Support Office, and we see this portal as an important value to human police officers on the ground, as it will increase visibility, around issues of their representation, contributions, and barriers. Such visibility can provide evidence to support advocacy for more inclusive policies and practices. And in the spirit of further enhancing its impact, we encourage an approach that seek to further and ensure that data collected from the member states is as representative and as very viable as possible, which will provide credible evidence based on human police officers across diverse national contexts, including in peace operations, host countries where the United Nations continue to invest significantly in strengthening policing institutions and advancing gender-responsive security sector reform. Also, we wish to consider the existing data and analysis generated through the reporting to United Nations Human Rights Mechanism also to be given consideration. So thank you so much for the opportunity and much appreciated for the opportunity. Thanks.

Thank you, Commissioner. And General Kaya, same question.

Thank you very much. Well, what I already said, the personal stories of other women, I think, on the portal can be very inspiring. But when it comes to the numbers, I think it helps us to see patterns. I think often decisions are made like an individual decision of individual women. It's like, okay, she needs more experience, or she left because that's a personal choice, because of her personal relevant factors. But the patterns behind it, that is what I think a portal and the numbers can reveal. So beyond the head count, the rank, the functions, where do women stop advancing? Where in the career do we see the gap in growing and going on? Who gets the operational assignments? The workforce representation does not automatically mean, as we all said, and you also said, influence or leadership. So where does it stop? The numbers help us identify the patterns behind that, and actually the decisions behind those patterns. And leadership should take that as an account to make different decisions. And that's sometimes in the everyday life in our profession. So, the opportunities should not depend on an individual level, and individual women should not fight the same barriers over and over again. And I think the evidence in the portal, the patterns that are very clear there, can help bring it to a higher level than the individual level. So, identifying gaps. We have to set goals for that, take responsibility from the leadership, and then monitor the change that is made by making different decisions. And also what different colleagues already said, listen to the women beyond the numbers. And that can help make different decisions and see the change in dependence. And I think the evidence should be the data that is collected in the portal and can help in that way. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Assistant Chief Constable Duggan.

Thank you. When we talk about women in justice and security institutions, most of us think or we already know what the barriers are. We hear stories, we see patterns, and draw conclusions. But suspicion is not evidence, and public policy cannot build on assumptions. Without data, We may suspect a problem. With data, we can prove it, measure it, and address it. That is why the UN portal on women in justice and security is so important. It is not simply database. It is intended to become a global evidence base on where women serve, where barriers persist, and what works to overcome them. But let me be very direct. A portal is only as valuable as the information it contains. For the portal to become a driver of reform, we need good data, but we also need clear definitions, common standards, and consistent reporting. Otherwise, we risk collecting numbers that cannot be meaningfully compared or translated into action. And if we fill the portal with data, but do not use it, it risks becoming little more than a warehouse for statistics. And that is not the objective. Its purpose is to generate evidence that can help leaders identify barriers, target resources, and learn what works. My experience in policing has taught me this: people make decisions; good data helps them to make better ones. And that is exactly why this portal matters. Good evidence starts with good data. Collecting data is only the beginning. The real value lies in turning data into evidence, evidence into action, and action into measurable change. That is how we move from knowing there is a problem to knowing what works. Thank you.

Very nicely put. And over to you, please.

Thank you once again. Data on women representation and barriers they face is essential because it allows institutions to go beyond assumptions and make evidence-based decisions. By systematically collecting this data and analyze this information, we can be able to identify the participation gap among the women. understand the root causes of those gaps and those barriers, and hence, we are able to develop tangible solutions. UN Women portal for justice and security is particularly valuable because it supports informed decision-making, accountability, and the sharing of good practices across institutions. Most importantly, the evidence-based policies are likely to be a result of this portal. The tangible improvement for women, including equitable access for opportunities, stronger support system are likely to be developed through this data and more inclusive leadership pathway for women, because the portal will provide all those information. More important, it can save time or resources for other countries because they're able to access what has already been done in other countries and how effective they are, and likely to use the same in their own country. This is because on the ground that women share same challenges despite of their environment, share the same problems. So it's likely to learn from other institutions, being justice, being police, or security. I once again, let all of us be able to access the information in data and recommendations that have been provided with this portal, all worldwide, and be able to help every woman who is there and requires the assistance through this data that has been provided. Thank you once again.

