Women, peace and security

The future of the Women, Peace and Security agenda hangs in the balance. The agenda is more critical than ever against the backdrop of rising conflicts, a global anti–gender movement and a reported backsliding on the rights of women and girls. The UK is a penholder for Women, Peace and Security at the United Nations Security Council and has the opportunity to convene dedicated sessions to deliver actions for the agenda. However, so far, the Government is at risk of inflicting damage to its reputation as a Women, Peace and Security penholder and convenor. Further still, it appears that the Government is standing idly by whilst hard–won gains in global gender equality are lost. (Conclusion, Paragraph 27)

Gender equality should not become a footnote in UK diplomacy. The UK must use its clout on the international stage to strengthen the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. This means using the tools it has at its disposal. The UK should be seen to advocate for Women, Peace and Security in multilateral forums, holding the line on gender–sensitive language in resolutions, promoting strong Women, Peace and Security positions in United Nations Security Council work and prioritising the deliverability of commitments into actions. (Recommendation, Paragraph 28)

The Government should explain why it did not convene a single dedicated session on Women, Peace and Security during its time as President of the United Nations Security Council in February 2026. The Government should set out in its response to this report what specific actions on Women, Peace and Security the UK has achieved in country–specific sessions in the last year. (Recommendation, Paragraph 29)

The future of Women, Peace and Security hangs in the balance and must be addressed in its entirety rather than solely through country specific work. The UK should convene a dedicated session on Women, Peace and Security the next time it is President of the United Nations Security Council. (Recommendation, Paragraph 30) 33

The Government’s commitment to implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda, through its objectives in the National Action Plan, appears to be waning. The limited attention given to prevention throughout the National Action Plan, despite the benefits for peace, is concerning. The meaningful participation of women and other marginalised groups is essential for sustainable peace and conflict resolution. However, globally and domestically, women’s meaningful participation is declining. Ultimately, the translation of the commitments in the National Action Plan into practice has remained limited. Significant commitments, matched by action, will need to be made in the refresh objectives relating to prevention and participation are to be realised. (Conclusion, Paragraph 44)

The Government need not re–shape its approach to Women, Peace and Security beyond the existing four pillars and five strategic objectives. Considering the increasing number of global conflicts and the integral role women play in peace, the National Action Plan refresh must prioritise meaningful participation and the contribution of women and marginalised groups in conflict prevention and related processes. (Recommendation, Paragraph 45)

The UK should take a more active role in peace processes and make certain that women can meaningfully participate. This includes working with organisations and non–governmental organisations to embed accountability for breaches of Women, Peace and Security efforts. The Government should prioritise gender equality and women’s rights in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes. (Recommendation, Paragraph 46)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s development and gender experts play an essential part in delivering the participation and prevention objectives in the National Action Plan. The Government cannot expect to deliver on these commitments without this expertise. Considering the number of growing number of conflicts around the world, losing this expertise would be damaging to the future of gender equality and peace. (Conclusion, Paragraph 47)

The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office must not lose its development or gender expertise. The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office should commit to maintain development experts working on Women, Peace and Security with connections to local organisations and communities around the world. The Government must not cut gender advisor roles. The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office must provide gender advisors to support organisations like GAPS with their work in–country. In its response, the Government should set out how it plans to achieve this. By doing so, the Foreign Commonwealth and 34 Development Office should make sure that the delivery of the new National Action Plan does not lose its gendered development focus and expertise. (Recommendation, Paragraph 48) Funding & Resourcing

There is a lack of transparency surrounding the UK’s Women, Peace and Security spending, including how much Official Development Assistance is directed towards Women’s Rights Organisations, making it difficult for civil society organisations and other actors to track and assess progress on Women, Peace and Security. (Conclusion, Paragraph 60)

As part of its National Action Plan refresh, the Government should set out how Women, Peace and Security objectives will be fully resourced and prioritised in the context of Official Development Assistance cuts, and how associated funding will be strategically distributed. The Government should ringfence multi–year funding for Women, Peace and Security programming, plans for which should also be published and shared with our Committee. (Recommendation, Paragraph 61)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has assured us it remains committed to the Women, Peace and Security agenda despite staffing cuts. However, it has had difficulty in upholding its commitments in the National Action Plan with current resourcing. It is unclear how a smaller organisation with fewer resources and reduced capacity will be better able to deliver on commitments. (Conclusion, Paragraph 63)

