Source: United Nations (video statements)
Press conference by Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, UN Women Deputy Executive Director for Normative Support, UN System Coordination and Programme Results; and Sarah Hendriks, Director, Programme, Policy and Intergovernmental Division, UN Women, on the UN Secretary-General’s report on women, peace and security, and on the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325.
Presenting the Secretary-General’s report on women, peace, and security, UN Women’s Deputy Executive Director Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, today (20 Oct) said, “gender equality and multilateralism are under growing attack,” and “twenty-five years after Resolution 1325, women are still shut out of decisions on war and peace.”
Last year, Gumbonzvanda said, “87 percent of peace talks took place without a single woman at the table.”
She said, “those working for peace on the ground are left without the support they need to continue,” adding that the marking of the 25th anniversary of Resolution 1325, as well as the 30 years since the Beijing Platform for Action, “must be a turning point.”
UN Women’s Director of the Programme, Policy and Intergovernmental Division, Sarah Hendriks, provided details about the report and said, “in just two years, civilian casualties among women and children in conflict have quadrupled. A statistic that is deeply sobering. Sexual violence in conflict rose by 87 percent in also just two years, a reflection – I think – of wars increasing and the ways that they are waged on the bodies of women and girls, in shocking disregard indeed for international law.”
Hendriks said, “funding cuts are weakening our collective capacity to deliver on gender equality, to deliver on peace.”
She said, as peacekeeping missions withdraw, what we see is that security vacuums grow, that violations actually go unmonitored, and women lose access. They lose access to justice, and they also lose access to protection.”
The 2025 UN Secretary-General’s report on Women, Peace and Security warns that 676 million women now live within 50 kilometres of deadly conflict, the highest level since the 1990s. Civilian casualties among women and children quadrupled compared to the previous two-year period, and conflict-related sexual violence increased by 87 percent in two years.
Issued on the 25th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325, which committed the international community to women’s full participation and protection in peace and security, the report warns that two decades of progress are unravelling.
Despite overwhelming evidence that women’s participation makes peace more durable, women remain largely excluded from decision-making. While an increasing number of countries have developed national action plans to implement resolution 1325, this has not always resulted in tangible change for women. In 2024, 9 out of 10 peace processes had no women negotiators, with women making up just 7 percent of negotiators and 14 percent of mediators globally.
The report also exposes a dangerous imbalance: while global military spending surpassed USD 2.7 trillion in 2024, women’s organizations in conflict zones received only 0.4 per cent of aid. Many frontline women’s groups are facing imminent closure due to financial constraints.
The report also underscores the urgent need for a gender data revolution. Without disaggregated data, women’s realities in war zones remain invisible and unaccounted for. Closing these gaps is vital for accountability and for placing women’s experiences at the centre of decision-making.