Thank you very much. So I think each of you is reiterating this connection between having good data.

Making better decisions and the impact of those decisions, that the data is not for its own sake. And I'm hearing this thread of a commitment to accountability, a commitment to learning, like running.

Through our whole approach to this.

So thank you very much, each of you, for engaging in these questions, for setting out your thoughts so clearly. We now turn to you in the room. This is an opportunity for you to ask your own questions, whether to Jomana about the portal itself, to the colleagues on the panel about their experiences. I think we have 15 minutes? 15 minutes for questions and discussion. So please feel free to, I think you can.

Megan, we're gonna give the film another shot.

Oh, we're gonna try the film, brilliant. So this will give you a moment to think of your questions.

Let's try, no guarantees here. Over to the film.

She patrols the streets at night.

She runs a prison and protects those held inside it.

She delivers justice in the courtroom.

She's a soldier and protecting her country.

She clears a minefield so a child can walk to school.

Every day, women upholds justice and security.

And yet, in too many places, we cannot say how many of them there are, how far they rise, or what stands in their way.

What we do not see, we cannot change.

In the Peacebuilding and Peace Support Office, we see the difference that women can make. When women take part in justice and security, institutions become more effective and more accountable, better able to prevent conflict, better able to sustain peace. That's why the United Nations portal on Women in Justice and Security brings their stories into the light. Member States have chosen to share what they know: how women are recruited, How they are supported, how they are promoted in police, justice, corrections, military justice, and mine action. Not to compare, to learn. A practice that worked in one country can open a door in another. Every answer shared is a step that no one has to take alone.

Data shows that when women are included in the justice and security sectors, particularly in leadership positions, those institutions are more effective, accountable, and responsive to the needs of populations and communities.

Information is power. By us launching this portal, we are really empowering the community. There will be an opportunity for the member states to see best practices from member states globally, which can inform them in their policy and decision making.

With this data, it helps member states to not talk from assumption, but from evidence-based.

Approaches.

Seeing other human rights, you know, it is an encouraging message to them that this career is not just for men.

I never had information that is available today. I never had a portal. I never had mentorship. So for me, this opportunity will help fellow women worldwide to learn and understand and learn from other women.

This is not about comparing countries. It's about showcasing the that every Member State is making. We invite Member States to add their voice.

Share your experience and learn from others.

Because justice and security belong to everyone.

And so must the institutions that provide them.

Wow, what a fantastic piece of work.

They agree, clearly. So, ladies and gentlemen, if you have any questions, we invite you to, I guess, raise your hand.

I don't think you can raise your tags, and identify yourselves, and we'll come around.

Somebody's pointing, but I can't see you. Please, sir.

Thank you so much, Your Excellencies. My name is.

Perhaps come up to the table and use a mic?

You're very welcome. You're very welcome.

Thank you. Thank you. My name is Walter Maina. I'm from the Office of the Special Envoy. And thank you for this initiative. My question with regards to the collection of data, because we also at African Union, we are using continental results framework. to collect some data from the member states. Just to get the structure, how do you approach the member states and how are they submitting the data to you? And if you have any validation process that you go through before they submit to the portal, do they fill it directly? That's one. The other part is we have had big challenges when it comes to collecting security data across the 20 member states that reported? Some don't want to give specific numbers, especially for the armed forces and the intelligence services, but they are comfortable to provide data in terms of percentages. So what has been your experience? Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Walter.

We might take another couple of questions if there are any.

Please.

