In advance of the October 2025 Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, this open letter was sent to UN Member States on behalf of 661 civil society signatories from 106 countries working on issues related to gender equality and women’s rights, peace and security, human rights, humanitarian assistance, and protection of civilians. The letter calls on the Security Council and Member States to take decisive action to defend the fundamental tenets of the WPS agenda. You can read it in other languages here.
Dear Ambassadors,
We, the undersigned organizations working across the globe on gender justice, human rights, and peace and security, write to you ahead of the 25th anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) to deliver one simple message — it is time to fight back.
This year, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda turns 25. This agenda was forged from the vision, sacrifices and courage of women peacebuilders in conflict zones — women who put their lives on the line to advance bold solutions to conflicts by speaking truth to power, mediating disputes, delivering critical services and advocating for human rights, justice and accountability.
Yet, when we should be paying tribute to the hard-fought achievements of these feminist movements, we are instead confronting an alarming backlash against women’s autonomy and rights, and against those who advocate for them, at a time when the consequences of armed conflict and crises on the lives of women and girls could not be more devastating.[1] The very term gender — a core concept in international human rights law mobilized by feminist movements for decades to challenge the systematic oppression of women and LGBTQIA+ people[2] — is today being blatantly undermined by anti-gender movements globally, including at the United Nations (UN). Civil society and human rights defenders around the world, especially those defending gender equality, women’s rights, sexual and reproductive rights, and LGBTQIA+ rights, are being targeted for who they are and the work they do. Combined with rising militarism, erosion of respect for international law, capitalist exploitation and slashing of funding for gender equality and women’s rights organizations, these attacks have thrown our work and our movements into crisis, even as the vision of the WPS agenda is more necessary than ever.
A founding principle of this agenda is that no peace is possible without the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation and leadership[3] of women and girls in all their diversity,[4] or respect for their human rights. As the Security Council has reiterated for 25 years,[5] violations of women’s rights are a threat to peace and security, and the Security Council, the primary body tasked with maintaining international peace and security, must uphold its obligation to protect women’s rights. To remain silent as the WPS agenda and those who advocate for it are attacked, defunded and abandoned not only undermines decades of commitments to uphold gender equality and women’s rights, but jeopardizes peace and security for everyone.
At this year’s Open Debate on WPS, at a moment when the fundamental tenets of the WPS agenda are being violated globally and the voices of those most impacted by conflicts and crises are increasingly excluded, we urge you to defend the values this agenda represents.
Member States should prioritize four critical actions:
- Stop arming violence against civilians. A foundational demand of feminist peacebuilders is to stop war altogether, not to make it safer for women. Empty condemnation of attacks against civilians while continuing to arm violence against them is unacceptable. As we confront record levels of armed conflict, militarization and military spending, Member States must commit to stopping arms transfers when there is a substantial risk that they may be used to commit or facilitate serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against women, or if they risk being used to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects, or other war crimes, in line with the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
- Uphold international law. Respect for international humanitarian and human rights law are paramount obligations of Member States. This includes compliance with decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ); upholding the obligation to prevent and punish genocide; and ending impunity for human rights violations. These obligations must be upheld consistently across allconflict situations on the Security Council’s agenda. Selective application of international law and its specific protections for women and girls not only blunts an irreplaceable tool of the international community, it erodes the foundations of justice and accountability, enables impunity and undermines the credibility of Member States to uphold human rights and resolve conflict across the globe. The WPS agenda demands that the totality of women’s rights — including their sexual and reproductive health and rights,[6] their right to equal participation in decision-making and public life, and their right to live free from all forms of gender-based violence — are upheld in all conflicts and crises, regardless of context or perpetrator.
- Defend women’s rights and gender equality. Although spaces for consensus are shrinking and the cost of defending women’s rights, gender equality and the WPS agenda is increasingly high, nothing is more central to the founding principles of the UN Charter than the prevention of conflict and the protection of those most affected by it. Defending the WPS agenda today means that Member States must speak out when the human rights of women, girls and LGBTQIA+ people, the independent voices of civil society, and the integrity of the multilateral system are under attack. We urge you to double down on, not retreat from, integrating women’s rights, gender equality and respect for international law in all decisions of the Security Council, and to firmly reject any outcomes that damage or fail to advance the core tenets of the WPS agenda.
- Support the civil society movements that sustain this agenda. Women civil society are the heart of the WPS agenda and are essential for holding the Security Council and the UN accountable for their obligations. The Security Council cannot make monumental decisions affecting the lives of millions of women and girls without transparency or considering the crucial perspectives of conflict-affected communities. Support for women civil society means supporting their full, equal, meaningful and safe participation in decision-making on peace and security; fully implementing a zero-tolerance approach[7] to any form of attack, intimidation, retaliation or reprisal against diverse women for their political participation, human rights and humanitarian work, peacebuilding activities or cooperation with UN mechanisms, including the Security Council; ensuring direct, long-term and flexible funding to diverse local women-led, women’s rights and LGBTQIA+ organizations, networks and movements;[8] and supporting civil society organizations and human rights defenders, especially those working on contested issues, to ensure that they are able to carry out their work independently and free of repression.
We are a long way from full realization of the WPS principles, norms and commitments we have collectively established over 25 years. Today, however, the WPS agenda itself hangs on the edge of a precipice. At this year’s Open Debate on WPS, we urge you to stand strong and hold the line on the WPS agenda — or risk losing it entirely.
We will not be silent, and neither should you.
Feminist resistance to war, patriarchal oppression, inequality and injustice laid the foundation for the WPS agenda — and principled resistance when the agenda is under attack is the only way forward.
We stand with the women of Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Western Sahara, Yemen and all other crises on the Security Council’s agenda. We urge you to do the same by upholding the WPS agenda in solidarity with the millions of diverse women and girls daily confronting the brutal realities of conflict: they deserve your courage, your resources, but most importantly, your moral clarity that their lives are not dispensable.
Sincerely,
