OSCE Asian Partners for Cooperation Group Meeting
Women’s Meaningful Participation in Peace and Security: From Norm to Practice – Good Practices and Experiences in Asia
7 May 2024
Statement delivered by H.E Ambassador Ian Biggs, Australia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and International Organisations in Vienna
Excellencies, colleagues
I thank Japan and North Macedonia for proposing this important topic for our meeting today. I also thank our excellent moderator and panellists for sharing their valuable insights. We support their WPS ambitions and recognise their efforts to advance WPS globally.
As we enter the third decade of the WPS agenda, protection of women’s and girl’s human rights, prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, and the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all peace and security processes, have yet to be achieved.
We know that wherever and whenever there is a collapse in the peaceful order, gender inequalities are exacerbated, disproportionately impacting women and girls.
Russia’s illegal and unjust invasion of Ukraine illustrates this clearly.
An invasion that has created immense human suffering, including from the perpetration of sexual and gender-based violence.
Australia is resolute in our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We continue to work closely with our partners to support Ukraine, so it can end the war on its own terms.
And we will continue to press for full justice and accountability for all war crimes.
Women and girls play pivotal roles in fragile, conflict-affected, humanitarian and disaster contexts. They are often the first line of household and community resilience, they bring invaluable perspectives to prevent conflict, and are often the first responders in crises.
Inclusive and just peace processes require diversity and equity in leadership and decision‑making structures. This requires removing the barriers to diverse women’s full and equal participation.
While women can and do contribute to peace processes at all levels, their participation is not always guaranteed and it is not always equal, valued or recognised.
Women and girls are often confined to stereotypical gender roles, subjected to bias and discrimination, and operate in exclusionary political structures.
They are subject to sexual and gender-based violence, including technology-facilitated violence.
We must strengthen efforts to eliminate gender inequalities, including political exclusion and the perpetration of violence.
Investing in women’s and girls’ participation and leadership in peace and security processes supports conflict resolution, community cohesion and sustainable development.
We know that gender equality is a significant predictor of peace – more so than a state’s wealth, level of democracy or religious identity.
Australia is supporting women’s meaningful participation in peace and security processes through our ten-year National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.
Our approach is based on four principles that support women’s meaningful participation: that we ‘do no harm’, focus on human rights, support gender-mainstreaming, and recognise and respond to diverse experiences. This means that we maximise positive outcomes for women and girls, men and boys, while minimising any unintended potential harm that could arise from our actions.
We also seek to align our efforts with human rights mechanisms, and support women and girls to know their rights and claim them because regression on human rights is an early warning of conflict.
And we ensure that gender equality is considered in the design, implementation and evaluation of our activities because when it is not considered, actions can compound existing, and create new, inequalities.
We also recognise and respond to diversity, including women’s meaningful participation, as this enables us to deliver better responses which are likely to be more effective and promote longer term changes to break cycles of conflict and realise sustainable peace.
Our approach is grounded in the fundamentals of good practice. It is based on evidence and consultation, and recognises the importance of partnerships with local organisations.
Australia has invested AUD$25 million over five years [2022-27] in targeted initiatives:
- investing in the capacities of local women-led and women’s and girls’ rights organisations
- facilitating the participation and leadership of women mediators and negotiators
- securing gender justice for international crimes, and
- strengthening civil society engagement on Women, Peace and Security in the Indo-Pacific and parts of Africa.
We partner with the Southeast Asia Women Peace Mediators, and have supported the establishment of the Pacific Women Mediator’s Network
These regional networks contribute to, and strengthen, women’s participation and leadership and gender responsive peacemaking, providing pools of experts who can contribute to peace processes and engage with national and regional actors. We are collaborating with ASEAN across the WPS agenda, including to support the implementation of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security.
And we have partnered with Legal Action Worldwide to establish a global Gender Justice Practioner Hub, to support and connect practitioners involved in securing gender justice for international crimes.
And Australia is conscious, that in almost two and a half decades, the global context has changed.
This means our implementation of the WPS agenda – with women’s meaningful participation at its centre - is evolving to embrace contemporary challenges too, such as in cyber, climate and space security.
The WPS agenda is a means to security, stability and prosperity for us all. For both longstanding and contemporary challenges, it is critical that governments, but also civil society, the private sector, academia and the media work together.
And we are doing this today, sharing and learning from each other’s experiences.
Australia looks forward to hearing further insights from OSCE and Asian Partners colleagues today.
Thank you.