Tomorrow (9 March), the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its 1334th open session on Women’s Leadership in Addressing Emerging Threats to Peace and Security: Artificial Intelligence and Technology-Facilitated Violence. The meeting will take place virtually and forms part of the Council’s continued engagement with the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda across Africa.

Following opening remarks by Almon Mahlaba Mamba, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Eswatini to the African Union and Chairperson of the PSC for March 2026, Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, will deliver introductory remarks. Liberata Mulamula, Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the AU Commission on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), is also expected to make a presentation to the Council, followed by a statement from Justice Effie Ewuor, Co-Chair of FemWise-Africa, and a presentation by the Representative of UN Women. Additionally, statements are also expected from PSC Members, AU Member States, and Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs).

The 1334^th session continues the PSC’s institutionalised engagement with the WPS agenda, formalised as a standing item at its 223^rd meeting in March 2010. Since institutionalising the WPS agenda, the PSC has convened 28 dedicated sessions, with this 1334th meeting extending its thematic scope to women’s leadership against AI and technology-facilitated violence. While the Council has made evident progress through thematic expansions, encompassing women’s roles in preventing violent extremism, displacement/refugee protection, media accountability, economic integration, and WPS linkages to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), these advances remain ad hoc and inconsistent.

The session convenes amid a sharply deteriorating continental peace and security landscape, marked by protracted conflicts in Sudan, eastern DRC, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa, where women’s leadership proves indispensable for tackling both AI-driven threats and technology-facilitated violence. Protracted conflicts in the Sahel, Great Lakes region, and Horn of Africa, exacerbated by Sudan’s war, renewed eastern DRC violence, and Somalia’s instability, continue fueling mass displacement, humanitarian crises, and civilian atrocities. Women and girls suffer disproportionately, facing conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), early/forced marriage, economic exclusion, and barriers to peace processes. In many contexts, sexual violence serves as a deliberate war tactic, while shrinking civic space stifles activism; now, AI-amplified disinformation, cyber-harassment, and online gender-based violence compound these risks, demanding women-led strategies for digital resilience and accountability.

This backdrop renders tomorrow’s PSC session pivotal, as the rapid proliferation of digital technologies and AI is reshaping political communication, conflict dynamics, and social interactions across Africa. Artificial intelligence and emerging digital technologies are also expected to become a major driver of economic transformation on the continent, with projections indicating that they could add around $1.5 trillion to Africa’s GDP by 2030. While offering avenues for economic growth, innovation, and governance gains, including the emergence of women-led digital peacebuilding tools, these technological advancements are also generating new risks. In particular, they have enabled forms of technology-facilitated violence that disproportionately target women in public life, including peacebuilders, journalists, activists, and leaders.

Tomorrow’s session offers an opportunity for the PSC to rigorously assess how AI-driven threats and digital technology violence are intensifying conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), eroding civic space, and systematically targeting women peacebuilders, journalists, activists, and leaders amid governance erosion and escalating crises on the continent. A 2024 UNU-Interpeace report on sub-Saharan Africa reveals AI-generated deep fakes and botnets fueling ethnic polarization and undermining peacekeeping efforts in the DRC, while a 2025 study across 11 countries documents devastating cases: Ethiopia’s Mayor endured deep fake pornography viewed 562,000 times (90% believed it is real), and Cameroon’s Brenda Biya faced coordinated harassment reaching 8.9 million via 92 identical posts evading moderation through ‘spamouflage.’ Binding Hook’s 2026 analysis escalates the urgency, showing generative AI’s low-cost scalability in gendered disinformation, exemplified by election deep fakes targeting women politicians in Ghana, Namibia, and Kenya that inflict reputational harm, psychological trauma, and civic exclusion by exploiting patriarchal norms. These platform-amplified attacks, where outrage boosts engagement 15-20%. In highlighting these challenges, the PSC may explore the gaps that exist in the legal and policy instruments, including the AU Continental Results Framework (CRF), such as missing tech-threat indicators and the need for digital impact assessments in PSOs and WPS-tech reports, and harmonised monitoring to safeguard women’s roles in peace processes.

Beyond the digital information environment, the Council may consider how AI-enabled technologies are also reshaping the conduct of warfare itself. Emerging battlefield technologies also highlight the growing intersection between AI and the changing nature of warfare on the continent. Recent analysis, including Amani Africa’s annual review on emerging weapons trends, points to the rapid proliferation of drones as a new ‘weapon of choice’ in several African conflicts. In contexts such as Sudan, their use has had devastating consequences for civilians, particularly in urban areas, with women and girls often bearing disproportionate impacts through civilian deaths, injury, displacement, loss of livelihoods, and heightened insecurity. These developments underscore the urgent need for stronger regulatory and accountability mechanisms governing AI-enabled and algorithm-assisted weapons systems to prevent further civilian harm and deepening gendered vulnerabilities in conflict settings.

The AU has forged a robust normative architecture to tackle AI-driven threats within the WPS agenda. Key instruments include the African Union Digital Transformation Strategy (2020–2030), which promotes inclusive digital ecosystems but lacks WPS-specific mandates; the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention), establishing data safeguards yet ratified by only 16 states as of 2026; and the PSC’s recent call for a continental AI-governance-peace advisory mechanism. Complementing these, WPS pillars draw strength from the Maputo Protocol (2003) and the landmark AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (2025), which explicitly criminalises ‘cyber violence’, encompassing deep fakes, doxing, and algorithmic harassment, while the Continental Results Framework (CRF) drives gender-disaggregated monitoring. Yet weak domestication, chronic underfunding, and missing tech-threat indicators hobble enforcement.

Against this backdrop, tomorrow’s 1334^th session may be used by the PSC to strategically operationalise these frameworks amid AI’s profound disruption of conflict dynamics, governance, and gender equality. The PSC may probe tech-WPS intersections, such as disinformation undermining women mediators in Sudan/DRC, and champion targeted measures: embedding cyber violence indicators in CRF/NAPs; accelerating Malabo ratifications; empowering the AI advisory mechanism with women leaders; and mandating gender audits of peace operations’ digital protocols. This decisive pivot could convert aspirations into accountable action, fortifying women’s leadership in tech-resilient peace architectures.

The Council may also consider how to strengthen coherence between national and continental frameworks by encouraging the alignment of the growing number of National Action Plans (NAPs) on Women, Peace and Security, now adopted by more than 37 AU Member States, with emerging digital threat assessments and technology governance initiatives. Integrating considerations such as AI-driven risks, cyber harassment, and technology-enabled gender-based violence into these NAPs could support more comprehensive prevention strategies while enabling Member States and Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms to better anticipate the intersection between technological change and existing conflict drivers. In this context, the PSC may further emphasise the importance of promoting women’s participation in digital governance and technology policy spaces. As artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies increasingly shape governance and security systems, ensuring that women contribute to policy design and decision-making processes will be essential for preventing technological innovation from reinforcing existing gender inequalities and for advancing more inclusive, gender-responsive peacebuilding approaches.

