Joint statement on Women, Peace and Security

I have the honour to deliver this joint statement on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) on behalf of the following 43 participating States: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and my own country Belgium.

At the outset, let me state that we must keep the WPS agenda at the top of our priorities within the OSCE. UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and its follow-up resolutions stress the equal participation and full involvement of women in the maintenance of peace and security. The full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women at all levels of society and decision-making, including in the armed forces and in peace-building efforts, must be ensured within the whole OSCE region.

As the largest regional security organisation in the world, the OSCE is uniquely placed to make a significant contribution to the WPS agenda. Participating States have repeatedly affirmed the importance of integrating the relevant provisions of UNSC Resolution 1325 into the activities of the OSCE. In this regard, we applaud the important work and constant engagement of the Secretariat, the autonomous institutions and the field presences. Recently, ODIHR launched a new guide called “Promoting Human Right Compliant and Gender Responsive Armed Forces” to help armed forces assess their institutional compliance with human rights and gender equality. Such concrete gender-mainstreaming initiatives must be encouraged.

In this 20th anniversary year of the OSCE Action Plan for the promotion of Gender Equality, we welcome the side-event organised by the Maltese CiO to reflect on this milestone at this Ministerial Council. Just like last year, we refer to the recommendations formulated in 2020, one of them being the development of National Action Plans (NAPs) on WPS. In this context, allow me to mention the successful Regional Expert Level Workshop for Central Asian participating States on WPS and UNSC Resolution 1325 NAPs organised in the margins of the 2024 Annual Security Review Conference. NAPs on WPS are an effective tool to support reform processes in national security sector institutions. We also reiterate the importance of 
gender equality as a key element and outcome of ensuring good security sector governance and related reforms.

Wars, conflicts and crises across the OSCE region affect women and girls, in all their diversity, differently and disproportionately. This is why the full implementation of the WPS agenda remains so important in the current geopolitical context. From the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, extensive cases of conflict related sexual and gender-based violence by Russian forces have been reported. Survivors-centred support and measures to fight impunity are essential in this regard. At the same time, women in Ukraine and elsewhere keep proving on a daily basis their role as resilient agents of change, be it as peacebuilders, human rights defenders, part of civil society organisations or on the front line.

Men and boys also have an important role to play in advancing gender equality. The Barbershop Conference for Military Advisors and FSC Delegates which took place in October 2023, created a safe space to share experiences, increased men’s understanding and support of the WPS agenda and emphasised the importance of men becoming actively engaged in promoting gender equality. The side-event in March of this year by the FSC and OSCE chairs on the Role of Men in Gender Equality was also very successful. Such initiatives should be pursued.

Furthermore, we continue to underline the added value of the voluntary reporting by the OSCE participating States on the implementation of the UNSC Resolution 1325 under the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security. This questionnaire helps to gather data, share best practices amongst the participating States and provides an opportunity to reflect on their progress.

We look forward to the OSCE-wide Roadmap for the Implementation of Commitments on Women, Peace and Security that is currently being developed by the incoming Finnish CiO which aims to make our collective efforts more visible.

The WPS agenda is crucial for sustainable peace and stability in the OSCE area and beyond. We need to work continuously on the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 – which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year - as well as its follow-up resolutions. We need action and the current global situation shows that we need it now.