Guterres urges greater role for women in peace talks as participation remains low

Addressing a Security Council debate on 27 October, António Guterres said the women, peace and security agenda established by resolution 1325 in 2000 had brought progress, but too often amounted to “a lot of talk and not enough action”. He called for women to have a greater role in negotiations, for more funding for women’s organisations and for accountability for violence against women and girls.

The gap at negotiating tables remains stark. UN Women says women were members of negotiating delegations in 13 of the 57 peace processes reviewed in 2025. They made up an average of 5% of negotiators *per process*, down from 7% in 2024. In three UN-led or co-led processes, the average was higher, at 22%. UN Women also records progress in national policy: 117 countries had adopted action plans on women, peace and security by May 2026.

The agreements themselves show another gap. PeaceRep researchers at the University of Edinburgh found that 10 of 53 non-local peace agreements recorded for 2025 — 19% — referred to women, girls, gender or sexual violence, compared with 23% of those recorded for 2024. A reference alone says little about the strength or implementation of a commitment, and the researchers caution that more agreements from 2025 may become public.

Guterres also said UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence exceeded 9,700 in 2025. UN Women puts the figure at 9,788, more than double the previous year’s count. The UN’s report on the violence describes barriers to reporting and monitoring, including insecurity and restricted access. The increase is in verified cases; it does not establish how much the true worldwide incidence changed.

Guterres urged binding targets and quotas for women’s participation in peace processes, renewed funding for women’s organisations and protection for female humanitarian workers. UN Women says aid supporting women’s rights organisations in highly fragile settings fell from $215.4m in 2023 to $167.9m in 2024. His proposals were appeals for action, not measures adopted by the Security Council in his speech.