The session also offers the PSC a critical opportunity to assess progress in women-led innovations addressing emerging AI-driven security risks, including AI-enabled early-warning systems and gender-responsive digital mediation platforms. While African women demonstrate strong potential in the technology ecosystem, accounting for 47% of STEM graduates globally, the highest share worldwide, their participation sharply declines in the technology workforce, where they constitute only 23–30% of professionals in the tech sector. Moreover, structural barriers continue to limit access to the digital ecosystem: only about 31–32% of women in Africa use the internet compared to 42–43% of men, significantly constraining women’s ability to develop digital and AI-related skills and to contribute to technological governance and innovation.

It is therefore expected that the Council may use the session to evaluate how initiatives such as women-focused AI training and entrepreneurship programmes, such as those supporting over 100 African women entrepreneurs trained in data science, machine learning, and AI innovation through UNESCO-supported initiatives, can be scaled to strengthen women’s leadership in digital peacebuilding. At the same time, the PSC could address persistent structural barriers, including women’s underrepresentation in technology policy spaces and limited access to investment for women-led tech ventures. Building on AU’s gender-parity commitments, the Council may prioritise targeted capacity-building in cybersecurity, AI governance, and digital peacebuilding, while encouraging Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) to deploy women experts and establish women-led digital security task forces capable of developing scalable, Africa-rooted responses to AI-enabled threats.

Beyond the rapidly expanding digital domain, the session may also situate AI- and technology-facilitated violence within the broader spectrum of structural and emerging threats affecting women and girls across Africa. These include climate-related insecurity, violent extremism, protracted displacement, and deepening economic marginalisation, issues highlighted during the 2025 Cotonou Meeting on Women, Peace and Security as key drivers of gendered insecurity on the continent. Economic governance frameworks may also feature in this discussion, particularly where digital transformation intersects with gender inequality. For instance, while continental initiatives such as the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol aim to expand digital markets and cross-border trade, their largely gender-neutral design risks overlooking structural constraints that continue to limit women-owned MSMEs, including restricted access to finance, high transaction costs, and persistent digital connectivity gaps. In this regard, the session may provide an opportunity for the PSC to deliberate on how gender-responsive approaches can be more systematically mainstreamed across the tools of the AU peace and security architecture, including early warning mechanisms and regular Council briefings, while ensuring that responses to emerging technological threats are linked to broader socio-economic and governance reforms.

The expected outcome of tomorrow’s session is a communiqué. The Council may call for stronger measures to address the growing risks posed by artificial intelligence and technology-facilitated violence within the framework of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. In this regard, the PSC may urge Member States to integrate digital threats, including AI-driven disinformation, deep fakes, and online gender-based violence, into National Action Plans on WPS and to align these frameworks with continental instruments and emerging technology governance initiatives. The Council may also encourage accelerated ratification and domestication of the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection and call for the inclusion of indicators on technology-facilitated violence within the African Union Continental Results Framework on Women, Peace and Security to strengthen monitoring and accountability. The PSC may further underscore the importance of promoting women’s leadership in digital governance and AI policy processes, including through the expansion of women-led innovation and mediation networks such as FemWise-Africa, while encouraging Member States, Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms and the African Union Commission to invest in digital literacy, cybersecurity capacity-building and women-led technological solutions for early warning, conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

Tomorrow (30 October), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its 1309^th open session virtually on Women, Peace and Security in Africa: 25 years of UNSCR.

Following opening remarks by Tebelelo Boang, Permanent Representative of Botswana to the AU and Chair of the PSC for October 2025, Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), will deliver the introductory statement. Liberata Mulamula, Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the AU Commission on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), is also expected to brief the Council on the progress of implementing the WPS agenda. Statements are also expected from Justice Effie Owuor, Co-Chair of FemWise-Africa; a representative of UN Women; a representative of the Delegation of the European Union to the AU; and representatives of the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs).

As the AU marks the 25^th anniversary of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1325 (2000), this session provides a forum to review results, address persistent gaps and set a practical course for implementation. It comes fifteen years after the PSC institutionalised annual deliberations on WPS at its 223^rd meeting in March 2010. The Council may assess performance over this period, identify obstacles to effective delivery and agree on corrective actions.

The Council last considered the agenda in March 2025 at its 1268^th meeting. On that occasion, Council underlined ‘the need to advocate for the implementation of the UNSC Resolution 1325, which addresses the impact of armed conflict on women and emphasises the importance of women’s participation in peace and security efforts.’ The Council also ‘underscored the need for the AU Commission to carry out an assessment’ to assist Member States in advancing national policy and stressed ‘the need to establish clear indicators and robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms’ to enable regular reporting on commitments.

This year additionally marks the 15^th anniversary of the PSC decision to institutionalise the WPS agenda. In tomorrow’s session, the Council may review the progress registered in advancing the WPS within the framework of the AU and the persisting challenges. The Special Envoy on WPS, established in 2014, serves as the lead and anchor of the effort for advancing the WPS agenda within the AU. It has helped initiate measures and institutional frameworks to advance women’s inclusion across peace support operations (PSOs), election observation and mediation. Developed through the Special Envoy on WPS, the Continental Results Framework (CRF) is the principal roadmap for tracking commitments across four pillars: participation, prevention, protection and relief and recovery; covering National Action Plans (NAPs) now adopted by 37 Member States, the growth of regional women’s mediation networks and recognition of women’s leadership in peace processes. A June 2025 high-level workshop on ‘Reinvigorate CRF Monitoring’ recommended a simplified digital reporting tool, biennial reporting, real-time feedback loops, harmonised AU reporting timelines and the use of CRF reports to inform policymaking and budget allocations.

Established in 2017, FemWise Africa and the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) advance mediation and the promotion of women’s leadership, respectively. FemWise Africa, a subsidiary mechanism of the AU Panel of the Wise, identifies, trains and deploys women mediators in AU peace efforts and election observation processes, while AWLN increases women’s participation in decision making through peer learning, mentoring, solidarity, advocacy and capacity building.

Despite the emphasis on Resolution 1325, the WPS agenda has a strong normative foundation in the AU legal instruments. The Maputo Protocol (2003) aligns with and advances obligations consistent with Resolution 1325, with Articles 10–11 requiring participation in peace processes and protection in situations of conflict. The AU Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (2004) is a pledge by Heads of State to accelerate women’s rights and parity across governance, peace and security, education, health and economic life, with annual reporting to track progress. The AU Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2018 to 2028) aligns Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to mainstream gender equality across AU organs and Member States, prioritising dignity and security, effective laws and institutions, economic empowerment and leadership and voice. The AU Policy on the Prevention of and Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Peace Support Operations (2018) establishes zero tolerance and a survivor-centred system with vetting, mandatory training, confidential reporting, immediate support services and clear accountability, including investigations, repatriations, sanctions and referrals for national prosecution. And, the recent AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (2025) further reinforces existing legal guarantees, requiring states to prevent, protect, prosecute and provide survivor-centred support for all forms of violence, including cyberviolence and femicide, complements the Maputo Protocol.

