SDG 5: Gender Equality | SDG 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
Institutions: Ministry of External Affairs
At a UN Security Council session on 6 October 2025, UK Ambassador emphasised the UK’s continued commitment to the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, and urging all nations to accelerate implementation of its guiding principles. He recalled UN Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted 25 years ago, which frames sustainable peace as inclusive peace—requiring women’s full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation. The statement noted escalating conflict risks in regions like Sudan, Ukraine, and the DRC, spotlighting how women and children disproportionately suffer from violence, displacement, and loss of access to essential services. The UK reaffirmed its support for initiatives in peace-building, sexual violence prevention, and accountability, including through UN Women and its flagship Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI) initiative. It also warned about new gendered threats in modern conflicts, such as online targeting and reproductive violence.
The UK’s restatement at the UN underscores how major powers continue to appeal for global adherence to WPS norms—relevant in India’s own commitments to gendered peacebuilding, conflict-zone diplomacy, and safeguarding women in crises.
What is the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda?
The WPS Agenda is a UN framework comprising resolutions that promote women’s participation in peace processes, protection in conflict, and gender-sensitive policy in security institutions. It underscores that sustainable peace must be built with, by, and for women, not done to them.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders:
How can India ramp up its support (financial, diplomatic, institutional) for WPS implementation—both domestically and in its diplomatic engagements—so that commitments made in forums like the UN translate into ground-level security outcomes for women?
Follow the full speech here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-uk-remains-steadfast-in-our-commitment-to-advancing-the-women-peace-and-security-agenda-globally-uk-statement-at-the-un-security-council