112-Nation Network Demands Action as Sexual Violence Cases Double and Women Vanish From Peace Tables

The Women, Peace and Security Focal Points Network marked its 10th anniversary at the United Nations with a ministerial meeting that was equal parts celebration and alarm. Over 25 countries pledged concrete commitments to embed WPS principles into defense and foreign policy — but the backdrop was grim: verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence more than doubled in 2025, women have been completely shut out of peace negotiations in Sudan and Ukraine, and nearly half of women's organizations in conflict zones risk closing within six months.

• Verified conflict-related sexual violence cases more than doubled in 2025, with women and girls accounting for 88% of victims
• UN Women calls for earmarking 0.07% of national military budgets for WPS, contrasting $2.9 trillion in global military spending with the financial collapse of women's peace organizations
• Afghan civil society leader warns that five years of Taliban rule prove "silence is not a strategy" and demands mandatory women's participation in peace talks
• Spain pledges over €13 million to UN Women; Netherlands, UK, Czech Republic, and others announce increased funding
• Multiple countries unveil new national action plans, including Tunisia, Czech Republic, Mexico, and Armenia, while Greece announces a high-level Security Council debate on WPS for October 2026

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The Funding Paradox: $2.9 Trillion for Militaries, Pennies for Women's Peace

The starkest moment of the ministerial came when UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahus laid bare the financial contradiction at the heart of global security spending.

Why it matters: Global military spending hit $2.9 trillion in 2025. Meanwhile, nearly half of women's organizations in conflict settings risk closure within six months, and more than 60% are worse off than a year ago. The agencies doing frontline work on peace and protection are running out of money precisely when the need is greatest.

Where things stand: Bahus proposed a concrete benchmark — earmarking at least 0.07% of national military spending for WPS — framing it as a minimal reallocation from an enormous pool. "UN Women calls for investment in women, in peace, in security, of at least 0.07% of national military spending," said Executive Director Bahus. She argued that the evidence is overwhelming: "We know that women help make peace more durable. Yet they remain too often absent from decisions about war, about peace, and about recovery."

Ambassador Ana Alonso, Spain's Ambassador for Feminist Foreign Policy, put numbers to her country's commitment. "Last year, Spain's contribution to UN Women was more than €11 million, and this year we shall be increasing that further to reach more than €13 million," she said, adding a €500,000 contribution to the Peace and Humanitarian Fund. The Netherlands, UK, Finland, Czech Republic, and Australia all pledged increased funding or sustained financial support despite domestic fiscal pressures.

UN Women Deputy Executive Director Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda pushed back on the assumption that WPS must be funded exclusively from development budgets, asking governments to consider "how can the security sector budgets resource more, a little bit more, the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, so that we are not also just looking at the development budget to support the security sector intervention of the National Action Plans."

What's next: The 0.07% benchmark now sits as a litmus test for future accountability. Civil society groups and future co-chairs can measure whether governments follow through — or whether the disparity between military budgets and peace funding continues to widen.

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"More Dangerous to Be a Woman Than a Soldier": Sexual Violence Crisis and the Collapse of Women's Participation

SRSG Pramila Patten, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, delivered what amounted to a distress signal.

The basics: Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) refers to rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, and other acts committed by armed actors in conflict settings. The UN tracks verified cases — meaning confirmed through rigorous documentation — as a baseline indicator of the crisis.

Why it matters: Verified CRSV cases more than doubled from the previous year, with women and girls accounting for 88% of victims. This surge is happening as the institutional architecture designed to protect women is weakening: the UN now leads only three peace processes, down from 14 to 15 a decade and a half ago.

Where things stand: Patten drew a direct line between the UN's shrinking mediation role and women's disappearance from peace tables. "In Sudan, across myriad diplomatic initiatives, not a single Sudanese woman participated in actual negotiations. In Ukraine, only men feature in peace talks," she said. The implication was stark — as other actors take over peacemaking from the UN, the institutional commitments to women's inclusion evaporate.

"In 2025, the number of cases documented more than doubled from the previous year, with women and girls accounting for 88% of victims," SRSG Patten reported.

Minister Tjootsma of the Netherlands reinforced the urgency: "In armed conflicts today, it is probably more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier."