In view of the foregoing, the session may deliberate on prioritising the concrete operationalisation of existing instruments, anchored in a forward-looking implementation strategy and tested by a rigorous stocktake of how deliberations have translated into practice. As recorded in Amani Africa’s special research report, the Council’s deliberations called for action on five priority issues: accountability that ends impunity and expands access to justice for women; meaningful representation across prevention, mediation, PSOs and post conflict reconstruction; attention to structural gender disparities and other drivers of conflict; formal institutionalisation of the agenda; and the systematic deployment of gender advisers. Yet outputs remain largely programmatic and weakly tied to measurable targets, time-bound delivery and independent review. Although the AU is positioned as a global leader in policy architecture, credibility now rests on converting commitments into measurable gains for citizens, articulating coherent African positions and mobilising Member States and civil society through implementation.

Critical review of the realities shows that the major gap has nothing to do with a lack of normative, policy and institutional frameworks but the lack of implementation and disregard of the commitments thereunder.  Instruments to prevent and mitigate sexual and gender-based violence (GBV) in PSOs have yielded limited protection gains; declarations to end impunity are rarely paired with conflict-sensitive monitoring, adequate investigative capacity or accountability pathways with clear, realistic timelines. Gender analysis is inconsistently integrated into briefings, situation reports and mandate renewals and findings from the Office of the Special Envoy’s field missions seldom inform corresponding country and regional deliberations. Follow-through is uneven and senior-level ownership is fragile, while conflicts continue to target civilians, including the strategic use of sexual violence as warfare, terrorism and torture. The most recent Windhoek+25 Declaration urges bold action to ‘bridge persistent gaps’, an ‘intergenerational imperative’ to sustain gains, use of regional strategies and NAPs for implementation and review, and alignment of ‘political will, institutional reform and societal transformation’ grounded in unity, resilience and inclusion. In the same vein, on 31 July 2025 in Benin, the Cotonou Meeting reviewed implementation and urged accelerated responses to ‘climate insecurity, digital threats, and persistent gender inequalities’, ‘terrorism, climate-related insecurity, gender-based violence’, and the ‘weaponisation of digital technologies’.

For Council deliberation, a notable finding from the UN Secretary-General’s 2025 WPS report is that approximately 676 million women lived within 50 kilometres of deadly conflict in 2024, the highest level since the 1990s. Rising global military spending and an evident backlash against gender equality are straining the WPS agenda. Funding shortfalls are closing clinics, shrinking food aid and cutting education in Somalia, the DRC and the Sahel (including Mali). Protracted crises across the Sahel, Great Lakes and Horn of Africa disproportionately expose women and girls to GBV, displacement and marginalisation. In Ethiopia, the World Food Programme (WFP) cut refugee rations from 60 per cent to 40 per cent due to shortages. Without new funds, programmes for breastfeeding women and malnourished children will end in December 2025. In Somalia, women and children, who face heightened risks of GBV, sexual exploitation and eviction, accounted for more than 80 per cent of the displaced population. In South Sudan, violence is at the highest level since the 2017 cessation of hostilities, with women and girls often targeted. In El-Fashir, Sudan, reports indicate that 38 per cent of pregnant and breastfeeding women are malnourished. In its 2025 open letter to UN permanent representatives, the NGO Working Group on WPS underscores that the agenda’s norms remain far from realised and condemns the escalating backlash against women’s autonomy, rights and the advocates who defend them.

Tomorrow’s meeting is also expected to put women’s meaningful participation in peace processes front and center, heeding the Swakopmund Process Conclusions of 23 March 2024 that call for gender parity across all AU led and co-led mediation tracks. Such a policy should guide the selection and appointment of mediators, technical experts and special envoys, embed gender analysis in terms of reference and set measurable participation targets at every stage. Yet women remain underrepresented, particularly in high-stakes negotiations and security sector reform processes. With inadequate commitments, shrinking resources and efforts to roll back protection measures, obligations under the CRF and NAPs are under-enforced. Although the AU endorses a gender-parity policy for AU-led mediation and a 30 per cent minimum quota for women’s participation in peace missions and processes, accountability and regular reporting mechanisms are lacking. UN data from 2020 to 2024 show women’s participation in peace processes stayed far below targets. In 2024, women were 7 per cent of negotiators and 14 per cent of mediators; nearly 90 per cent of negotiation tracks and about two-thirds of mediation efforts had no women. Although Africa hosts many UN peace operations, including in the DRC and South Sudan, women still make up a small share of peacekeepers globally: 6.4 per cent of military personnel and 12 per cent of police personnel as of 2023. In light of this, the PSC may shift the focus towards identifying specific interventions for advancing the level of women’s participation in peace processes and periodic monitoring and reporting on trends in this respect.

The expected outcome of tomorrow’s session is a communique.  The Council may call for clear, realistic roadmaps and a pivot from norm setting to implementation, prioritising systematic integration of the WPS agenda across the conflict continuum from prevention to post-conflict. Member States may be urged to embed the agenda in national and local processes, and those without NAPs to adopt costed plans with meaningful participation of women, youth and grassroots groups. In terms of protection, the PSC may request the AU Commission to mainstream update on WPS in briefings and reports of conflict situations submitted to the PSC and task the Special Envoy to monitor, track and document violations against women in conflict and crisis situations in Africa and prepare a dedicated annual report on the same. The PSC is expected to condemn conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and reiterate the need for full and effective participation of women in early warning, prevention, mediation and dialogue, backed by adequate, predictable and sustained financing. It may seek concrete steps to implement the 30 per cent quota at the AU, REC/RM and national levels. It may encourage well-resourced national and regional FemWise chapters to expand the pool of women peace experts. It may press for stronger delivery across the four pillars and for integrating climate risks into implementation strategies. It may underline the coordinating role of the Office of the Special Envoy on WPS.

Tomorrow (21 March), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) is scheduled to hold a session on the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda.

Following opening remarks by Mohammed Arrouchi, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the AU and the stand-in Chairperson of the PSC for March 2025, Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security (PAPS), will deliver the introductory statement. Bineta Diop, Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the AU commission on WPS, is expected to brief the Council on the progress made in the implementation of the WPS agenda. Presentations are also expected from representatives of the UN Women and the European Union Delegation to the AU. Nefertiti Mushiya Tshibanda, Permanent Representative of the International Organization of Francophone (OIF) and Nouzha Bouchareb, from the national chapter of the African Women’s Network for Conflict Prevention and Mediation (FemWise-Africa), are also expected to make interventions.

Since its 223^rd session convened on 30 March 2010, when it decided to hold annual open sessions dedicated to the WPS theme, the PSC has institutionalised its session dedicated to the WPS agenda in Africa. And significant progress has been achieved normatively and in putting in place structures, processes and mechanisms for advancing the WPS agenda. As documented in our special research report, while significant normative advancements have been made, the persistent gap between policy commitments and implementation remains a major concern. As tomorrow’s session marks the 15^th anniversary since the 223^rd session of the PSC adopting the WPS agenda, a major issue for the PSC is how to advance implementation.

The last PSC session on the WPS agenda was on 30 October 2024 during the Council’s 1242^nd session, marking the 24^th anniversary of UNSCR 1325. The session underscored the critical role of women in conflict resolution and urged Member States to ensure a more equal representation of women in all aspects of peace processes, including the design and implementation phases. In the adopted communiqué, the Council made several requests to the Commission, including the establishment of rigorous monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for the implementation of Resolution 1325 and the exploration of funding options for gender components of peace and security, including from the Peace Fund.

