With Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, the UN Security Council passed a milestone in feminist peace and security policy in October 2000, marking the launch of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. The WPS agenda lies at the core of our work across our programmes, in our advocacy and in our work with our global network Feminists Connecting for Peace.

The UN Security Council recognised the central role of women in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and conflict resolution when it unanimously adopted the landmark resolution. It was the result of the years-long work of feminist networks, women-led organisations and peace activists. They demanded formal recognition of the gendered impact of war and armed conflict. They also demanded the inclusion of women at all levels of decision-making on peace and security.

The WPS agenda

Resolution 1325 and its nine follow-up resolutions together form the WPS agenda, used by many women's rights organisations and peace activists as a basis for their demands.

The agenda consists of four pillars: prevention, protection, participation, and relief and rehabilitation. It recognises the gender-specific experiences of armed conflict and

• calls for the participation of women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peace processes and reconstruction after wars and armed conflicts, and

• demands the protection of women in armed conflicts, including from sexualised and gender-based violence.

Our focus on participation

Despite studies showing that peace agreements last longer when women are included equally at all stages of peace processes, their inclusion in peace negotiations has remained shockingly low. Our work focuses on women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in all stages of peace processes during and after armed conflicts and during peace negotiations in our programmes, in our network and in our political work.

While the protection of women, including from sexualised and gender-based violence in armed conflict, and gender-responsive humanitarian actions are not central to our work, these crucial components of the WPS agenda are often part of the work of our programme partners. They have our full moral support.