Launched in Geneva in February 2024, the Women, Peace and Security Impact Group was co-founded by Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Executive Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), Madeleine Rees, former Secretary General of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and Ambassador Claudia Fuentes Julio, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations Office and other international organisations in Geneva.

Other members of the group include: Ambassador Nathalie Chuard, Director, Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF), Esther Dingemans, Executive Director, Global Survivors Fund (GSF), Samuel Emonet, Executive Director, Justice Rapid Response (JRR), Phil Lynch, Director, International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Catherine Marchi-Uhel, Head, International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism on Syria (IIIM), Adriana Quiñones, Head of Human Rights and Development and Deputy Head, UN Women Geneva Office.

CONTEXT

The Women Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda as a normative agenda is at the heart of current tensions in the multi-lateral system over the future of peace and security. On the one hand, it has enabled understanding of the crucial role gendered norms play in violent conflict as well as a country’s capacity to build positive peace and resilience. National Action Plans have provided a framework for cooperation within states, and between states, international organisations and civil society actors. The WPS agenda has given rise to informal and formal networks experts, mediators and civil society groups, and movements for peace. It has also enabled an expansion of the security agenda to include human rights and human security whilst strengthening the security sector capacity to advance gender equality.

On the other, it has been subject to unintentional and intentional backsliding. There has been insufficient investment in the prevention pillar to address the root causes of violent conflict with inequalities growing in recent decades: only 1 of the 14 indicators of the SDG 5 goal is ‘close to target’ and the time to reach equality regressed by a generation to 131 years during Covid-19.

There has been patchy progress in ensuring women’s full and meaningful participation in peace processes and governance, and there is increasing violence against women and backlash against women’s rights, which undermines the protection pillar.

With the rise of inter-state wars and increased militarisation and securitisation, security policy is at a pivot point and so is the WPS agenda. The New Agenda for Peace released on 20 July 2023 recognises the transformative potential of the WPS agenda for sustaining peace by shifting power and the same time, “generational gains in women’s rights hang in the balance”. Some countries are adopting feminist foreign policies to centralise women peace and security in their policy and decision-making, yet realising the agenda is proving challenging at a time when funds are being divested into military security priorities. Political leadership is essential at this moment in time to ensure that the WPS is strengthened and realised.

LAUNCH EVENT 

On 13 February 2024, the Impact Group was launched during an event on Prioritising Women, Peace and Security: Gender Persecution as a Crime against Humanity - A Geneva Security Debate, at the GCSP. Members of the Impact Group discussed the group's objectives and highlighted the importance and relevance a WPS Impact Group, and its relevance to their work in Geneva. This was followed by an intervention by Professor Valerie Oosterveld, Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who discussed the implications of the upcoming ICC ruling in the case of Prosecutor v Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mahomed Ag Mahmoud. 

OBJECTIVES

• Facilitate dialogue and strengthen international cooperation between member states, international organisations and civil society to improve coherence and ensure prioritisation of the WPS agenda within Geneva.
• Support the implementation of the Global Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action and encourage more actors to become signatories and make commitments.
• Collectively develop evidence-based recommendations and policy language that promote a human rights-based approach to conflict prevention, integrating the perspectives of diverse stakeholders.

Briefing on the Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action (WPS-HA) Compact

On 14 May 2024, the Impact Group held a briefing of the Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action (WPS-HA) at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). The briefing was organised in partnership with UN Women and the Permanent Mission of Spain to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva. The Impact Group convened Gender Champions and interested heads of International Organisations, Civil Society Organisations and Permanent Missions in Geneva to support the group’s objective of implementing the WPS-HA Compact, discuss the status of the WPS agenda in the current political context and identify priority areas for action ahead of the Summit of the Future and the 25th Anniversary of Resolution 1325. 

The briefing featured Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Executive Director of the GCSP and co-Chair of the WPS Impact Group, Harriet Williams Bright, the WPS-HA Compact lead, Signe Gilen, the Special Envoy on Women, Peace, and Security for Norway and co-Chair of the WPS-HA Compact, H.E. Ms. Clara Cabrera Brasero, Deputy Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva, Maria Victoria Cabrera-Belleza, Founder and CEO of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders and Madeleine Rees, Secretary General of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and co-Chair of the WPS Impact Group.

Roundtable Discussion on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and Human Rights Mechanisms in Geneva

On 14 June 2024, the Impact Group held a roundtable discussion on the WPS Agenda and Human Rights Mechanisms in Geneva at the GCSP. The roundtable discussion provided an opportunity for the presentation of research findings and recommendations on WPS and Human Rights - Ukraine and Sudan as case studies by Ilayda Isik and Caroline Montag, students at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. This was followed by reflections from Ambassador Claudia Fuentes Julio, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva and finally a discussion facilitated by Madeleine Rees, Secretary General of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and co-Chair of the WPS Impact Group and Fleur Heyworth, Head of Gender and Inclusive Security at the GCSP.

Meeting on Militainment, the Arms Industry and the Marketing of Militarised Masculinities

Between 15 and 17 July 2024, WILPF's Mobilising Men for Feminist Peace initiative co-convened a meeting with GENSAC, Pathfinders and the Small Arms Survey focused on understanding and developing strategies to counter widely used marketing practices that exploit ideas about manhood and masculinities to increase demand for weapons and normalise their use. Following this successful meeting, please find some useful resources here. 

Workshop on Women, Peace and Security Language for Universal Periodic Review Recommendations

On 4 September 2024, the IGC Women, Peace and Security Impact Group held a workshop on WPS language for UPR Recommendations at the GCSP. Ambassador Claudia Fuentes Julio, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva provided some introductory remarks, outlining the objectives of the workshop. This was followed by an overview of the draft recommendations by Fleur Heyworth, Head of Gender and Inclusive Security at the GCSP, and Madeleine Rees. During the breakout sessions, over 30 Geneva-based experts discussed how to integrate the WPS Agenda into human rights mechanisms, with a focus on developing specific guidance for the UPR process. The group will aim to consolidate the feedback and suggestions received during the session into a single guiding document. 

WPS-HA Compact Signing Event

On Wednesday 16 October, the 'three Geneva Centres' - the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining - formally signed up to the Global Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action. 

During the signing event, Ambassador Thomas Greminger, GCSP Director, delivered the opening remarks. Nathalie Chuard, Director of DCAF, and Tobias Privitelli, Director of GICHD also shared some insights on their work in this area. 

This was followed by remarks from Ms. Jannicke Graatrud, Minister and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Norwegian Mission in Geneva, who participated as Norway's Compact Board Co-Chair, and Ms. Sofia Calltorp, UN Women’s Director of the Geneva Office and Chief of Humanitarian Action.