2020 Civil Society Roadmap on Women, Peace and Security

Today (Monday) the NGO Working Group on WPS released its long-awaited 2020 Civil Society Roadmap, a summary of which is included below and a full version of which you can access here. The Roadmap offers concrete recommendations on how the UN, Security Council and other Member States can advance WPS in five key areas in advance of the 20th anniversary of the adoption of Resolution 1325, which are: 

1. Prevention of conflict. Take decisive action to prevent conflict, end violence and avert crisis, including by addressing gendered drivers of conflict and instability.
2. Women’s meaningful participation. Ensure women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in all aspects of peace and security. 
3. Human rights defenders, peacebuilders and civil society space. Defend the legitimacy of the work of all human rights defenders and peacebuilders and their role in promoting peace and security, and effectively prevent and address attacks against them.
4. Gender equality and the human rights of all women and girls, including access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), must be central to maintaining international peace and security.
5. Accountability for implementation. In addition to ensuring implementation by Member States, promoting system-wide accountability of the UN for implementation of the WPS agenda.

The Roadmap was released today – just ahead of the annual Open Debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict (this Fri 17 July at 10am EST), and to feed into the statements UNSC members and other Member States will deliver at the annual Open Debate on WPS, which is expected sometime in last October 2020 under the Russian Presidency of the UNSC.