Checked Against Delivery
Thank you, Mr. President.
And let me start by thanking you, Mr. Minister, for your presence here today as well as our briefers Executive Director Bahous and Ms. Paryani for their remarks.
I also wish to extend a special thanks to the Secretary-General for his strong championship of gender equality throughout his tenure.
Mr. President,
Year after year, we gather in this Chamber to reaffirm our collective commitment to women’s participation in peace and security.
As a Council, we have adopted resolutions, established robust international frameworks and received regular reporting on progress across the globe.
Normatively, the foundation is solid. However, as our briefers have made very clear, the reality on the ground has not kept pace.
Around the world, women remain excluded from the decisions that shape peace.
As we’ve heard, in 2025, against a backdrop of shrinking space for inclusive multilateral mediation, women accounted for just 5 per cent of peace negotiators.
As part of our fifth National Action Plan on WPS, Denmark is working to reverse this trend.
For example, in partnership with UN Women in Syria, Denmark supports Syrian women's participation in political, peacebuilding, humanitarian and transitional justice processes.
In West Africa, we are establishing a regional grant mechanism across eight countries to support grassroots women- and youth-led organisations working on conflict prevention, mediation and social cohesion.
In Afghanistan, through UN Women and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Denmark supports the participation of Afghan women leaders in national and international policy discussions on their country’s future.
We call on all actors engaged in high-level mediation, including regional organisations and informal mediation initiatives, to appoint women as lead mediators and ensure women’s participation in negotiating teams.
Our call is grounded in a simple reality: strengthening women’s participation in mediation and dialogue is possible, and concrete efforts are happening.
But meaningful participation goes beyond numbers. It means shaping priorities, informing decisions and influencing outcomes over time.
Mr. President,
From the deliberate targeting of civilians in Ukraine, to attacks on healthcare in Gaza and widespread sexual and gender-based violence in Haiti, women and girls face distinct and disproportionate risks in today’s conflicts.
In Sudan, war is waged on women’s bodies, through the systematic use of sexual violence and the denial of essential services.
Documenting these horrors is not enough.
Survivors must have access to life-saving assistance, including sexual and reproductive health services and psychosocial support.
On this issue, Denmark is stepping up.
Through our support to UNFPA and other partners, we help promote and sustain sexual and reproductive health and rights and access to essential services for women and girls.
But survivors cannot recover when the very services they need are attacked and denied.
Parties to armed conflict must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, to protect medical personnel and facilities and to allow and facilitate humanitarian relief for civilians in need.
Mr. President,
There can be no lasting peace without justice, and no justice while perpetrators enjoy impunity.
From the ICC’s landmark conviction for gender-based persecution in Darfur to growing recognition of reproductive violence under international law, progress is possible.
But these breakthroughs must translate into consequences for those who commit, command and enable these crimes.
Denmark stands firmly behind the International Criminal Court and its independence.
We express our steadfast support for the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and commend the efforts of her Team of Experts in strengthening national capacity to investigate and prosecute these crimes.
We must also make more effective use of UN sanctions to hold perpetrators accountable.
To this end, Denmark supports strengthening the 1591 Sudan sanctions regime both geographically and by explicitly identifying conflict-related sexual violence as a designation criterion.
Survivors deserve more than our condemnation; they do deserve justice.
We must ensure that international and national justice mechanisms have the resources, independence and political backing to deliver it.
Mr. president,
Denmark will continue to lend our voice and our full support to the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
That has been true as a member of this Council, and will remain true after our tenure concludes.
Thank you.