Given the alarming levels of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and gender-based violence (GBV) in conflict situations, including most notably in Sudan and Eastern DRC, one of the issues for the PSC is how to ensure that peace and security initiatives in specific conflict situations make provision for a gendered approach to peacemaking and mediation and for protection measures tailoring to the continuing vulnerability of women to CRSV and GBV. In this respect, a major new development that is expected to inform PSC’s consideration of how to enhance effective response to the persistence of CRSV and GBV in tomorrow’s session is the adoption by the 38^th AU Assembly in February 2025 of the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. This Convention is particularly significant in terms of the 2019 report of the Special Envoy noted in Amani Africa’s special research report that while there is some progress in respect to the provision of psychosocial protection and support, access to justice to ensure redress and accountability remains inaccessible for many women.

In this respect, it is of particular significance for members of the PSC to emphasise the need for speeding up the ratification of this newest AU Convention and its domestication as a pre-requisite for creating the legal, political and social conditions that promote respect for the physical security and dignity of women and girls. Equally, there is a need for the AU to take steps for adapting the measures envisaged in the Convention in order to ensure their integration into all peace and security initiatives of the AU and for designing tailored strategy for the Convention’s implementation in conflict situations. Apart from the prevention and response stages, the importance of the inclusion of gender-sensitive provisions into peace agreements to ensure that women’s security concerns are not sidelined in the post-conflict phase cannot be underestimated.

As this month marks 15 years since the introduction of the WPS agenda in the PSC, it is also of importance for members of the PSC to consider the effective operationalisation and implementation of various instruments developed over the years for advancing the agenda. One such agenda is the Continental Results Framework (CRF), a tool designed to institutionalise regular and systematic tracking of progress of the WPS agenda. The CRF is  dependent on Member States’ willingness to adhere to reporting obligations and implement corrective measures. Even then, instead of making follow-up dependent exclusively on reporting by member states, members of the PSC may also consider the inclusion in the strategic plan of the Special Envoy on WPS of periodic assessment of both the performance of member states and all AU and Regional Economic Communities  (RECs)/Regional Mechanisms (RMs) peace processes under the CRF.

FemWise Africa, a subsidiary body of the Panel of the Wise dedicated to advancing the role of women in preventive diplomacy and mediation, has played an important role in expanding the pool of women practitioners and experts and strengthening the role of women mediators and their contributions to more inclusive peace processes. Additionally, the decentralisation of FemWise-Africa is a critical step to facilitate localised interventions in preventive diplomacy and mediation. Still, the PSC must encourage Member States and RECs to accelerate efforts to establish national and regional chapters with adequate resources to ensure that women are involved in conflict prevention and mediation in meaningful ways.

Another issue expected to be raised in tomorrow’s session is the need to advance women’s meaningful participation in peace processes. The Conclusions of the high-level ministerial seminar,  a biennial forum institutionalised as the Swakopmund Process, convened on 23 March 2024, underscored the importance of adopting a gender parity policy for all AU-led and co-led mediation processes. Despite being disproportionately affected by conflicts, women remain significantly underrepresented in decision-making roles. A gender parity policy would play a key role in ensuring that the selection and appointment of mediators, technical experts, special envoys and others relevant to the facilitation of peace processes takes into account gender perspectives and meaningful inclusion of women. However, despite growing commitments, women remain underrepresented, particularly in high-stakes mediation efforts. The significance of integrating women into peace processes, further to being a matter of justice, is also a matter of strategic imperative to ensure the durability of peace processes by leveraging women’s conflict-resolution skills and community engagement strengths for long-term stability.

It is in this respect that the PSC requested the AU Commission to develop a Policy Framework on Women Quotas in Formal Peace Processes across Africa. This framework aims to ensure that the continent meets the statutory minimum of 30% gender quota for women’s participation in all conflict prevention and management missions, peace processes, and election observation missions led by the AU. FemWise-Africa, in collaboration with the Gender, Peace, and Security Program and the Office of the Special Envoy on WPS, welcomed the PSC’s directive to develop a policy framework ensuring gender equity and equality in all AU-led mediation and peace processes. Tomorrow’s session thus presents an opportunity for the PSC to follow up on this request.

One of the challenges in the implementation of the WPS agenda is the lack of sustainable financing. It is to be recalled that in its 1187^th session, the PSC emphasised the need for adopting financial mechanisms to facilitate the meaningful participation of women in peace processes, including capacity programs to provide the requisite skills in conflict prevention, resolution, and management. Financing WPS to support women’s leadership development, mediation training, and participation in peace missions is an essential component of ensuring women’s voices are meaningfully included. Tomorrow’s session may explore ways to mobilise additional resources to expand financial and institutional support for women-led mediation efforts.

The expected outcome of tomorrow’s session is a communique. The PSC is expected to strongly condemn conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), especially against women and children in conflict situations, particularly in Sudan and Eastern DRC.  The Council may express concern about the deteriorating security situation affecting women and girls in conflict-affected regions. The PSC may welcome the adoption of the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and urge Member States to ratify and domesticate the Convention. The PSC may call on the relevant AU structures working on WPS to work jointly for adapting the measures envisaged in the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in order to ensure their integration into all peace and security initiatives of the AU and for designing a tailored strategy for the Convention’s implementation in conflict situations. It may also call for a shift in the focus of the WPS agenda from the development of norms, structures and processes to implementation, including prioritisation of systematic integration of WPS across the conflict continuum from prevention to post-conflict. The PSC may request the inclusion into the strategic/work plan of the AU Special Envoy on WPS the conduct of a periodic assessment of both the performance of member states and all AU and RECs/RMs peace processes under the Continental Results Framework. The PSC may call for concrete measures on putting in place strategy for the implementation of the 30% quota for women participation in all peace processes at the AU, RECs/RMs and national levels. Council may also encourage Member States and RECs/RMs to accelerate efforts to establish national and regional chapters of FemWise with adequate resources to expand the pool of women peace experts and ensure participation of women.

Tomorrow (11 March), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its 1264^th session to receive a briefing from the Panel of the Wise and its subsidiary bodies – FemWise-Africa and WiseYouth – on their activities and contributions to continental peace and security. The Council is also scheduled to consider and adopt its program of work for April 2025.

Following opening remarks by Mohammed Arrouchi, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the AU and Stand-in Chairperson of the PSC for March 2025, Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), is expected to make an introductory statement. Effie Owuor, Chairperson of the Panel of the Wise and Femwise-Africa, is expected to deliver the briefing.

The last session of the PSC with the Panel was during its 1204^th session on 13 March 2024. Apart from considering the report of the Panel on its activities, the session also deliberated on the institutional and operational arrangements of the Panel as well as its working methods. Apart from the key decision tasking the conduct of strategic reviews of the Panel’s activities to assess effectiveness, the PSC tasked the AU Commission to facilitate the provision of the Panel’s mission reports to the Council, ensure the Panel accesses early warning information and analyses for proactive preventive diplomacy efforts and support and facilitate for joint deployments of the Panel of the Wise with similar regional bodies in situations requiring urgent attention. Tomorrow’s session, therefore, can serve as an opportunity to follow up on these decisions.