My name is Lieutenant Kano Kariuki from the Kenya Permanent Mission, and I don't know if mine is a question, but first to congratulate you for this very impactful initiative. And already I can see the value in what it's going to achieve, because looking at the barriers that have been identified that women are still facing, I can see them being addressed by mentoring. Not all of them, but most of them. And yet the data is showing that we are not mentoring enough. But if you ask any military leader, they'll tell you that mentorship is a core pillar of leadership. And yet the data is showing that it's not happening well enough. And so I think this really illuminates the impact of having this data available to member states. And maybe it's also a challenge to us, because most of the time we focus on the very hard solutions, and we could start also with the easy to achieve solutions that are available to us. And on that note, maybe we should focus on having a more structured and institutionalized framework of mentorship, because we leave it to be voluntary and informal, and will that works? it means it's not working well enough. And that is one of the ways that Kenya is looking at addressing the recruitment and also the retention by having structured mentorship. And that's not just with the women, but also the men, because if we are to deconstruct the male-dominated institutional culture, then we need to mentor the men. So thank you very much for the initiative and my sisters for the insights. We've left inspired. inspired. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to ask a question or make a comment? At this stage, I don't see anyone. In that case, Jomana.

Oh, sorry. Okay, go ahead.

Thank you.

My name is from Tanzania Permanent Mission. I have like two, three questions. Question one is on the data submission verification. We thank the briefers for informing us the portal that will save as a centralized repository. May we kindly inquire what will be the mechanism for data submission by the member states, and what verification process will be in place to ensure accuracy, consistency, and compatibility for data across different national contexts. That is number one. Number two is on the data security and privacy. Recognize the data on justice and security institutions is sensitive. Now, Tanzania wishes to understand what safeguards and data protection protocols have been established to ensure confidentiality, particularly regarding personal data with maintaining transparency. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Very good questions. Jomana, I might turn to you, and of course, we can help if there's a particular aspect.

Thank you very much for your questions.

Several questions were about the data submission process, data verification, how to obtain data when institutions are so sensitive to share information about the number of personnel. The first time that we did this exercise was in 2024, when we collect data on the status of women in armed forces.

The portal aims to.

Basically expand the data collection to other national security institutions. So we had a lot of good practices and lessons learned from that process, which we also undertook with our partner at the CAF. The only way that we actually managed to obtain the information, if you look at our survey, you already assess right at the beginning that the data that we collect is not sensitive. We do not in any way create any safety concerns for the country or the institution sharing that data. So that's the first and foremost important step. Any data that's shared in there, it's to be public. So it's the data that the country feels comfortable in communicating to us. And we have selected a few categories which really look at issues pertaining to women that can help other countries. And the proportions, when we do ask them in terms of numbers, now, we don't ask number of personnel, we ask proportions. So if the country shares the proportion, therefore you don't need to share the number of armed force personnel, for instance, that you have in your country. We know that a lot of member states are reluctant to share the information. That does create challenges in terms when we are to create average, right? And the colleagues that know about data, we understand the challenge that that entails, but we do use some methodologies that allow us to create, estimate an average, because it's still important for us ensure and respect member states' willingness to share just proportion. So we work with that, with the proportion data rather than, you know, the numbers exactly. In terms of security, so every member state receives a dedicated link to share the information with us, which is, you know, communicated to them by, you know, a private letter that's sent to the permanent missions in New York. Through that link, they share the data and information with us. Through the link, they do will communicate some personal information, the person who is sending the data to us, so we can communicate, but no other personal data is being communicated. So it's not any risk for member states to share such information with us. And as we communicated before, the objective of the portal.

Not to compare, rank, or look necessarily at all the problems that one institution have or other have.

We are not here to monitor or to judge. You know, we have seen that across countries and regions, the challenge is common to all of us. These institutions have historically been male dominated. Every country in the world is facing that challenge, a common global problem. And so the objective of this service, we need to identify good practices. We ask We also ask qualitative information that countries have implemented, and we ask for the impact, so the data that you share with us, we are able already to verify if this has really led to results, and we share with other member states. In terms of verification and validation, we do have a data team that we have a data team, the CAFS also has a data team, and we meet to discuss verifying information submitted by member states. If something's not accurate, we ask further questions to member states to verify that information.

