World: Speech: Do we have the courage to share power, the resolve to invest in women’s leadership, and the political will to turn our commitments into action?

Speech delivered by UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous to the Security Council open debate on women and peace and security, UN headquarters, 27 October 2026. [As delivered. ] I thank you His Excellency Giorgos Gerapetritis, Foreign Minister of Greece, for convening us, and the Greek Presidency for hosting this open debate. It is my honour, today, to present the Secretary-General’s annual report on women, peace and security. But before doing so, I wish to express my deep gratitude to the Secretary-General for his leadership over the past decade in advancing gender equality and women’s rights, and for ensuring that the United Nations stands firmly with women and girls. He has truly been our feminist-in-chief: urging us to be bolder in our ambitions, more determined in our efforts, and more courageous in challenging the status quo. The Secretary-General’s report tells us clearly: women’s leadership for peace is being constrained at the very moment it is needed most. As military spending rises and aid declines, the need to invest in peace has never been more urgent. Last year, I shared my alarm that women made up only 7 per cent of negotiators at global peace tables. In 2025, that figure fell to 5 per cent across 57 negotiating processes reviewed. In the three processes led or co-led by the United Nations, however, women’s participation reached 22 per cent, still below the minimum one-third target, but a clear demonstration of the difference the United Nations can make. After 26 years of commitments to [UN Security Council resolution] 1325, it is indefensible that nearly 80 per cent of active peace negotiations last year took place without a single woman at the table. This exclusion is not accidental: it reflects persistent institutional barriers, unequal power relations, and deeply entrenched gender norms that continue to deny women their rightful place in shaping peace. Women’s participation is far more than a matter of symbolic representation. Their exclusion has real consequences for what peace agreements address – and whom they protect. These consequences extend far beyond women and girls themselves. As conflicts multiply, comprehensive peace agreements are becoming increasingly rare. From the Democratic Republic of Congo to Gaza, Iran and across the Middle East, and also in Myanmar, the Sahel, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Ukraine, and beyond, women remain largely absent from efforts to end the conflicts that shape their lives. Even where ceasefires are reached, they remain too few, too fragile, and too often fail to end the violence and suffering – or address the security of women and girls. None, not one of the 13 ceasefire agreements reached in 2025 included substantive references to women and girls. Not one prohibited sexual violence, even as UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence doubled in just one year. These omissions come at a terrible human cost. Today, a record 756 million women and girls today live within 50 kilometres of armed conflict. As warfare evolves, AI-enabled military technologies are introducing new risks to civilian protection and accountability, compounding the dangers already faced by women and girls. In several settings, women and girls account for a growing share of civilians killed, including in attacks on the very places at the heart of their daily lives: hospitals, schools, markets, and homes. This damage extends far beyond the battlefield. In conflict-affected settings, women are five times as likely to die from preventable maternal causes, and girls are two-and-a-half times as likely to be out of school, compared to those living in stable situations. Almost 40 per cent of all women and girls living in extreme poverty live in areas affected by conflict. When conflict disrupts services and forces families from their homes, women and girls bear the heaviest burden. They care for children, the injured, and the elderly, while facing heightened risks of gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, and trafficking – all while carrying the grief of loved ones lost, the heartbreak of homes destroyed, and the trauma of lives torn apart. In Afghanistan, this is even more stark, as women and girls continue to be systematically erased from public life and denied a voice in their country’s future. The choices we make about where we invest our resources reveal what we value. Our survey of women’s organizations in crisis-affected settings found that 61 per cent are in a worse financial situation today than a year ago. Forty-five per cent have less than six months of funding available. These are the very organizations we depend on to protect rights, sustain communities, and build peace. That so many women-led organizations are struggling to survive is not simply a consequence of war. It is a consequence of how we choose to define security – and where we choose to invest in it. Defence can deter threats. But defence can never guarantee peace. Security is built long before the first drone takes flight or the first blow lands. Prevention begins with communities that trust one another and believe in justice. It is girls walking safely to school, families returning to their homes after conflict, disputes resolved before they become war. Every day, in communities torn apart by conflict, women are doing this work and continue to lead it. They negotiate safe passage for civilians and humanitarian access for food, water, and medicine. They mediate local disputes before they escalate. They document human rights violations and seek accountability. They support survivors of sexual violence and help restore dignity and justice. They are serving as police officers and peacekeepers – protecting civilians, calming tensions, and rebuilding trust between communities and those entrusted with their security. Across many of the conflicts around the world, women are identifying the first warning signs of unrest, preserving space for dialogue even when parties to a conflict refuse to sit together, helping to prevent the radicalization and recruitment of children and young people into armed groups. They do this whether or not the international community is present, and whether or not their work is recognized and funded. And our failure to support them is not only unjust; it is self-defeating, short-sighted, and costly. Last year alone, the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund supported 15, 000 women peacebuilders who helped address nearly one million local disputes – from Colombia to Burundi they have helped resolve conflicts over scarce resources, displacement, land, inheritance, and property. These efforts are also increasingly reflected in national commitments. There are now 118 countries that have adopted National Action Plans on women, peace and security. These plans translate into national policy a powerful idea that emerged from the women’s movement, one which this Council, in its wisdom, transformed into a global norm through UN Security Council resolution 1325 and its subsequent resolutions. Yet these plans remain underfunded and sidelined when decisions are made about security, conflict prevention, reconstruction, or foreign policy. To conclude, I join the Secretary-General in calling for action on three core priorities he has brought before this Council year after year and even today: First, ensure that any peace process supported by Member-States meets the minimum one-third target for women’s participation. I urge all signatories to the Secretary-General’s Common Pledge to meet this minimum – and to aspire to parity. Second, earmark at least 15 per cent of official development assistance to conflict-affected countries specifically to advancing gender equality, including at least 1 per cent for women’s organizations. I applaud all donors who are already doing this, and I call on all those who have not yet done so to follow their example. Third, end impunity for crimes against women and girls, sanction and hold accountable those responsible for the killing, rape, sexual and gender-based violence, and gender persecution against women and girls. Protect women peacebuilders, human rights defenders and humanitarian workers from attacks and reprisals. Uphold international law and apply this Council’s women, peace and security framework We know what must be done. The question now is whether we have the courage to share power, the resolve to invest in women’s leadership, and the political will to turn our commitments into action. I thank you.

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