In terms of the institutional interface of the Panel with other bodies, despite the PSC’s 665^th session decision to institutionalise quarterly briefings by the Panel of the Wise ‘in order to enhance the conflict prevention capacity, early warning and timely decision-making processes of the Council’, the engagements remain sporadic, with the last briefing occurring a year ago during the PSC’s 1204^th session. Prior to that, the Panel met with the PSC in May 2023 during the PSC’s 1152^nd session, which was convened to consider the Report of the Panel on its mission to the Republic of Chad. The gaps between these sessions show that the quarterly briefings by the Panel are yet to be fully institutionalised, as per the decision of the communiquéof the 665^th decision, which necessitates a more realistic timeline for the interaction between the PSC and the Panel. Such rationalisation of the Panel’s engagement with the PSC seems a necessity if the Panel is to focus on the delivery of its core mandate and enhance its engagement with similar bodies as specified in the communiquéof the 1204^th session of the PSC.

Arising from the 1204^th session of the PSC is also how realistic the PSC’s expectations for the Panel to play a role in countries in transition, support mediation processes and implementation of peace agreements. While these are areas relevant to the Panel’s work, as captured in an Ideas Indaba analysis, the PSC’s push for the Panel to deepen its engagements in these contexts raises concern of increasing the breadth of the Panel’s mandate, thereby spreading it thin and eventually limiting its effectiveness in its core mandate of preventive diplomacy. The Panel’s primary mandate, under Article 11 of the PSC Protocol, is to support the efforts of the Council and the AU Commission Chairperson in conflict prevention. The instruments for the Panel’s action provided for in the Modalities for the Functioning of the Panel range from establishing channels of communication, shuttle diplomacy, and fact-finding missions to assisting and advising mediation teams on how to resolve disputes. Particular attention is therefore needed for prioritising the core mandate of the Panel in preventive diplomacy rather than expanding the areas of engagement of the Panel before it has delivered effectively on this core mandate.

Tomorrow’s session follows the appointment of the members of the 6^th Panel of the Wise during the 38^th AU Summit in February 2025, with Domitien Ndayizeye (Central Africa), Effie Owuor (East Africa), and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (Southern Africa) being re-appointed. However, the appointment of representatives for North and West Africa remains pending, with the Assembly tasking the incoming AU Commission Chairperson to consult with West and North Africa regions to select one candidate each and delegating its authority to appoint representatives from West and North Africa regions to the 47^th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council.

In terms of the activities of the Panel, the PSC is expected to be updated on the work of the 5^th Panel of the Wise during the past year. Of particular interest to the PSC is the Panel’s engagement in South Sudan. The Panel’s High-Level Reflection Roundtable in July 2024 and subsequent shuttle diplomacy engagements played an important role in engaging key stakeholders to advance the peace process in South Sudan. The Panel’s field mission to Juba in November 2024 assessed the implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and identified key challenges, including slow progress on constitutional reforms, inadequate resources for electoral preparations for the elections that had been scheduled for December 2024 but have since been postponed to 2026, and the need for greater inclusivity, particularly of women, youth and marginalised communities in governance processes. The Panel had also been complementing the work of the C5 and the Tumaini initiative to ensure a unified and coherent approach to peacebuilding in South Sudan. Yet, South Sudan is facing the most serious risk of relapse back to conflict.

The 27^th Statutory Meeting of the 5^th Panel of the Wise focused on strategies to support Member States in transitions. In line with the direction by the PSC for the Panel to continue engaging with countries in transition, the Panel held informal consultations with representatives of suspended member states in April 2024 to assess humanitarian concerns, security challenges and governance reforms. Despite them being informal, and a stretch of the Panel’s mandates, there is no indication that anything came out of these engagements.

Another area of the Panel’s work that tomorrow’s session is expected to be briefed on concerns the Panel’s participation in election observation and governance initiatives. The Panel is expected to brief the PSC on its engagement in member states in efforts to mitigate electoral tensions and engage key stakeholders to address concerns over potential irregularities, particularly in Comoros (January 2024), Senegal (February 2024) and Ghana (October and December 2024). A notable case of post-electoral violence in which the Panel was not effectively deployed is Mozambique. One key decision in this regard from the 1204^th session tomorrow’s session may wish to follow up on is the request for the AUC to facilitate a rapid deployment mechanism for the Panel’s swift intervention in the emerging crises.

Despite its critical mandate, the Panel continues to face constraints that hinder its operational effectiveness in conflict prevention. The PSC, in its 1204^th session, had reiterated calls for the AU Commission to provide adequate political, human, and financial resources to the Panel, enabling it to carry out its mandate with greater efficiency. The 38^th AU Assembly also reiterated this by requesting the Chairperson of the AUC to prioritise the allocation of sufficient resources to the Panel of the Wise in the annual budget.

In addition to resources, the revitalisation of the Pan-African Network of the Wise (PanWise) remains a strategic priority to enhance cooperation with Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) in conflict prevention. In this regard, the inaugural joint retreat between the Panel of the Wise and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) Committee of Elders in November 2024 marked a significant milestone for coordination between continental and regional bodies to enhance mediation, dialogue and conflict prevention efforts in line with the PSC 1204^th decision to enhance the Panel’s role in revitalising cooperation with similar mechanisms at RECs/RMs. During the retreat, the two bodies agreed to establish a coherent framework to coordinate interventions and share experiences aimed at the resolution of border and territorial disputes, directing their respective secretariats to formulate a joint strategy for addressing conflicts in the region. This falls in line with the PSC 1212^th session request for the AU Commission to facilitate a joint deployment of the Panel of the Wise. Recognising the need for deeper collaboration, tomorrow’s session may encourage the Panel to reflect on the lessons from the engagement with its ECCAS counterpart on how to work with such counterparts in other regions for advancing conflict prevention and pursuing preventive diplomacy.

The fifth Panel had also seen increased coordination with its subsidiaries. A key development that may be of interest for tomorrow’s session is the full operationalisation of the WiseYouth Network, which was established as a subsidiary mechanism of the Panel of the Wise to engage youth in preventive diplomacy, mediation and dialogue across the continent. The first cohort of the WiseYouth Network with 20 members who will serve a three-year mandate, underwent training in preventive diplomacy and mediation and were co-deployed with the Panel in South Sudan and carried out some preventive diplomacy engagements, including dialogues with youth on pertinent peace and security issues. WiseYouth also participated in AU electoral missions.

The other subsidiary body of the Panel, FemWise, also pursued various efforts in member states aimed to strengthen mediation efforts, advocating for the need to strengthen the role of women mediators and their contributions to more inclusive peace processes. The network also commenced preparations for the induction of its second cohort of members in 2025, ensuring continuity in its efforts to mainstream gender perspectives in AU-led mediation processes. In collaboration with the Gender, Peace, and Security Program and the Office of the Special Envoy on WPS, FemWise welcomed the PSC’s directive to develop a policy framework ensuring gender equity and equality in all AU-led mediation and peace processes. Alongside these efforts, the Network continued to deploy women mediators and peacebuilders to AU Election Observation and Preventive Diplomacy missions and promoted peace dialogue platforms for women in conflict-affected countries, particularly through its support for the Sudanese Women Dialogue and its contributions to the South Sudan peace process. Apart from the four national chapters, FemWise also saw the launch of the Southern Africa Regional Women Mediators Network by SADC, complementing the regional networks of ECOWAS and ECCAS.

