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Thank you, Madam President,
And let me also thank Executive Director Bahous and today’s civil society briefers, President Gbowee and Executive Director Asoka for their briefings and for their commitment to the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
Denmark commends Colombia for convening this debate and we welcome your presence here today, Minister Villavicencio. Colombia stands as a testament to the crucial role of women in peace-making.
Colombian women demanded a seat at the table in negotiating what would become the 2016 Peace Agreement.
They further demanded provisions to safeguard and advance women’s rights and gender equality, making it the first peace accord in the world to fully integrate a gender perspective.
Madam President,
Women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in peace and security processes is not a matter of symbolism. It is a matter of effectiveness and common sense.
When women participate, peace agreements are more likely to last, and less likely to fail altogether as we heard from our briefers today.
Women peacebuilders often have perspectives and constituencies that are otherwise overlooked. They bridge divides, facilitate dialogue across conflict lines, and help build trust that sustainable peace requires.
The evidence is clear. From Liberia to Colombia and Northern Ireland, women have fought their way to the table and secured durable peace.
Women have demonstrated time and again that their participation strengthens peace efforts and improves outcomes.
The question is therefore no longer whether women should be included, but how we ensure that they can participate safely, effectively and on equal terms.
And yet, we still fall short.
Across the globe today, political agreements and ceasefires are mediated and negotiated predominantly by men and among men.
In Sudan, for example, women have historically and are currently excluded from various peace tracks. We therefore welcome the steps taken by the Quintet to include women civil society groups in ongoing talks.
The DRC stands as an exception, with former Presidents Zewde and Samba-Panza holding key roles in the AU Panel of Facilitators for the peace process. We should learn from and build on this example, not treat it as an anomaly.
Madam President,
Protection is not a secondary concern – it is a precondition. Yet despite commitments including the promise of resolution 1325, women peacebuilders continue to face significant threats.
Across conflict settings, women civil society leaders and human rights defenders are subject to threats, intimidation, harassment and reprisals simply for engaging in peace and security work.
These attacks undermine peace efforts by silencing critical voices and shrinking civic space.
Afghanistan offers the starkest warning of what happens when women are systematically excluded. Afghan women are denied education, excluded from most employment, restricted in their movement, silenced in public and increasingly denied a voice in their own future.
Afghan female staff are not even permitted to enter UN premises. If women’s rights and participation can be denied so fundamentally, it cannot be taken for granted anywhere.
Madam President,
Women-led organisations remain chronically underfunded despite being at the forefront on conflict prevention, peacebuilding and community resilience.
Too often, these organisations are expected to deliver transformative results while operating with short-term, project-based and unpredictable funding.
If we are serious about advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda, we must match our commitments with resources.
Denmark has been committed to this agenda for over two decades. We adopted the world's first National Action Plan on resolution 1325. And we continue funding women peacebuilders all over the world.
Madam President, in closing,
The Women, Peace and Security agenda has always been about more than representation. It is about recognising that lasting peace cannot be achieved when half the population is excluded from shaping it.
Ensuring women’s meaningful participation, protecting them from threats and reprisals, and resourcing their work are not optional add-ons.
They are essential conditions for peace that lasts.
Denmark remains proudly committed to this objective.
I thank you.
