25 Years Since UN Resolution Women Still Absent in Peace Efforts

• Women still excluded from peace efforts, even 25 years after a UN resolution called for equality, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
• Cases of sexual violence against women and girls are rising
• Around 676 million women live near conflict zones, the highest since the 1990s

Twenty-five years ago, the UN voted to call for gender-balanced participation in peace processes and, unfortunately, women are still catastrophically underrepresented in conflict resolution and peace processes.

The number of women and girls experiencing sexual violence continues to increase, meanwhile, there are 676 million women living within 50 kilometers of a conflict zone which is the highest number of women in that location since the 1990s.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has pointed to troubling trends such as the increase in military spending, wars, violence against women and girls, and unprecedented levels of suffering for women and girls.

There has been some positive movement like the number of female UN peacekeepers has doubled, women in community mediation, justice for survivors of gender-based violence, women in post-conflict recovery while these are all positive changes, it seems contingent upon the situation and appears to be reversing in some cases.

Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, cited some "good news," including declines in violence against communities in areas including Abyei and the Central African Republic, more women participating in electoral councils in Haiti and Chad, constitutions legally protecting women's rights in

Syria and woman's inclusion in national humanitarian response plans in Ukraine for women. Unfortunately, there is still a great deal of backsliding, such as cuts to funding to educate girls in Afghanistan, providing medical care for survivors of sexual violence, and food insecurity for women and children in Gaza, Mali, and Somalia. 

Antonio and Bahous asserted that change is possible, emphasizing UN member states to live up to their commitments to support women and girls in conflict-affected countries, by increasing funding to ensure `women's inclusion in peace processes, protect women from violence (including sexual violence), hold perpetrators accountable, and promote women's economic security.