The expected outcome of the session is a communiqué. The PSC may underscore the need for prioritising and placing particular focus on the work plan and activities of the Panel on the core mandate of the Panel in preventive diplomacy. The PSC is expected to commend the Panel’s engagement in South Sudan and, in this respect, request the Panel to maintain active preventive diplomacy engagement in South Sudan within the framework of paragraph 7 of the communiqué of the 1204^th session. The Council may also welcome the inaugural joint retreat between the Panel and the ECCAS Committee of Elders and encourage the institutionalisation of the coordination mechanism with all similar regional bodies. The PSC is also expected to welcome the progress made in the operationalisation of WiseYouth. The PSC may encourage member states and RECs/RMs to accelerate the establishment of national and regional chapters with adequate resources, ensuring a stronger role for women in conflict prevention.

Tomorrow (31 October), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene an open session on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). This session, marking the 1242^nd meeting of the PSC, is being held in the context of the 24^th anniversary of Resolution 1325, adopted by the United Nations (UN) Security Council (UNSC) on 31 October 2000.

Following opening remarks by Mohamed Gad, Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for October, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), Bankole Adeoye and AU Special Envoy on WPS, Bineta Diop are expected to make statements. Statements are also expected from representatives of UN Women, the European Union delegation to the AU, the Representative of Switzerland and the Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF).

Since institutionalising WPS as part of its annual agenda item in line with the decision of its 223^rd session held in 2010, the PSC has regularised the convening of annual meetings to commemorate UNSC resolution 1325. In addition to serving as a platform for following up on the progress and challenges of implementation of resolution 1325 in Africa, these meetings have served the PSC to reflect on a range of issues that affect women in conflict and crisis settings.

The last time the PSC discussed the WPS agenda was in March 2024 when it convened a high-level ministerial seminar on WPS with the participation of the Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention (FemWise-Africa) and its regional chapters, African Women Leaders Network (AWLN), Pan African Women’s Organisation (PAWO), as well as representatives of the UN and partners, including African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and think tanks. Participants of the high-level ministerial seminar, acknowledging the WPS agenda would benefit from a continued engagement with diverse stakeholders, agreed to institutionalise the biennial seminar, to be formally called the Swakompund process, as a platform for the PSC to engage with local, national, regional and continental actors.

It is expected that tomorrow’s session will give a special focus to women’s involvement in Peace Support Operations (PSOs). AU-led PSOs cover a wide array of tasks aimed at stabilising conflict areas, supporting peace processes, and long-term security and governance. Women’s involvement in PSOs contributes to the multidimensional goals of these operations, which range from facilitating political processes and security sector reform to protecting civilians and promoting human rights. Yet, despite established frameworks and initiatives, women remain grossly underrepresented in peacekeeping forces across Africa, suggesting a need for continued advocacy and measurable action to bridge this gap.

One of the measures that has been taken to implement the WPS agenda is the development of National Action Plans (NAPs). Though several member states have developed national and regional action plans (RAPs), many N/RAPs were created with technical and financial support from the UN and bilateral donors. While this external support has been beneficial, there is a need for African states to take greater ownership of the process through sustainable, internal financing mechanisms set up for the WPS agenda. Sustainable and well-targeted funding is critical to translating commitments of resolution 1325 into concrete actions that empower women as agents of peace. The development of a robust accountability framework to monitor the use of financial resources allocated to the WPS agenda would ensure transparency and effectiveness in the implementation of R/NAPs.

The PSC in its 987^th communiqué had reaffirmed the importance of including women in PSOs and required PSOs to adhere to AU and global frameworks for rights and equality such as that of WPS. Women’s participation is essential not only for inclusivity but also to ensure the operational effectiveness of PSOs. Women peacekeepers are often deployed in roles that increase community engagement and trust such as interacting with local women and children and addressing issues of sexual violence in conflict zones. For instance, in Darfur, female peacekeepers have received higher levels of trust from local women reporting cases of harassment or violence. This has enabled adjustments in PSO strategies, like modifying patrols to enhance community safety. Similarly, Nigerian female police units deployed to Liberia in 2007 contributed to reductions in gender-based violence and improved community cooperation, further underscoring the operational value of women’s involvement.

While some countries, like Ghana and Liberia, have shown modest progress in increasing female representation in peacekeeping forces, the lack of enforcement and accountability frameworks has allowed member states to overlook gender quotas in PSO deployment. One of the key outcomes highlighted in the conclusions of the High-level ministerial seminar was the importance of adopting a gender parity policy that would ensure the appointment of mediators, technical experts, special envoys and others relevant to the facilitation of formal peace processes would take into account the meaningful inclusion of women. The PSC had also called for the AUC to develop a policy framework of quotas for women’s participation in all conflict prevention and management missions, peace processes and election observation missions led by the AU, with a mechanism for tracking and monitoring implementation. It is expected that tomorrow’s session may deliberate on setting gender quotas in PSO deployments and require gender-disaggregated data of deployments for greater transparency of a more inclusive and effective peacekeeping model.

The recent adoption of UNSCR 2719 marks a critical juncture in the nature of PSOs in Africa. This change underscores the need to refocus on the WPS agenda, with an emphasis on actionable strategies for increasing women’s participation and leadership in peace support missions. Tomorrow’s session is expected to reflect on the enduring barriers to women’s engagement in PSOs and highlight the roles of women as essential for sustainable peace in Africa.

The expected outcome of this session is a communique. It is expected that the PSC will highlight the crucial role of women in the promotion of peace and security and commend the progress made in promoting women’s participation and leadership in PSOs. The session will likely call on member states who are yet to do so, to domesticate Resolution 1325 (2000) and urge for its full implementation at national and regional levels, emphasising the importance of adopting a gendered perspective for women’s involvement in peace processes, as well as the development of capacity-building programs that provide women with the skills necessary to lead in peacebuilding efforts. The Council may also condemn the violence perpetrated against women during conflicts and call for zero tolerance for sexual and gender-based violence against women. The session may also deliberate on plans for the next high-level ministerial seminar under the Swakopmund process.

Tomorrow (23 March), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) is expected to convene a ministerial high-level seminar on women, peace and security (WPS), with a specific focus on women’s participation and leadership in peace processes in Africa.

Peya Mushelega, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of Namibia and Chairperson of the PSC for the month will deliver opening remarks followed by Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS). Bineta Diop, Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the AU Commission on WPS and Hanna Tetteh, UN Secretary General Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa are expected to brief the Council on the progress made in the implementation of WPS Agenda in line with the relevant instruments of the AU and UN. Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, Special Representative of United Nations (UN) Secretary-General to the AU and Head of UN Office to AU (UNOAU) and representative of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are expected to make statements on the strategic objectives of the ministerial high-level PSC meeting. Other participants expected to contribute to the discussions include Shirley Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Republic of Ghana and PSC member; Liberata Mulamula, Steering Committee of African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) and Member of the FemWise-Africa Network; Effie Owour, Co-Chair of FemWise-Africa and Member of the AU Panel of the Wise; Mpule Kgetsi, African Youth Ambassador for Peace for Southern Africa and Renata Dalaqua, Head of Programme of Gender and Disarmament of UN Institute for Disarmament Research. Of particular significance is also the on the ground experience from women peace builders from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.