The UK's Parliamentary Undersecretary of State Mr. Elmore emphasized survivor-centered accountability, while Australia and the Netherlands pledged institutional commitments to address CRSV in their defense and foreign policy frameworks.

What's next: Greece announced it will host a high-level Security Council open debate on WPS on Oct. 27, 2026, marking the anniversary of Resolution 1325 — the foundational Security Council resolution on women, peace, and security. That debate will be a key test of whether the alarm raised at this ministerial translates into Security Council action.

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Afghanistan: "Silence Is Not a Strategy"

Mary Akrami, founder and director of the Afghan Women's Skill Development Center, offered the meeting's most powerful testimony — a case study of what the entire WPS framework was designed to prevent.

Why it matters: Afghanistan represents the most complete reversal of women's participation rights in modern history. Women who were once negotiating, leading organizations, and mediating within communities now face systematic restrictions on virtually every aspect of public life. Akrami argued this is not just an Afghan tragedy — it is a failure of the global WPS architecture.

Where things stand: Akrami called for three specific actions: making protection a political priority for women human rights defenders, requiring — not making optional — women's participation in any discussions about Afghanistan's future, and investing directly in women-led organizations through flexible funding mechanisms.

"Make women's participation a requirement, not an option. Afghan women must be at the table in discussion about Afghanistan's future," Akrami said. She closed with a warning that resonated across the room: "Five years of Afghanistan should teach us: the silence is not a strategy, and exclusion is not peace."

Critically, Akrami pushed back against the narrative that Afghan women have been silenced entirely. Inside Afghanistan, she said, women continue to educate, organize, and resist. In the diaspora, Afghan women continue to advocate. What they lack is not courage or capacity — it is political backing and direct financial investment from the international community.

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A Decade In, 112 Members Strong — but the Gap Between Commitments and Reality Grows

The WPS Focal Points Network has grown from 45 founding members to 112 (101 states and 11 regional organizations), and 117 national action plans have been adopted globally over 26 years. Secretary of Foreign Affairs Maria Teresa Lazaro of the Philippines, serving as co-chair, highlighted that her country's Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro "remains the only agreement in the world signed by a woman chief government negotiator and peace mediator."

Deputy Director-General Alessandra Molina of Italy, the other co-chair, pointed to the Rome Communiqué's call for verifiable national action plans and integration of WPS into defense planning as the framework for the next decade. Multiple countries responded with concrete commitments: Tunisia unveiled a new national action plan for 2025–2030, the Czech Republic announced one for 2026–2030, Mexico introduced its second, and Armenia its third. Several nations — including Finland, Croatia, and Australia — declared WPS as central to their campaigns for non-permanent Security Council seats.

Ambassador Michael Gort, Canada's Deputy Permanent Representative, framed the agenda in strategic terms: "Women, peace, and security is not an optional add-on. It is not separate from national security. It is not in competition with defence or economic priorities. It is a strategic enabler of them."

Emerging areas drew significant attention. Multiple countries flagged WPS integration into cybersecurity, artificial intelligence policy, climate security, disaster risk reduction, and responses to technology-facilitated gender-based violence — signaling that the agenda is expanding beyond its traditional conflict-zone focus.

What's next: Italy and the Philippines formally closed their co-chairship, with Undersecretary Maria Tripodi of Italy and Vice Minister Jonathan Miano of the Philippines both stressing the risk of losing momentum during leadership transitions. The question now is whether the next co-chairs will inherit a robust accountability infrastructure — or a growing pile of unfulfilled pledges.

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• Past co-chairs panel: Representatives from Japan, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Namibia, and Romania each outlined their national contributions during their tenures and called for the next decade to prioritize measurable outcomes over declaratory commitments.
• ASEAN WPS Conference: The Philippines announced it will convene the ASEAN Women, Peace and Security Conference in October, followed by a thematic network meeting in November.
• African Union: Special Envoy Mula Mula pledged institutional WPS mainstreaming across AU peace and security operations.
• Regional pledges: Serbia, Bangladesh, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, the OSCE, and the EU all delivered statements committing to WPS integration across defense, humanitarian, and development policy.