United Nations Security Council Resolution 2493 – Women and peace and security

Resolution 2493 (2019)

The Security Council,

Reaffirming its commitment to the continuing and full implementation, in a mutually reinforcing manner, of resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013), 2242 (2015), and 2467 (2019)on Women, Peace and Security, and relevant statements of its Presidents,

Bearing in mind the Purposes and Principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the primary responsibility of the Security Council under the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security,

Reaffirming in this regard the importance to achieve sustainable peace and security by dialogue, mediation, consultations and political negotiations to bridge differences and to end conflicts,

Recognizing the progress made as well as the opportunity and need for far greater implementation of the women, peace and security agenda, remaining deeply concerned by persisting barriers to the full implementation of resolution 1325 (2000)and the frequent under-representation of women in many formal processes and bodies related to the maintenance of international peace and security, the relatively low number of women in senior positions in political, peace and security-related national, regional and international institutions, the lack of adequate gender-sensitive humanitarian responses and support for women’s leadership roles in these settings, insufficient financing for Women, Peace and Security, and the resulting detrimental impact on the maintenance of international peace and security,

Recognizing that an understanding of the impact of armed conflict on women and girls, effective institutional arrangements to guarantee their protection and full participation in the peace process can significantly contribute to the maintenance and promotion of international peace and security,

Recalling the commitments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and reaffirming the obligations of State Parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Optional Protocol thereto, urging states that have not yet done so to consider ratifying or acceding to them, noting General Recommendation 30 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women on Women in Conflict Prevention, Conflict and Post Conflict Situations,

Reaffirming the primary role of Member States to implement fully all Security Council resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, and the important complementary role of United Nations entities and regional organizations, further recognizing that States bear the primary responsibility to respect and ensure the human rights of all persons within their territory and subject to their jurisdiction as provided for by international law, and reaffirming that parties to armed conflict bear the primary responsibility to ensure the protection of civilians,

Recognizing the important role and contribution of civil society, including women’s organizations, in the full implementation of Security Council resolutions on Women, Peace and Security,

Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General of 9 October 2019 and its operational recommendations for the UN and Member States in the lead up to the 20th anniversary of Resolution 1325 and, recalling the report of the Secretary-General of 17 September 2015 (S/2015/716) which submitted the recommendations of the Global Study on the implementation of resolution 1325,

Welcoming the efforts of Member States, and regional and subregional organizations, in implementing resolution 1325 (2000) and subsequent resolutions on Women, Peace and Security at the regional, national and local levels, including the development of action plans and other complementary implementation planning frameworks, with sufficient resources, and encouraging Member States to continue to pursue such implementation, including through strengthened monitoring, evaluation and coordination,

Recognizing the opportunity presented by the number of significant anniversaries in 2020 notably the 20th anniversary of Resolution 1325, the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and calling on all Member States to commit to the promotion of women and girls’ empowerment in peace and security processes and to use these anniversaries to intensify their national efforts and international co-operation,

1. Urges Member States to fully implement the provisions of all previous Security Council Resolutions pertaining to the Women, Peace and Security agenda and to reinforce their efforts in this regard;

2. Further urges Member States to commit to implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda and its priorities by ensuring and promoting the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all stages of peace processes, including through mainstreaming a gender perspective, and remain committed to increasing the number of civilian and uniformed women in peacekeeping at all levels and in key positions;

3. Urges Member States supporting peace processes to facilitate women’s full, equal and meaningful inclusion and participation in peace talks from the outset, both in negotiating parties’ delegations and in the mechanisms set up to implement and monitor agreements, encourages Member States to support efforts, including timely support to women to enhance their participation and capacity building in peace processes, in order to address the unequal representation and participation of women in the peace and security agenda;

4. Noting the Peacebuilding Commission mandate pursuant to resolution 1645 (2005) and its gender strategy and calls for its full implementation to further promote women’s participation in peacebuilding efforts, and in the prevention of conflict, and encourages the Peacebuilding Commission to continue to support the participation of women-led peacebuilding organizations, in planning and stabilization efforts in post-conflict reconstruction and recovery;

5. Calls on Member States to promote all the rights of women, including civil, political and economic rights, urges them to increase their funding on women, peace and security including through more aid in conflict and post-conflict situations for programmes that further gender equality and women’s economic empowerment and security, as well as through support to civil society, and to support countries in armed conflict and post-conflict situations, including through access to education, training and capacity-building, in their implementation of women, peace and security resolutions, further calls for increased international development cooperation related to women’s empowerment and gender equality and invites aid providers to continue to track the gender focus of aid contributions and provide further information and assessment on this progress;

6. Strongly encourages Member States to create safe and enabling environments for civil society, including formal and informal community women leaders, women peacebuilders, political actors, and those who protect and promote human rights, to carry out their work independently and without undue interference, including in situations of armed conflict, and to address threats, harassment, violence and hate speech against them;

7. Takes note of the work of the Informal Experts Group on Women, Peace and Security as expressed in resolution 2242 (2015) to facilitate a more systematic approach to Women, Peace and Security within its own work and enable greater oversight and coordination of implementation efforts; and acknowledges UN Women’s important role in this regard;

8. Encourages regional organizations to consider convening meetings in the lead up to the 20th commemoration of resolution 1325 with the participation of governments, relevant stakeholders and civil society to review the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in their respective regions, and further encourages them to identify practical and measurable steps for fully implementing the agenda, and invites them to report on this progress, during the annual open debate of the Security Council;

9. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure the full implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, requests that all Heads of UN Entities, lend all possible support to the Secretary-General in this matter to:

(a) develop context-specific approaches for women’s participation in all UN-supported peace talks, including country specific situations, in order to contribute to full, equal and meaningful participation of women in peace and security, to ensure more inclusive participation;

(b) to continue to make use of the UN’s annual consultations with regional organizations to encourage the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda as it relates to their specific contexts, further encourages cooperation and sharing of best practices as it relates to implementation of the agenda, as requested by regional and subregional organizations;

(c) continue mainstreaming a gender perspective in the Secretariat and United Nations agencies, including through the system-wide gender parity strategy;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to include the following in his next annual report on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and its subsequent resolutions:

(a) further information on, progress made and the remaining challenges in the Women, Peace and Security agenda as well as recommendations to address new and emerging challenges;

(b) the implementation of the appointment of gender advisers and/or women protection advisers, provisions to facilitate women’s full and effective participation and protection in: the election preparation and political processes, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs, security sector and judicial reforms, and wider post-conflict reconstruction processes where these are mandated tasks within the UN mission;

(c) an assessment of the progress and commitments made on dedicated gender expertise in expert groups and monitoring teams in UN Security Council Sanctions Committees and how this commitment is met, as articulated in previous resolutions;

11. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

Adopted by the Security Council at its 8649th meeting, on 29 October 2019.