Being convened within the framework of international women’s day on the occasion of which the PSC annually convenes a meeting during the month of March, tomorrow’s meeting, organised as a high-level ministerial seminar, is aimed at highlighting the 20^th anniversary of the operationalization and official launch of PSC by taking stock of women’s participation and leadership in peace processes in Africa. The last time the PSC discussed the WPS agenda at its 1187^th meeting, the AU Special Envoy for WPS was requested to conduct a comprehensive review of the status of women’s involvement in peace processes and to propose recommendations for enhancing women’s engagement in this respect. Tomorrow’s ministerial session accordingly fits into and presents opportunity for discussing the work that the Special Envoy is undertaking in this respect.

As emphasised in the various outcome documents of PSC’s sessions on this topic, women, who continue to be disproportionately impacted by armed conflicts and other forms of threats to peace security in the continent, are yet to be proportionately and meaningfully involved in decision-making and peace processes. This is despite the encouraging policy and normative level work that has been done by the AU, various Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) and member states.

At the continental level for example, the adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and specifically the articulation under Article 10 of the Protocol granting women the ‘right to participate in the promotion and maintenance of peace’ and imposing responsibility on member states to ‘take all appropriate measures to ensure the increased participation of women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding’ has been a critical step. The institutionalisation of WPS as an agenda item of the PSC, the appointment of the AU Special Envoy for WPS, the establishment of FemWise-Africa, and the adoption of the Continental Results Framework (CRF) for tracking implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on WPS by member states constitute key milestones and institutional processes towards ensuring women’s involvement in peace processes.

At the regional level as well, some RECs/RMs have adopted Regional Action Plans (RAPs) for the realisation of WPS agenda and are in engaged in promoting the WPS through the adoption and implementation of National Action Plans (NAPs) by member states across their respective regions. Further to the development of NAPs by 34 countries as of December 2023, a number of member states have also taken the necessary steps for implementing their NAPs through the enactment of relevant policies.

Despite these efforts and achievements, most of the work done for the realisation of WPS agenda in Africa, particularly the meaningful participation of women in peace process remains restricted largely to the adoption of norms and principles. In terms of expanding the representation and participation of women in peace processes at various levels nationally and continentally, the progress remains far from satisfactory. This is not however for lack of women activism and mobilization for peace. Various women-led initiatives, particularly at the grassroots level, play a significant role in advancing conflict prevention, resolution and peacebuilding through the deployment of community focused dialogues, advocacy, joint calls for ceasefires, identification of women’s priorities and specific experiences in conflict settings and other critical contributions. Yet, the lack of their formal involvement suggests that the formal (track 1 peace processes) and similar platforms lack the flexibility and the tools to tap into and establish close working arrangements that ensure the channelling of the work of women groups at local levels into the formal processes. Indeed, it is not uncommon for local level women groups and movements to accuse such track 1 diplomacy processes for their elitism and hence exclusionary mode of organization and operation. Thus, such women-led peace initiatives in the so-called ‘informal arena’ do not get to have their members and engagements to directly shape policy and decision-making on matters relevant to continental peace and security, in the ‘formal’ settings.

“Despite these efforts and achievements, most of the work done for the realisation of WPS agenda in Africa, particularly the meaningful participation of women in peace process remains restricted largely to the adoption of norms and principles.”

“Yet, the lack of their formal involvement suggests that the formal (track 1 peace processes) and similar platforms lack the flexibility and the tools to tap into and establish close working arrangements that ensure the channelling of the work of women groups at local levels into the formal processes. Indeed, it is not uncommon for local level women groups and movements to accuse such track 1 diplomacy processes for their elitism and hence exclusionary mode of organization and operation.”

In terms of areas of peace processes for women participation, one important aspect of peace processes in which women are glaringly missing is in peace negotiations and mediation. In recent years, various peace talks and negotiations were initiated in a number of countries across the continent including in countries such as South Sudan and Ethiopia, and in the ongoing peace processes for Sudan such as on ceasefire, women’s role and participation was mostly lacking despite the fact that women have faced the brunt of conflicts and instability disproportionally. Regardless of their experience, involvement of women at the formal negotiation tables and in mediation processes in these and other African countries has been largely underwhelming, if not virtually missing.

Another key area within the scope of peace processes with respect to which women continue to be insufficiently engaged and involved in is the deployment of AU-led peace support operations and UN peacekeeping missions. Despite the existing rich normative framework for enhancing women’s increased participation in the deployment of AU-led peace support operations, practice clearly demonstrates that gender is yet to be effectively mainstreamed in the recruitment and employment of female troop members deployed within this framework. Primarily, this is an issue to be tracked to troop contributing countries who need to set up gender quotas and take the necessary measures to increase enrolment of women troop members in various ranks. At the AU level, there is also need for developing specific guidelines to encourage recruitment of women personnel by troop contributing countries.

In UN peacekeeping missions deployed in Africa, some progress has been made in ensuring gender parity in the deployment of troops. While the experiences of women peacekeepers and their unique contributions to bridge cultural barriers in specific settings is a key practice demonstrating the critical nature of women’s engagement in such capacity, UN peacekeeping missions also continue to confront challenges mainly associated with insufficient enrolment of women in national military and police forces, patriarchal perceptions of the roles of women and the absence of family-friendly policies, according to the 2018-2028 UN Peacekeeping Gender Parity Strategy.

Tomorrow’s ministerial high-level PSC meeting offers an opportunity to take stock of the various bottlenecks that continue to hamper representation and effective participation of women and chart avenues for addressing them. As the foregoing discussion illustrate, these challenges canvased during the 4^th High-Level Africa Forum on Women, Peace and Security held at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa last December include ‘a broader and more deeply ingrained resistance to women’s participation, limitations within the existing framework of peace processes, isolated approaches that primarily focus on women’s security in conflict situations, and a failure to recognize the continuum of violence that women face in both peace and conflict contexts.’

The expected outcome of tomorrow’s meeting is a Communiqué. The PSC is expected to welcome the milestones achieved in the implementation of WPS in Africa since its establishment and most notably since it institutionalized WPS as a standing agenda in 2010. Noting the remaining work that needs to be done for the full realisation of UNSCR 1325 and WPS agenda in the continent, the PSC may underscore the need to enhance at the continental, regional and local levels, the meaningful participation and representation of women throughout all aspects of conflict prevention and resolution as well as peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts. To this end, the PSC may call on the AU and its member states to create more flexible and women friendly mode of organization and operation of formal peace/political processes in order to effectively tap into women mobilization and work at the informal or grassroots levels.  The PSC may also call on the AU and its member states to establish systems and incentives that facilitate the recruitment and appointment of women in the political, diplomatic and security fields as the foundation for expanding the pool that would increase women’s representation and participation including in leadership roles in national, regional and continental peace processes. It may call on the AU, through the office of the Special Envoy for WPS and the Fem-Wise, to upscale efforts for enhanced engagement of women in peace processes including in the deployment of preventive diplomacy, mediation and in peacekeeping missions as well as peace support operations.

