Posted Monday, 26 October 2026
Tomorrow afternoon (27 October), the Security Council will hold its annual open debate on women, peace and security (WPS), which this year is titled “Women, peace and security in the next quarter century: fulfilling the promise through implementation”. Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs George Gerapetritis will chair the meeting. The expected briefers are UN Secretary-General António Guterres, UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous, and a civil society representative from Afghanistan.
Greece is expected to deliver a joint statement prior to the meeting. The statement was negotiated among the signatories of the Shared Commitments on WPS initiative—Colombia, Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, Liberia, Panama, and the UK—and was later opened to other UN member states to support. It seems that the statement will call for the inclusion of women in peace processes as negotiators, mediators and peacebuilders, and stress the importance of integrating WPS issues across peacekeeping operations, including during transitions and withdrawals. Among other things, it will also apparently call for sustained financing for the WPS agenda and reject the misuse of emerging technologies, including generative artificial intelligence (AI), to target women.
The concept note prepared by Greece ahead of the meeting stresses that, despite the existence of an international framework on women’s rights and gender equality, the implementation of the WPS agenda continues to be hindered by uneven political commitment and financial constraints. Among other issues, the concept note raises concerns about the deteriorating protection of women and girls in armed conflicts, including rising levels of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV); the targeting of women activists, journalists, and human rights defenders; reduced funding for civil society and local women’s organisations; and structural economic inequalities that undermine women’s economic empowerment.
The concept note poses several questions to help guide the discussion, including:
- How can the Security Council, the UN, member states, and regional organisations enhance compliance with Security Council resolution 1325 of 31 October 2000 and subsequent relevant resolutions, and recommit to the WPS agenda?
- What concrete measures can the Security Council, the UN, member states, and regional organisations adopt to promote women’s participation in decision-making, politics, and peace processes?
- How can sustainable and flexible financing for the WPS agenda be secured amid current UN liquidity challenges and donor constraints?
At tomorrow’s open debate, Guterres and Bahous are expected to provide an update on the situation of women and girls in conflict-affected contexts and draw attention to key messages from the Secretary-General’s annual report on WPS, which was circulated to Council members on 25 September (S/2026/758). The annual report highlights a sharp rise in the estimated number of women and girls living within 50 kilometres of armed conflict—from 676 million in 2024 to 756.1 million in 2025—and notes that the growing use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas has increased casualties among women and girls. The report also describes the impact of conflict on women and girls, indicating, for instance, that a woman giving birth in a conflict-affected country is five times more likely to die of maternity-related causes than a woman in stable countries.
Guterres and Bahous are also likely to highlight the stark contrast between record-high military spending and shrinking levels of foreign assistance and financial support for women’s organisations in conflict settings. In this regard, the annual report notes that global military expenditure has increased for the 11th consecutive year, reaching almost $2.9 trillion in 2025, while foreign aid continues to decline.
The declining presence and participation of women in peace negotiations is also expected to be a key focus of both Guterres and Bahous. The Secretary-General’s report notes that, while women continue to lead local peacebuilding efforts, they remain underrepresented in formal peace negotiations, with women comprising only five percent of negotiators across 57 peace processes in 2025, compared with seven percent in 2024. The report also says that 2025 has been characterised by transactional closed-door negotiations, which have focused on conflict management rather than conflict resolution. It states that this has hampered women’s access and their chances to influence discussions and outcomes. While these arrangements have temporarily halted or reduced hostilities, they have often collapsed, failed to end violence, or to be translated into comprehensive agreements. In this respect, at tomorrow’s open debate, Bahous is likely to stress the importance of sustaining investment in conflict prevention and resolution.
The civil society briefer is expected to highlight the dire situation of women in Afghanistan, including the unparalleled restrictions imposed by the Taliban on the rights and liberties of women and girls, and may say that these amount to gender apartheid. In this context, she may refer to developments in the field of international justice, such as efforts to codify gender apartheid as a crime against humanity in a future convention on crimes against humanity, and the initiative to hold Afghanistan accountable for violations of the rights of women and girls under the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The civil society briefer is also expected to address the broader backlash against gender equality and regression on women’s rights. Among other things, she may urge the Council to centre gender equality and women’s rights in its consideration of all conflicts and crises. She may also stress the importance of women’s participation in peace and political processes and accountability for violations of women’s rights in Afghanistan and throughout the world.
Tomorrow, several participants are likely to refer to the situation of women and girls in crisis and conflict-affected contexts such as Afghanistan, Gaza, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen. Council members are likely to echo many of the messages highlighted by the briefers, including the importance of women’s full, equal, safe, and meaningful participation. Members are likely to call for strict compliance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law and condemn all violations and abuses. Some members may also call for a zero-tolerance approach to attacks and reprisals against women with political and public roles, including women journalists and human rights defenders.
Many participants are likely to highlight specific policies and programmes to support the implementation of the WPS agenda, such as National Action Plans on WPS; the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), which supports women peacebuilders working at the local level in conflict-affected settings and humanitarian crises; and initiatives within humanitarian and development aid programmes that advance the objectives of the WPS agenda. Some members may also stress women’s economic empowerment, education, and the eradication of poverty as essential for both gender equality and peace.
Tomorrow, some members may also reference the UN80 initiative and stress the importance of supporting the retention of gender expertise within the UN system, including through the deployment and funding of women’s protection advisers and gender advisers in peace operations. In this regard, the Secretary-General’s annual report says that contingency measures and a hiring freeze taken to address the UN’s liquidity crisis “have been felt acutely in peace operations, contributing to a reduction in dedicated gender expertise”. It adds that specialised capacities have also declined, including military gender advisers and women’s protection advisers.
Some speakers may also refer to the ongoing process of selection and appointment of the next UN Secretary-General, expressing their support for a woman to succeed Guterres and calling on the future Secretary-General to prioritise the WPS agenda and gender equality during their tenure. In this respect, the 8 October letter of the NGO Working Group on WPS to current and incoming Council members in advance of the open debate called for the appointment of a “champion of human rights and gender equality”, who is willing to speak up for the rights of women and LGBTIQ persons, and is committed to “preserving and resourcing institutions that promote gender equality”.
Tomorrow’s open debate comes amid persistent divisions within the Council over language on WPS and human rights. According to the Secretary-General’s report, only 46 percent of Council decisions adopted in 2025 contained references to gender-related issues, a significant decrease compared with 65 percent on average over the previous decade. The US regularly seeks the removal of references to gender or their replacement with narrower wording, converging with Russia’s long-standing resistance to incorporating extensive language on WPS and human rights in Council outcomes. Some members, particularly among the signatories to the Shared Commitments, have continued to advocate for the retention of this language in Council outcomes. (For more information, see the brief on WPS in our October 2026 Monthly Forecast.)
At the time of writing, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) was negotiating written advice to the Security Council in connection with tomorrow’s open debate.
SOURCE: What’s in Blue. Security Council Report. Annual Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security. 30 October 2026.