Twenty-Five years of Women Peace and Security - Speech by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper MP delivered a speech commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Women Peace and Security agenda.

"Can I just welcome all of you here today. You will have already seen on the video that we've seen before some of the inspiring women on whose shoulders we now stand in the work around Women, Peace and Security.  

And can I particularly welcome Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Edinburgh and to say thank you to you for being here today but also for the immensely powerful work that you have been doing across the world, shining a light on the experiences of women in some of the most challenging circumstances – thank you.

And can I thank so many of you here today who have also been involved for many years in important and powerful work to champion women's voices, to speak up for women and to challenge some of the most devastating circumstances that women can face across the world and the work that you do is hugely important. So thank you for being part of this event today and thank you for the important work that you do.

Because today we mark an important anniversary…

It is enabled by women who refused to be silenced in the face of war. 

Because twenty-five years ago, the international community listened to those courageous women. 

Listened and acknowledged that not only are women victims of war, women must be the architects of peace… 

And have recognised that women are too often denied a seat at the table when it comes to resolving those very same conflicts that do such damage to women's lives… 

Accepted the clear evidence that when you exclude women then peace is more likely to flounder and violence to resume. 

Because the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was a genuine milestone.

It was the first time that the world's highest security body put in black and white what we know to be true… 

That women's roles, women's experiences, women's insights and contributions must be central to the world's approaches to conflict. 

Whether that be in our responses during war or our decision-making in order to build peace. 

So I am very proud that twenty-five years ago, the UK played a leading role alongside civil society to secure Resolution 1325, and in the progress that  it helped to catalyse.

I'm glad that the UK has carried forward that ambition reflected in 1325 in the years that followed.

Be it as penholder, ensuring that the UN Security Council discussions uphold women, peace and security principles.

And supporting women peacebuilders in the most challenging of contexts.

So we adopted our first UK national action plan under the last Labour government almost twenty years ago and have carried plans through to this day.

But of course, global progress does not rest simply on governments. 

It rests on grassroots women's rights organisations, on campaigners, on community networks, researchers, humanitarians, businesses, peacebuilders and above all on harnessing efforts across different countries, different communities and stakeholders too.

It rests on you all of you here today who have played your roles in pushing for change. 

Two and a half decades on, we have seen women play important roles in stopping violence and creating a more just peace for all. 

Women like Monica McWilliams and Pearl Sagar in Northern Ireland who campaigned for women's voices to be heard in ending the troubles in Northern Ireland. 

Or Leymah Gbowee who led a non-violent movement to end Liberia's civil war. 

Or the many women of Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres who helped broker the peace deal that ended Colombia's protracted conflict.   

These are so many examples to learn from and to build on. We'll have an important discussion and I look forward to hearing from people today and women today and their views on the road ahead.

Because the situation now is more challenging than ever. 

We have women represented barely a sixth of those at the table in peace talks last year, and in many cases, were excluded entirely. 

And at a time when we are living through an era of acute instability. 

There are more countries engaged in violent conflict now than at any time since the Second World War. 

And that has devastating consequences for all civilians. But too often the impact falls most heavily on women and girls. 

And if we look at what is happening now in Sudan. 

In El Fasher where rape is being used systematically as a weapon of war. 

And where we have seen some of the most terrible stories.

Women and teenagers and children subject to brutal sexual violence and torture.

And the UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher recounted to me last week some of the unimaginable experiences of women survivors that he had met fleeing what he described as an epicentre of global suffering.  

And suffering that we have seen most acutely in Sudan but more widely too.

The number of women who live in or close to conflict has almost doubled in the last 15 years.  

And from Syria to Sudan and from Yemen to Ukraine, it is estimated that in conflict zones up to 30% of women and girls have experienced sexual violence – including some appalling ordeals of rape, or abduction or sexual slavery. 

And those are the kind of ordeals that can carry lasting stigma and trauma that reverberates for generations. 

And so, as we have seen conflict getting worse, we have also seen progress stall and going backwards.

And that is why it is now time to bring new momentum to the commitments captured in Resolution 1325 a quarter of a century ago.

And as Foreign Secretary, I am determined that we must renew that global focus and ambition around women, peace and security and put it at the heart of UK foreign policy.

First, by radically stepping up efforts to end impunity for sexual crimes in conflict. 

Already, the UK is providing expert technical support to Ukrainian police, prosecutors and judges to support war crimes investigations. 

We have funded specialist sexual investigators to assist in UN fact-finding missions not only in Ukraine, but in Sudan, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in Myanmar. 

Just over a week ago, the UK secured international consensus at the UN Human Rights Council for an urgent UN inquiry into alleged crimes in El Fasher.  

And the UK-built International Alliance for preventing sexual violence, currently chaired by Ukraine, will rally further support for tackling the silence and stigma faced by survivors of sexual violence.  

Second, we need to ensure our humanitarian work goes further to address the particular impact of crises on women and girls.  

In Gaza, pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from acute malnutrition and have lost access to critical reproductive health services.

We have provided £3m to the UN to support pregnant women and new mothers.  

And I want us to work with Jordan to ensure that the neonatal field hospital that they have can be moved into Gaza as well as part of opening access for humanitarian aid into Gaza.

And essential wider provision needs to include safe shelter, adequate healthcare and support for survivors of sexual violence to help them recover.

And third, by amplifying women's voices and participation in building peace.

And that's why we have worked to support women peacebuilders including in Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia, and will press for their inclusion in peace processes, such as in Syria and Sudan.

And will initiate a no-tolerance approach to reprisals, working with the UN to condemn acts of violence against women, simply for speaking out. 

So with these priorities and collective wider efforts, we can bring new energy to the commitments that were captured in UN Security Council Resolution 1325 all those years ago.

Here at home in the UK, this government has set an unprecedented mission to tackle the epidemic of violence against women and girls including a mission to halve violence against women and girls within the next decade.

As Foreign Secretary, I am determined to ensure that mission is reflected in our foreign policy too - standing with women across the globe in resisting violence, expanding opportunity and boosting political participation.  

We will step up our international collaboration to address these horrific harms that should have been consigned to the history books.

Because we know there cannot be peace, security or prosperity without women playing their part, free from violence and free from fear.

Thank you very much."