Tomorrow (13 March) the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its 1204^th session to receive a briefing by the Panel of the Wise and its subsidiary bodies, FemWise and WiseYouth, on their activities in Africa.

Following opening remarks by Ambassador Emilia Mkusa, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Namibia to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for March 2024, Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) is expected to make a statement.  Prof. Babacar Kante, Chairperson of the Panel of the Wise is also expected to deliver a briefing to the PSC.

The meeting which was initially planned for 19 March 2024, is being convened in accordance with PSC’s decision during its 665^th meeting in March 2017, in which it requested for quarterly briefings from the Panel of the Wise. The last convening of the PSC on the Panel of Wise was in May 2023 at its 1152^nd session which focused on the Report of the Panel of the Wise on its mission to the Republic of Chad. Prior to that, PSC convened it’s 1142^nd session on 3 March 2023, but no outcome document was released.

Prior to the 1142^nd session, there was no session with the Panel for most of the years since 2017. Thus, despite the expectation for this engagement to be regular, the meetings have not been regular and are yet to be fully institutionalised. This has affected the harmonisation and collaboration between the two organs around the role of the Panel on conflict prevention, including preventive diplomacy. Tomorrow’s session accordingly presents the opportunity for discussing on how to maintain the momentum and institutionalize the regularity of engagement.

The session is also expected to discuss on the work of the Panel of the Wise and its subsidiary mechanisms (PanWise, FemWise-Africa and WiseYouth) from the period 1 March 2023 to 1 March 2024. An area that is expected to receive particular attention in the Panel’s briefing is its efforts to assist countries in political transitions. On the situation in Chad, the Panel undertook a fact-finding mission to the country in May 2023 to evaluate Chad’s political and security situation in accordance with a November 2022 decision of the PSC. The Panel also undertook a mission to the Central African Republic. The field mission, in which the outcome was discussed during PSC’s 1157^th session, sought to evaluate the political and security situation, assess the progress of the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation (APPR-CAR) and suggested strategies to support the country in achieving peace, reconciliation and democracy. Regarding South Sudan, the Panel undertook a mission to the country in December 2023 to evaluate the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS). The mission also aimed to assess advancements and challenges in the political, security, humanitarian and financial aspects crucial for South Sudan’s peace and stability.

Considering that this year is a critical year in the transition process in Chad, it would be of interest for the PSC to reflect on how the Panel follows up on issues identified from its mission to Chad including on the issue of candidacy of the members of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) of Chad, for elections. It is worth recalling in this respect that AU rules and PSC’s decision itself made it clear that TMC members are barred from standing for elections. Yet, earlier this month the transitional President, despite his earlier assurances, announced that he would run for elections. No doubt coming against the background of the failure of the PSC to sanction Chad for military coup, this development constitutes a test for the PSC’s credibility.

In terms of South Sudan, which finds itself at the most delicate stage of its transitional process, it would also be of interest for the PSC to hear from the Panel on its assessment of the situation and importantly on how the Panel can have sustained role for addressing disagreements that may arise on how to manage this phase of the transition including the lack of progress in key transitional tasks necessary for holding elections.

Another area of the Panel’s work that tomorrow’s session is expected to focus on concerns the Panel’s role in dealing with election related crises including its participation in election observation and electoral preventive diplomacy missions. Through its involvement in crucial Election Observation and electoral Preventive Diplomacy missions, the Panel is expected to brief the PSC on its engagement in recent pre-, during and post-election processes in several member states in 2023. The Panel carried out election observation and preventive diplomacy missions in Nigeria (February 2023), Sierra Leone  (June 2023), Zimbabwe (August 2023), the Liberian presidential election (October 2023), the DRC (December 2023) as well as the 2024 Comoros Presidential elections.

In this context, an issue that may be of interest for PSC members is how these efforts by the Panel will and can contribute to the PSC’s ongoing engagement in these countries and the work of the various mechanisms of the AU dealing with these country situations.

Regarding the subsidiary organs of the Panel of the Wise, these are mechanism that contribute to its mission of conflict prevention, management and resolution. During the 25^th Statutory Meeting, held on 12 and 13 May 2023, the Panel members assessed the advancements made by the Subsidiary Mechanisms, the PanWise Network, FemWise-Africa and WiseYouth and underscored the importance of enhancing the efficiency of decision-making and governance structures within these mechanisms. Tomorrow’s meeting is expected to provide the PSC an update on these subsidiary bodies of the Panel, particularly regarding the revitalization of the PanWise Network, which was proposed in 2022, as well as the 8^th PanWise Network Retreat which was held from 7 – 8 December 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda, under the theme “Enhancing Electoral Preventive Diplomacy during Elections: Best Practices and Lessons Learnt.”

Furthermore, the PSC is likely to get an update on the operationalization of the FemWise-Africa Network and how members of FemWise are being deployed in various AU peace and security processes. In this context, it is expected that the briefing will highlight, among others, the involvement of the FemWise-Africa Network in AU-led election processes, including through deployments to Election Observation Missions (EOMs) and Preventive Diplomacy Missions (PDMs). In addition, the Panel is expected to brief the Council on the activities of the WiseYouth. As recalled, the establishment of the WiseYouth Network came into being through a decision made during the 35^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in February 2022 (Assembly/AU/Dec.815(XXXV)). The network’s purpose is to strategically engage youth in preventive diplomacy, mediation and dialogue across the African continent. Following the Consultative Meeting with all Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the Regional Mechanisms (RMs), the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and the G5-Sahel, held on 31 August to 1 September 2023 in Bujumbura, Burundi, whereby the Operational Modalities and Terms of Reference for Members of the Network were finalized and validated, tomorrow’s meeting is expected to get an update on the process of launching an Open Call for Applications for the 1^st Cohort of the WiseYouth Network which is expected to happen in 2024.

Finally, the session is expected to have a discussion on the challenges the Panel faces and propose recommendations. These are expected to include the issues on quick deployment to situations in areas not yet on PSC’s agenda; coordination challenges with RECs and RMs; absence of post-mission follow-up mechanisms and the challenge of political will to systematically and consistently include women and youth as equal stakeholders in all high-level peace processes.

The expected outcome of the session is a communique. The PSC may commend the Panel of the Wise for the activities that the Panel undertook during the reporting period including the missions to countries in transition and the electoral preventive diplomacy missions. It may welcome the progress made with respect to FemWise and WiseYouth. The PSC may call for enhanced coordination, and joint deployments by the AU-RECs/RMs during elections. It may also take note of the 2^nd Joint Annual Retreat of the African Peer Review (APR) Panel of Eminent Persons and the AU Panel of the Wise, held on December 10-11 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa and welcome the adoption of the Framework of Cooperation. It may underline the importance of reinvigorating early warning and conflict prevention by working closely with the Panel. It may further underline the importance of enhancing coordination with the Panel in supporting complex transitions, sustaining peace in fragile contexts and ensuring early action to deescalate looming crises. To this end the PSC may reiterate its previous decision and call for the institutionalization of conflict prevention and preventive deployment briefing by the Panel of the Wise. The PSC may also request that the AU Commission continues its support for the Panel including, in working together with the Panel to address the challenges it faces.