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.