And usually that's very clear. The surveys are not long as well. We are focused on really those core issues, women's.

Representation by proportion in different levels and roles, barriers that you have identified. undertook a survey assessment to identify those barriers, and how have you really aimed to address them? What practice have you been undertaking that could be replicated? So it's very objective and practical to the most important points of relevance to the issue of including women in your institutions. In terms of compatibility also, we We are experts in justice and security sector, first and foremost, so we understand a lot about the difference in structures, the difference in every security institutions around the world. We have been, you know, we're studying and working in reforms at country level as in the UN, but also DCAF. So we are very aware of those differences, and when we build the survey, we build based on the expertise, also consulting member states, experimenting and seeing which of the structure of survey would be the most useful and actually to every different structure of justice and security institutions around the world. And actually has worked very well. We have not received any complaints in terms of all this doesn't really fit our national structure or model of justice and security, because we are really able to focus on key indicators and aspects that every member state will have to share. So I think I conclude here, and I maybe ask also Dika if there are any other comments you'd like to provide on this process as well.

I mean, Jomana, you've dealt with that really comprehensively, perhaps to just say very concretely that you don't have to answer every single question.

So if, for example, like there's a set of questions in the policing survey about particular specialist units, if they were considered sensitive, one could just leave that question out.

So the survey mechanism is very flexible, recognising that, I mean, many states simply are not yet collecting all the data that we ask for.

And perhaps also to add, because I don't think we did mention it, that we did earlier in the year a series of technical outreach sessions where many people from the national institutions, so, you know, perhaps it was the human resources team from your corrections service, could join a series.

Of online technical support sessions.

With simultaneous translation happening at all sorts of hours of the day.

So, I mean, we haven't yet talked about whether we will relaunch that, but there is a mechanism where people can basically have a dialogue with us about the surveys and have any questions they have answered.

So I think that is bringing us actually to the close of our time for questions. It only falls to me to thank you very much for engaging in this process and for your reflections and thoughts.

And to pass back to our colleagues at the UN.

Thanks so much.

Ambassador, any inspirational parting points from your side? Because there's been so many already. You want to say anything?

No, I just want to thank most sincerely, because what we have heard from the women in uniform, it was very inspiring, very grounded, And what you have said actually puts challenges to Jemana and team in developing and improving on this portal. So we always say with the Women, Peace, and Security, the struggle continues and the conversation continues. Thank you very much.

Thanks. Fantastic.

You know, I think when we talk about culture, it really is, we can understand culture, we can understand the power dynamics that shape culture through the lives, through the stories of people. And when we listen to the stories of the women leaders today, we saw that Structural barriers, the discrimination is very real, but there are ways around it. And, you know, mentors and leaders who are willing to take that step and back people up at those critical stages of their careers, absolutely everything. And there is hope. But sometimes I think you don't realize that you are pioneers when you're living your life, just trying to live a normal life and progress and make a contribution, but actually you're fighting a bigger battle, and that comes with new responsibilities to share what we've learned. Evidence is really at the core of how we also shape good decision making, and taking that evidence and getting it to the hands of the leaders so they make the right decisions is what it's all about. This portal is heading in that direction to provide that evidence. and support to decision makers. Ultimately, we can't have peace until we have women leaders at the table making peace and promoting and delivering security. So we know that. How do we get there? We have to take additional steps and keep feeding into that portal, and we'll have the portal open again. The dates are, so I don't have my glasses, 26th of February. 26 Feb, so we'll have that round. Please encourage your counterparts to input the data, and we'll make the most of it going forward. I very much thank the government of Germany for making all of this happen with financial support and partnership and leadership. And I thank our colleagues from DEPAF. DEPAF, sorry. DEPAF is another organization.

Really excellent work here that you've done today.

Ambassador, thank you so much. into with our panelists, the women leaders. It's all about you. We're behind you, and we want to support many other women like you and future generations as we move forward. So thank you for this, your attendance, and we'll see you again as we continue this path. Enjoy the rest of Women, Peace, and Security Week.

Thanks a lot. Have a good day.