What have 25 years of the Women, Peace and Security agenda brought? Emine Kaya, Program Manager for Gender, Peace and Security at WO=MEN, wrote for the Netherlands Atlantic Association.

On October 31, 2000, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 laid a historic foundation: peace and security are not sustainable without the active participation of women. Much progress has been made since then, but research shows that the core message of the so-called Women, Peace, and Security agenda is more urgent than ever.

Just over twenty-five years ago, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The resolution marked a historic turning point in recognizing the status, rights, and position of women and girls with regard to peace and security. The resolution called on member states to strengthen the participation of women in peace and security processes and to protect them from violence before, during, and after conflicts.

The resolution called on member states to:

• Strengthen the participation of women in peace processes;
• Protecting women and girls from violence before, during, and after conflicts;
  Prevention: addressing and preventing the root causes of conflict and violence against women and girls;
• Recognizing the specific (support) needs of women and girls in emergency aid and reconstruction.
• Resolution 1325 was followed by nine supplementary resolutions that supplemented and/or elaborated on the specific characteristics of conflicts and their impact on women and girls. Since then, 113 countries and various multilateral organizations (such as the EU and NATO) have developed national or regional action plans, policies, and programs to implement the WPS agenda. Organized along the four pillars of the WPS agenda, the Netherlands is also committed to the aforementioned strategic goals. The promise at the time was clear: processes that take everyone's role and needs into account will lead to sustainable peace and security.

But in 2026, the reality is painfully different. In 2024, women were absent from 9 out of 10 peace processes; Globally, only 7% of negotiators and 14% of mediators were women. Sexual violence in conflicts rose by 87% in a single year. These figures reveal a stark reality: women bear a disproportionate burden of war, yet their voices are absent from solutions. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres soberly concluded during the presentation of the recent UN report "Women, Peace and Security,"

"We speak of inclusion, yet far too frequently women remain absent from negotiating tables. We speak of protection, yet sexual violence persists with impunity. And we all lose, women and men, girls and boys."

Progress Under Pressure
Globally, we are currently witnessing a disturbing backlash against women's rights and gender equality. More than 1.1 billion women and girls worldwide face gender inequality. While major donor countries like the US, Sweden, Germany, and the United Kingdom are drastically cutting funding for women's rights and gender equality, the number of regimes actively undermining them is growing. In Europe alone, nearly €1.18 billion went to anti-gender organizations and groups. This is particularly relevant for women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people, as they are often disproportionately affected by conflicts and crises.

Kaya points out that women are crucial for more sustainable security and peace.
There are strong strategic and institutional reasons to adhere to an integrated security approach that goes beyond defense investments alone. UN evaluations of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda show that peace agreements in which women are meaningfully involved are 35% more likely to last at least 15 years. Various peace and security indices, such as the Global Peace Index, the Internal Violence Index, and the Women Peace and Security Index, demonstrate that countries where women's rights and gender equality are well-regulated are safer and more stable.

Research shows that countries with smaller gender gaps are less susceptible to war and crisis, and that sustainable peace is more likely to hold. There is a direct correlation between the oppression of women and LGBTQI+ people and the degree of societal instability. The smaller the gender gap, the less likely a country is to enter into violent conflict or conflict with other countries.

Kaya wrote about the WPS agenda and NAP1325, among other things:

Over the past 25 years, the WPS agenda has had an undeniable impact on international security discourse. The current geopolitical context demands an integrated security approach that brings together defense, diplomacy, and development cooperation within a people-centered and inclusive vision of security. Recent analyses show that unilateral militarization undermines human security and gender equality, while sustainable security depends on resilient societies, social cohesion, and trust in institutions. Both NATO and UN institutions emphasize that the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda (WPS) is essential for addressing hybrid threats, including gender-related disinformation and societal polarization.

Structurally invest in WPS programming and NAP1325, which prioritizes human security, social cohesion, and inclusive dialogue, based on regional and gender-sensitive conflict analyses.

Photo credits: UN Photo, Deputy Secretary-General Visits Afghanistan, 2019