The Government has not learned lessons from the first round of aid cuts and continues to enact policy changes that are devastating to the realities and futures of women, girls and marginalised groups. New sentence here: We welcome the Government’s commitment to ensure women and girls are a priority in UK foreign policy. The announced gender mainstreaming approach to improve their rights in foreign and development policy levers is concerning in the context of staff cuts and a loss of departmental expertise. Inadequate funding and mainstreaming may compromise delivery of the National Action Plan, as well as the broader Women, Peace, and Security agenda. (Conclusion, Paragraph 68)

The commitments in the current National Action Plan lack dedicated funding, meaning that commitments are not resourced and their implementation is largely dependent on political will. (Conclusion, Paragraph 69)

To guarantee the sustainability of Women, Peace and Security, a stable, ringfenced budget focused on flexible multi–year funding would protect against global socio–political changes and pressures. It would also allow 35 Women’s Rights Organisations and other partners to strategically plan and act both proactively and reactively to crises. Without this, the UK’s status as leader is left in a fragile state. We are concerned that mainstreaming is becoming the administrative lexicon for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office dropping their focus on an issue. (Recommendation, Paragraph 70)

In response to this report, the Department should provide details to the Committee on existing mechanisms for coordinating meaningfully between Government Departments, or how it intends to establish systematic coordination. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office should report findings back to the Committee within six months of this report’s publication. (Recommendation, Paragraph 71) Monitoring and Evaluation

The lack of an operational Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning framework is not a technical issue but a practical barrier to accountability, oversight, and outcome–focused programming. Current reporting risks being activity– driven rather than impact–driven, undermining efforts to improve the lives of women and girls in conflict–affected contexts. Despite commitments in the National Action Plan, there is no integrated cross–government system for capturing and aggregating data on Women, Peace and Security activity, expenditure or impact, nor a consistently applied set of Women, Peace and Security–specific indicators. The absence of baseline data and an operational Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning framework at the midpoint of the National Action Plan cycle limits the ability of the Government and Parliament to assess whether interventions are delivering measurable improvements. In the context of Official Development Assistance cuts and reductions in staff and resourcing, this also represents poor value for money, as resources are not systematically tracked or assessed. (Conclusion, Paragraph 85)

As part of the Spring 2026 refresh of the National Action Plan, the Government must establish and publish a cross–government monitoring framework for Women, Peace and Security, including a clear and consistently applied set of Women, Peace and Security–specific indicators capable of assessing both outputs and impact. (Recommendation, Paragraph 86)

The Government must establish a biennial engagement mechanism with parliamentarians, civil society, and academic experts to review and refine National Action Plan indicators and reporting. Existing data on women’s participation, lived experience, and programme impact must be 36 incorporated into the UK’s monitoring framework, enabling meaningful oversight and accountability of Women, Peace and Security implementation. (Recommendation, Paragraph 87)

Given the Government’s stated commitment to meaningful engagement, we consider it to be disappointing that a copy of the National Action Plan has not been shared with us in advance of publication. Earlier sharing would have strengthened transparency and supported effective parliamentary scrutiny. (Conclusion, Paragraph 88)

The Government has not allowed for sufficient external oversight and feedback on its Women, Peace and Security commitments. The shift from annual to biennial reporting has reduced opportunities for meaningful scrutiny. This weakens transparency and limits the ability of Parliament and civil society to assess whether commitments are delivering measurable improvements for women and girls. (Conclusion, Paragraph 94)

Backing the Women, Peace and Security Private Member’s Bill would have been a significant demonstration of the Government’s commitments to the agenda. However, the Government has indicated that it does not yet support it. We are concerned about the future of Women, Peace and Security and the extent of the Government’s commitment and ability to deliver against National Action Plan objectives in the run up to the refresh. (Conclusion, Paragraph 95)

The Government must reinstate annual reporting to Parliament on Women, Peace and Security implementation following the 2026 National Action Plan refresh and commit to reporting which integrates progress on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, as set out in the Women, Peace and Security Bill. The Government must also review and reform the structure of engagement forums to strengthen opportunities for external scrutiny and accountability. (Recommendation, Paragraph 96) 37