Twenty-five years ago, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. It highlights the crucial role of women in conflict prevention, Peace negotiations, post-conflict reconstruction and peacekeeping, and calls for their equal participation in all Peace efforts.

Still from the play “Two Minutes to Midnight” by Yael Bartana, in which exclusively women rule a fictional country.

Researchers Giuditta Fontana, Argyro Kartsonak, Natascha Neudorfer, and Stefan Wolff concluded that including measures to integrate women into post-war society in Peace agreements reduces the likelihood of renewed conflict by an average of 11%.

The implementation still falls short of the agenda’s goals. Women remain underrepresented in Peace negotiations, insufficiently protected from sexual violence, and women’s organizations are chronically underfunded. Although many UN resolutions have been adopted since 2000, global cuts to development aid are undermining progress.

At the same time, UN peacekeeping faces serious financial difficulties. While peacekeeping budgets have declined, the share of unpaid contributions has risen sharply, threatening long-term conflict resolution.

To better understand how renewed outbreaks of civil war can be prevented, the team examined 14 prolonged Peace processes in conflicts marked by recurring violence. The analysis showed that the United Nations, working in cooperation with local women’s organizations, was able to build and sustain multi-level coalitions committed to negotiating, implementing and safeguarding Peace agreements.

The team tested these findings through a statistical analysis of 286 Peace agreements concluded in violent conflicts worldwide. The results confirmed that the combination of strong UN leadership and the inclusion of women in post-conflict society significantly increases the likelihood that Peace agreements will endure for more than five years. Women in particular help make the needs of marginalized groups visible and create local mechanisms for dialogue, mediation and early warning, such as Liberia’s “Peace Huts”.

These findings confirm the objectives of the Women, Peace and Security agenda but also highlight how fragile current progress remains. Sustainable Peace is possible only if the UN is politically and financially supported and if women’s organizations on the ground receive long-term investment. Without this, there is a serious risk of regression in global Peace efforts. (The Conversation)

By Okay Altinisik | 4-1-2026, 7:09:36